Question

I have a 3.6 meters long section of steel tubing. I have been asked to cut as many components as possible from this section as part of a production process. The design specifies each section of tube is to be 1 / 16 inch. I will be cutting these sections with a hacksaw machine. The blade of this machine creates a cut 1 MM wide. Assuming I work to the upper tolerance, how many pieces can be cut from this section of steel tubing?

Answer 1

1391 pieces of steel tubing can be cut from a 3.6-meter section, accounting for the 1mm blade width and ensuring each piece meets the 1/16 inch design spec.

Convert units to millimeters: We need to work in the same units throughout the calculation. Let's convert the tube length and section length to millimeters:

Tube length: 3.6 meters * 1000 millimeters/meter = 3600 millimeters

Section length: 1/16 inch * 25.4 millimeters/inch = 1.5875 millimeters

Account for the cut width: The hacksaw blade will remove 1 millimeter of material with each cut. We need to add this to the section length to ensure we have enough material for each piece:

Adjusted section length: 1.5875 millimeters + 1 millimeter = 2.5875 millimeters

Calculate the number of sections: Divide the total tube length by the adjusted section length:

Number of sections: 3600 millimeters / 2.5875 millimeters/section ≈ 1390.3

Round up: Since we can't have partial pieces, we round the number of sections up to the nearest whole number:

Number of sections: 1390.3 ≈ 1391

Therefore, you can cut 1391 pieces from the 3.6-meter steel tubing while adhering to the design specifications and accounting for the hacksaw blade width.