Fluid Conveyance Systems for OEM Manufacturers

WHAT CURTIS DOES FOR FLUID CONVEYANCE SYSTEMS

Curtis Products builds fluid conveyance systems for OEM equipment manufacturers by applying the same core capabilities the shop has run for decades — tube bending, end forming, welding and brazing, finishing, and tube assemblies & kits — to lines that move liquids and gases through a piece of equipment. A fluid conveyance system isn't a separate product line on our floor; it's the same steel, stainless steel, copper, and aluminum tubing we bend every day, routed, formed, and finished to carry fluid instead of structural load.

OEMs come to us for fluid conveyance systems when a print calls for tubing that has to route cleanly around other components, seal at every connection, and hold up to whatever is running through it — coolant, lubricant, fuel, or process fluid. We bend the tube to the routing the print calls for, form the ends to fit the mating fitting, and finish the assembly for the environment it's going into.

PROCESS & CAPABILITIES

Fluid transfer tubing starts the same way every job on our floor starts: with a print, or a sample part if a print doesn't exist yet. We bend steel, stainless steel, copper, and aluminum tubing from 1/8 inch to 3 inch OD using manual fixture bending, power fixture bending, or CNC rotary bending, depending on the tolerance and volume the fluid conveyance system requires.

End forming is where a bent tube becomes a sealed fluid line assembly. Our end forming operations include ORFS, hose/tube combinations, flanging, flaring, swaging, sizing, expanding, and coining, so the tube seats correctly against whatever fitting, hose barb, or mating component the print specifies. Where a run needs a permanent joint instead of a fitting, our welding and brazing group welds mid-to-large diameter steel, stainless, and aluminized steel tube to AWS requirements, using manual and robotic MIG welding plus torch, hand, and induction brazing, and can shear tube up to 3 inch OD to complement a bend. When corrosion resistance matters — and it usually does on a line carrying fluid — we finish parts with zinc plating, Galfan, e-coating, powder coating, anodizing, tin dip coating, phosphate coating, or autophoretic plating.

WHY OEMS PICK A SHOP THAT'S BEEN DOING THIS SINCE THE 1950S

Curtis Products has built tube assemblies since the fall of 1959, when Curtis Heckaman won a contract to supply short-run, formed tubing after no other manufacturer could meet the customer's quality and delivery requirements. The company is now in its third generation of family management, ISO 9001:2015 certified, and runs a quality process built around prevention — receiving, in-process, and final inspections that document compliance before a part ships. That discipline is what OEMs are actually buying when they source a fluid conveyance system from us: a bent tube is easy to find, a fluid conveyance system that seals correctly at every joint on the first try is the harder thing to source.

Launch planning tools like Team Feasibility Commitment, Design Review, and Mistake Proofing get applied before a new part reaches full production, inside 254,000 square feet of dedicated plant space in South Bend, Indiana. OEM buyers across Chicagoland, Detroit, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, and beyond can send us prints for fluid conveyance systems because on-time delivery and design expertise matter as much as the bend itself.

FROM TUBING TO COMPLETE FLUID LINE ASSEMBLIES

A single bent tube rarely leaves our building alone. A complete fluid conveyance assembly can combine bending, end forming, welding or brazing, and finishing into one completed tube assembly, and we can load finished parts on custom-designed racks and deliver them staged to your line. If you're still finalizing a design, our rapid prototyping team can build a working prototype from your specs, or reverse engineer a sample part, so you can test fit and routing before committing to production volume.

We handle low-volume custom fluid line assemblies with the same hands-on design support we give a full production run — there's no minimum order that gets routed around our engineers. For the pressure-side companion to this page, see custom hydraulic lines.