Is it a Pipe or a Tube? We get this question all the time, and sadly it usually comes when a customer orders "pipe" when what they really want is "tubing." What is the difference between pipe and tubing? To put it simply, all pipe is tubing, but not all tubing is...
Tubing ID
The nomenclature of bells and flares varies throughout the industry. We follow a simple definition. 1) A flare is a sloping conical expansion of a tube. Flares assist in funneling an object or carrier into the pneumatic tube system. Flares are usually defined by ID,...
This week our challenge was to make a simple funnel flare-- 3” ID tube to a 4” ID tube. The trick was to do it without tooling. The cup manufacturer company wanted only three flares to put at cup entrance points of its pneumatic transport system. Busada makes all...
An electrical manufacturer had a need for a small quantity of clear, transparent tubing sleeves for its line of ¼” wide blade-type quick connects. We provided them with long sleeves of 2.765" ID in 16" lengths) in Cellulose Acetate Butyrate (CAB). But this particular...
Tight –radius bends are a problem to all tube benders. On a tight radius, we can run into excessive flattening, cracking of the outside wall, or buckling in the inside wall (most commonly). The problem is intensified in transparent, thermoplastics benders, for we do...
We had a request from an Escape Room manager to upgrade his Pneumatic Transfer System. There are many small systems out there that use PVC sewer pipe. It is an inexpensive tubing that does the basic job of moving a carrier vertically. But, a transparent section of...
We recently had quite a challenge from Metraflex regarding a transparent tight-radius 4” pipe 90° bend. They required a transparent 4” Sch 40 long-radius elbow to observe a metal fin in a fluid system. The pipe bend needed to maintain a tight tolerance for ovality as...
Recently we received a request for some “giant elbows, about a 15 ft. radius to load material up a silo. This was hard for me to comprehend— for these bends would be not only huge but bent three-dimensionally. When the prints and drawings came in this seemed...
We recently had an inquiry for a tight-radius Ubend. This 1" OD bend x .125w in CAB (butyrate) has a tight center-line radius of 2.5" with uneven tangents. Not only do we have to design the proper heater for this bend, and select the proper packing material, but have...
Sometimes we just have to be creative when we get calls from damsels in distress. We received a call from such a damsel who needed to replace a worn-out PVC tube and a more worn-out HDPE carrier. Busada pneumatic tubing consists of three major parts; the tube, the...
Pudge is modeling a rather large graduated cylinder here. This 10" OD CAB Butyrate tube is welded to a butyrate base. It will be used to not only measure various liquids but to monitor pressure ratings for water-tight components.And while I'm on this, this is a good...
Recently we were given the challenge to produce a tight radius bend to replace a metal fruit chute (peaches). The bend needed a 6" ID and a tight 12" radius. We were able to accomplish this by flaring a 5" ID tube to 6.5" ID and bending the tube 3D to come under the...
We make bends. We make helices, U bends, offset snake bends and all in between. This week we had a challenge. We were to make a large diameter 6.525" ID Bend on a 69" Center-Line-Radius with a tolerance of +-0.5Deg, and 8" tangents. If that was not enough, we were to...
Do you need an off-the-charts bend of transparent tubing? How about a 14° 200" R (no tangents)? We received an interesting call this week. A school is preparing a model of a space station to be displayed at NASA. Our little part in this was to scale down a 12 ft...