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Not all sizes and wall thicknesses of tube come seamless from a factory or refiner. Especially when working in gold it is not cost effective or timely to order in a specific tube size, material, or wall thickness. There are many times when you need a piece of tubing, you don't have it, and you can't wait a day or so to order it in or run across town and buy it. In general, it is possible to make the length of tubing you require.... (1997) Complete Story
Rolling can be thought of as a local, or isolated, deformation process during which thickness is decreased, length increased, and width remains unchanged. Drawing is different from rolling in that the pressure of drawing it not transmitted through the turning action of the mill, but instead depends on force directed locally at the area of compression. This means the amount of possible drawing force is limited by the tensile strength of the material, a fact that is particularly evident when drawing thin wires..... (2001) Complete Story
A jeweller and goldsmith has to cut tubing fairly regularly. My favorite methods include: cutting only on the upstroke using a jewelers sawblade; using a separating disc; rolling the tube with high pressure under an X-acto knife or sharp blade, then snapping the tube-this works pretty well as long as you have good leverage.... (1994) Complete Story