Figure 5-3.—Tube cutting.5. Tighten the drive screw 1/8 to 1/4 turn. Donot overtighten the drive screw. Overtighteningcan damage soft tubing or cause excessive wearor breakage of the cutter wheel in hard tubing.6. Swing the ratchet handle back and forththrough the available clearance until there is anoticeable ease of rotation. Avoid putting sideforce on the cutter handle. Side force will causethe cutter wheel to break.7. Tighten the drive screw an additional 1/8to 1/4 turn and swing the ratchet handle back andforth, retightening the drive screw as needed untilthe cut is completed. The completed cut shouldbe 1/2 degree square to the tube centerline.Figure 5-4.—Chipless cutter.After the tubing is cut, remove all burrs andsharp edges from inside and outside of the tube(fig. 5-5) with deburring tools. Clean out thetubing. Make sure no foreign particles remain.A convenient method for cutting tubing witha hacksaw is to place the tube in a flaring blockand clamp the block in a vice. After cutting thetubing with a hacksaw, remove all saw marks byfiling.Tube BendingThe objective in tube bending is to obtain asmooth bend without flattening the tube. Tubebending is usually done with either a hand tubebender or a mechanically operated bender.Figure 5-5.—Properly burred tubing.5-5
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