Fuel Tubing - by Troy Hawthorne
For many years I have been cutting fuel tubing for the models I build using a razor blade and a simple fixture. This is a simple task until you need to cut 700 pieces for a production run.
After about 100 pieces the task starts to get boring. So as the "cut fuel tubing supply box" started getting low, I was giving a lot of thought as to how I was going to cut the next 700 pieces.
I made a video as the design was built to share my thoughts as well as the finished device.The total time for the design and build was about 10 hr. That is, if you don't count all the time I spent thinking about it over the past few months.
Was the work worth the effort? I think so, I cut the run of 700 pieces I needed in less than 15 minutes.
The first video shows how the design came together. The second video is near the end of the 3/4" 400 pieces parts run. The cutter cuts at a speed of 74 pieces per minute no matter which size tubing it is setup to cut (3/4" or 1 3/8"). The third video was done after many request for more information. It shows in detail on how the cutter works.
If you need a few pieces of fuel tubing cut, this is not what you need.But, if you use hundreds of pieces of the same size tubing and you are cutting them by hand.You might want to build something like this to keep the fun in what your doing.
Happy building
|