Leaders of Tube and Pipe End Forming Products
For the past 20+ years, Proto-1 Manufacturing has been providing manufacturers with high quality and efficient tube end forming equipment for their tube end forming needs. Founded in 1997 by John Schwochert, what started as a small prototyping shop quickly turned into custom solutions for tube and pipe. John designed and patented the Roto-D-Bur® Head in 1997. This revolutionary head changed the way our customers deburred tube and pipe and jump started Proto-1’s foray into other areas of tube end forming. Fast foward 20+ years, Proto-1 now employs 60+ staff at our 70,000+ square foot manufacturing facility. We currently produces 3 main lines of tube end formers: rotary, ram, and segmented. Along with those three lines, we also provide custom and automated solutions, tube deburring heads & machines, and slotting & punching solutions. Click the titles below to learn more about what we can offer you!
RAM End Forming
Proto-1 Manufacturing offers a full line of ram end forming and tube cut off machines to meet project demands. Our ram forming equipment is designed to handle tube and pipe diameters from 0.125” – 7.0”. Each production tool that is designed and manufactured is customized for each project. Our tooling is built to last and made for a repeatable process. Tube end forms can be of many types such as offset expands, coping, piercing, trim/form, tube swaging, bending, slotting, hole punch, beading, flaring, notching, and large bead. Our RAM series tube end forming machines serves many industries such as heavy truck, aerospace, water, recreational, and more!
Rotary End Forming
Our rotary end forming machines can manufacture tube and pipe anywhere from 0.50” – 18.0” in diameter. Proto-1’s rotary endforming and tube cutoff machines come in standard rotary, dual roller head, and single offset spinner options. With single and double head variations available to help meet your project needs. Our lineup of rotary machines come in hydraulic, pneumatic, and electro-form versions. Parts for our rotary endforming machines can handle many different applications such as but not limited to: tube end forming, trim and form, tube reducing, bending, swaging, slotting, hole punch, knurl, beading, flaring, notching, large bead, and norma ball. Our rotary machines specialize in tube cut-off. Our machines are the fastest on the market when it comes to tube cut-off. Our cut-off tooling will leave a chip-less cut improving your cycle time. Our cutoff technology can handle the toughest materials such as titanium and inconel. This technology is used in the aerospace industry but can help deliver faster cycle times to any industry.
Segmented End Forming
Proto-1 segmented end forming machines are offered in standard sizing, auto indexing, and re-sizing. Our machines are equipped to handle tube and pipe sizes of 1.0” – 10.0”. Our ISM (Index Sizing Machine) product line has the capability to keep the tube and form concentric during the forming operation. Our tooling is custom made per customer specifications to meet your needs. Proto-1’s tooling is designed for easy to change tooling, our goal is to make it easy for our customers to change between jobs. Parts from our segmented endforming machines can handle many different applications such as tube end forming, tube reducing, tube expansion, beading, flaring, large bead, and norma ball.
