Cover photo courtesy of Victory Motorcycles, a division of Polaris Industries Inc., Medina, Minn.

Manufacturing motorcycle mufflers

Like all manufacturers, Woodsage™ Industries is always on the lookout for a better way to manufacture the many components it produces for OEMs. It recently devised a way to manufacture external muffler canisters for motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles by using swaging rather than the conventional roll-and-weld approach. The new process, which results in one-piece shells, eliminates welds, reduces the labor required, and improves the appearance of the finished muffler.

COVER STORY

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4 Editor’s Angle

The business cycle, demographics, lending practices, consumer habits, manufacturing employment—all of these seem to be in a state of transition these days. All are going through changes and all are intertwined. Some of these are trends that likely will reverse themselves over time, but one critical aspect, manufacturing employment, likely has been permanently changed for the worse.

7 Product Highlights

8 Applications

Tube producer, vendor collaborate to refurbish, upgrade straightening line

One of U.S. Steel Corp.’s divisions (U.S. Steel Tubular Products) had a decades-old straightener that no longer provided good repeatability. The equipment manufacturer, Bronx/Taylor-Wilson, had made numerous design improvements over the years, so the two companies developed a plan to refurbish and upgrade the machine rather than replace it.

27 In the Know

30 Product News

36 Classified Ads

37 Advertisers’ Index

38 Industry Snapshot

Looking to improve weld seams? Applying a welding paste to tube or pipe as it proceeds along a mill, before it enters the weld box, can improve the weld’s integrity by removing contaminants that cause porous welds.

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TUBE & PIPE PRODUCTION
LASER CUTTING

Learning to adapt Production Cutting Services opened for business in 1985 as a service center that provided tubular components saw-cut to length. In addition to taking on EDI, adapting to lean manufacturing, and working ever more closely with its customers, it has added capabilities such as drilling, machining,

plasma cutting, and 2-D and 3-D laser cutting. 20

TECH TALK

Shaping profits with a mandrel extractor

Using a mandrel is helpful for maintaining a tube’s profile when bending.

Without a mandrel, bending forces tend to distort and flatten tubular shapes. A mandrel extractor, a device that inserts the mandrel to a precise location and extracts it at the right moment, is a crucial piece of equipment for proper mandrel use.