A new, patent-pending medical traveling planetary cutter (M-TPC) from Conair features a fully-programmable, servodriven cutting head that cuts small-diameter medical plastic tubing so precisely that the need for secondary, off-line tube finishing is virtually eliminated. The planetary knife spins around the circumference of tubing from 0.080 to 1 inch in outside diameter (2.03 to 25.4 mm OD), cutting it without deformation, particulates, burning or fracturing.
The M-TPC cutter, the latest in the Conair MedLine® family of cleanroomready, downstream extrusion equipment for medical applications, has been introduced at Plastec East in New York.
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| The new planetary cutter (M-TPC) from Conair features a fully-programmable, servodriven cutting |
Unlike other cutters that remove tube material and can leave particulates behind, the M-TPC planetary cutter actually splits the tubing apart cleanly through displacement, without the loss of any material. This cutting method never blocks continuous airflow through the center of the tube, so tube sizing and ovality are not affected as they can be when flying-knife cutters are used. The programmable, servo-driven cutting head enables complete and precise control of cutter speed (surface speed), rate of cutter penetration (feed speed), and final depth of the cut.
The planetary cutter is mounted on a precision, servo-driven traveling table that can handle tubing automatically at line speeds of up to 100 ft/minute Micro Planetary C (30.5 m/minute). The cutter's standard servo controls enable it to make distortion-free and particulate-free cuts at rates up to 45 per minute while holding cut-to-length tolerances of ±0.031 inch (±0.787 mm), even on shorter lengths of tubing. The cutter can be used with the full range of medical plastic tubing, including difficult-to-cut materials such as styrene, PET, HIPS, and PC.
The M-TPC cutter features a front-mounted touchscreen control that enables an operator to set table travel velocity, tubing size, blade velocity, and cutting depth. Once created, specific cutting programs or 'recipes' can be stored in on-board memory for easy recall and reuse. The cutter is engineered to allow for quick blade changes without the need to remove product from the machine, so the need to stop and restart the line for blade replacement is eliminated. "The Conair M-TPC cutter was developed to eliminate the need for secondary cutting and finishing in the production of precision medical tubing," explains Bob Bessemer, Medical Downstream Extrusion Sales Manager for Conair.
"Given the added level of blade control, and the ability to lubricate the cut using alcohol, the M-TPC cutter makes it possible to achieve an almost perfect cut. For applications that require even tighter cut-to-length tolerances than those provided by the standard servo-controlled cutter, the M-TPC can be fitted with an optional dead stop that maintains cut-tolength tolerances of ±0.005 inch (±0.127 mm) or less. A switch initiates the cut cycle, starting table travel and clamping the tube so it comes to rest gently against the physical stop before being cut precisely.
