Production life of tube swimmers

Abstract

Two humped mandrels, called swimmers, are used in the special tube drawing process of Bundy Tubing Company to size internal diameters of tubes formed from double-wrapped steel strip. The aim of this study was to determine key factors to promote increased life of swimmers which currently fail mostly by metal pick-up. There was insufficient data to build mathematical models for swimmer failure; it is recommended that systematic data collection take place using statistical quality control principles.