On 5/11/2012 5:36 AM, Wild_Bill wrote:
snip
Halve it your way.


Good one!

1/2 of 1% gets cut in house, it's just a PITA. I've see the operation at
the the commercial cutter, they do it with a parting tool on a machine
that supports the tube from the inside and the outside, it's like a big
lathe with all automatic operations. The ID is chamfered with a reamer
type tool and the OD is chamfered with a grinding operation on another
machine. They WILL do the shorter lengths but with a 8-10 week lead
time. We also use miles of thicker tube, .062" wall that is no problem
with custom lengths cut in house but the .049" wall is delicate by
comparison and any imperfection will cause it to accordion or not swage
properly. When that happens it almost no worth recovering the parts.

I thought it was an interesting challenge and that maybe someone had
magic. I had no idea what it would turn into. I guess that RCM is
tuned to other things, too bad. But, most people DID offer good ideas
in the spirit of the old, old RCM.

So, my conclusion is to bite the bullet with the lead time from the
commercial cutter and keep shorter pieces on the shelf.