If your project involves tube or pipe components, you may have run into the problem of your fabricator cutting the flat parts in-house, then shipping your tube stock out to a second shop for cutting, notching, or coping before it comes back for welding and assembly. Every handoff adds time, cost, and risk to your project.
At TAB Industries, we built our tube laser cutting capability specifically to close that gap.
The Hidden Cost of Outsourcing a Step
On paper, outsourcing tube cutting to a specialty shop looks simple: send the material out, get it back cut to spec, move on. In practice, it rarely works that cleanly.
Every time material leaves your fabricator’s building, you’re adding:
- Transit time in both directions, which can turn a two-day cutting job into a two-week delay
- A second point of failure for miscommunicated specs, tolerances, or finish requirements
- A second invoice, a second point of contact, and a second schedule you don’t control
- Handling risk, since tube stock gets loaded, unloaded, and reloaded more times than it needs to
None of this shows up on the original quote. It shows up later, as a missed deadline or a change order nobody asked for.
For a broader look at how these handoffs add up, see our blog on the advantages of partnering with a full-service fabrication shop >>
One Shop, Start to Finish
With our BesCutter Tube Master, we cut, notch, and profile tube and pipe components in-house, alongside our flat-sheet laser cutting, forming and fabrication, welding, and powder coating lines. There’s no shipping tube stock out to a secondary contractor and waiting for it to come back before we can move on to the next step.
When tube cutting happens under the same roof as welding and assembly, our team controls the whole sequence: design, cutting, forming, welding, and finishing, start to finish, on one timeline.
How TAB Utilizes Tube Laser Cutting
A typical project with tube components moves through our shop like this:
- Design: Our design and engineering team reviews your drawings or specs and programs the cut paths, maximizing material usage and minimizing waste.
- Tube cutting: The BesCutter Tube Master cuts, notches, and profiles the tube to spec, ready for the next step without leaving the building.
- Fabrication and welding: Our MIG/TIG welders join tube components to sheet metal parts or other assemblies as needed, using the same team that will finish the job.
- Finishing: Parts move directly into powder coating or assembly, depending on your spec.
Because every step happens in one facility, there’s no waiting on a shipment before the next stage can start.
Curious how fiber laser cutting compares across materials and use cases? We covered that in What is Fiber Laser Cutting? Benefits, Materials, and Use Cases for OEMs.
What Our Tube Laser Can Handle
The BesCutter Tube Master gives us real capacity to work with steel, stainless steel, aluminum, brass, and other common metals, cut with the same precision and repeatability our customers expect from our sheet metal work.
It also isn’t limited to round tube and pipe. The Tube Master cuts, notches, and profiles a range of structural shapes, including angle, I-beam, C and U channel, and extrusion, so more of your components can move through the same in-house process.
Technical Specifications:
- Laser Power: 3kW
- Max Tube Length: 24 feet
- Max Tube Diameter: 9.5″
- Power Requirement: 34.5 kW total, three-phase
That range covers everything from smaller structural components to long-run tube assemblies.
When Does Your Project Need Tube Laser Cutting?
Tube and pipe cutting shows up more often than most people expect once you start looking for it:
- Structural frames and supports for equipment, racking, or custom machinery
- Material handling equipment
- OEM assemblies where tube components need to match tight tolerances before welding
- Prototype and low-volume runs, where waiting on an outside vendor’s minimum order or scheduling window doesn’t make sense
If your product includes a tube or pipe as a structural or functional element, this is exactly the kind of step that’s worth bringing to a fabricator who can cut, weld, and finish it in one place.
One Fabricator, Every Step
With tube and sheet metal capabilities under one roof, TAB handles the entire process, from design to finishing, so your project moves forward without waiting on outside shops or extra shipments.
Ready to simplify your next tube or pipe project? Contact TAB today to discuss how our in-house capabilities can keep your timeline on track.