A new company - Prototube LLC - has been formed in Detroit USA to supply production-representative laser-welded tubes in volumes from one piece up to repeat orders of 100,000 tubes/year.

Tubes are short in nature (under 4M in length) and are formed from flat steel blanks. Sizes possible include 100mm - 4000mm long, 80mm - 400mm diameter, 0.5mm - 3.0mm thickness

The equipment used to make the tubes is supplied by Weil Engineering (Muellheim, Germany). The fact that these machines are normally used for high volume production results in the fact that prototypes made by Prototube are production-representative.

Applications include hydroforming, exhaust system components, heating & ventilation pipes, bellows etc.

Prototube is a joint venture between Global Business Support of Detroit, Michigan and Weil Engineering of Muellheim, Germany.

Further information can be obtained from:

Prototube
- Addr: 839 N. Rochester Road Clawson Michigan 48317, MI, USA
- Tel: 248 585 9280
- Fax: 248 585 9313
- WWW: http://www.prototube.com
- Email.
- Contact: Tim Cripsey