Cutting Carbon Steel and Stainless Steel Tubes

Inquiries from customer:

I would like to know about the possibility of supplying water cutting equipment.

I need equipment for cutting carbon steel and stainless steel tubes.

Dimensions of the piece to be cut 400x400 mm.

Products being cut: Round tubes and square tubes

Thickness of products to be cut from 0.40 mm to 8.00 mm.

Yes, no problem. Win-Win specializes in providing cutting solutions for thousands of users around the world, covering different fields and industries, using different design solutions, aiming to create practical, good-to-use and cost-effective products for users. We can see that the pictures in the details is the cutting solution we provide to user. 

It is a 3-axis + tube rotation = 4-axis structure. This structure can cut both planes and tubes with a diameter of less than 0.5m. For tubes above 0.5m.

What are the methods for cutting carbon steel and steel stainless steel tube/pipe?

There are many cutting technologies to choose from, including oxyacetylene cutting, air plasma cutting, water jet cutting, laser cutting and wire cutting, all of which can be used to cut carbon steel. The following are some common cutting methods: 

(1) Flame cutting: This method has a low operating cost, but it consumes more when using fluid seamless pipes, and the cutting quality is relatively poor. It is usually used for auxiliary cutting. With the improvement of flame cutting technology, some factories have used multi-head flame cutting machines for automatic cutting as the main processing method for fluid carbon steel seamless pipes.

(2) Shear cutting: This method is more efficient and has a lower cost. Medium carbon seamless pipes and low carbon alloy structural steel pipes generally use this method. If the shearing efficiency is to be improved, a large shearing machine is usually used for double-blade shearing; in order to reduce the flattening of the pipe end during cutting, the blade is usually designed with a special shape. For seamless steel pipes that are prone to shear cracks, they can be heated to 300°C during the shearing process.

(3) Fracture cutting: The equipment used is a fracture press. In this process, a cutting torch is used to make a hole at the predetermined breaking position, and then the tube is placed in a breaking press and broken with a three-edged axe. The spacing between the breaking points is 1 to 4 times the diameter Dp of the tube.

(4) Sawing: This method has the best cutting quality and is widely used in alloy steel pipes, high-pressure steel pipes and fluid seamless pipes. It is particularly suitable for cutting large-diameter fluid seamless steel pipes and high-alloy steel pipes. The sawing equipment includes bow saws, band saws and circular saws. When cold sawing alloy steel pipes, a cold circular saw with a high-speed steel fan blade is used, while a cold circular saw with a carbide blade is used for sawing high-alloy steel.

(5) Water jet cutting: This cutting method is considered to be versatile, and its environmental friendliness is also a major advantage.

Things to note when cutting carbon steel pipes:

(1) For galvanized steel pipes and carbon steel pipes with a nominal diameter less than or equal to 50mm, it is recommended to use a pipe cutter for cutting;

(2) High-pressure pipes and pipes with a tendency to harden should be cut using mechanical methods such as saws and lathes. If oxyacetylene flame or plasma cutting is used, the damaged area of the cut surface must be removed. The thickness of this area is generally not less than 0.5mm;

(3) Stainless steel pipes should be cut using mechanical methods or plasma cutting, while other steel pipes can be cut using oxyacetylene flame cutting.

If you want to cut a pipe with a diameter of more than 0.5m, you can refer to the solution in the picture below. We can provide it. 

Of course, we can also provide robot automated water jet cutting solution for cutting pipes.

What is the best way to cut stainless steel tubing?

As for the best cutting method, it is necessary to comprehensively consider many aspects to choose the method that suits you, such as: the requirements for output, efficiency, cutting effect, cost control, site size, personnel configuration and other factors. The one that suits you is the best.

Win-Win welcomes you to consult.