Custom Tube Fabrication Services for OEMs

WHAT CURTIS DOES FOR TUBE FABRICATION

Curtis Products handles tube fabrication for OEM equipment manufacturers that need more than a bent tube — they need a finished, ready-to-install assembly. We combine tube bending, welding, brazing, punching, machining, and finishing under one roof, so a part can move from raw tubing to a completed assembly without changing vendors between operations. Most of the OEMs who bring us a print are past the point of wanting a single process; they want single-source accountability for a complex part, and that's what this shop is built around.

PROCESS & CAPABILITIES

Metal tube fabrication at Curtis starts wherever the part needs it to start. If bending comes first, we run manual fixture, power fixture, or CNC rotary bending on steel, stainless steel, copper, and aluminum tubing. From there, most custom tube fabrication jobs move into welding or brazing — multiple-station manual and robotic MIG welding, plus torch brazing, hand brazing, and induction brazing, specializing in mid-to-large diameter steel, stainless steel, and aluminized steel tube assemblies, with every weld process built to meet or exceed AWS requirements. We can also shear metal tube up to 3 inch OD as a complement to bending, and punch a clean, dimple-free drain or fastener hole using a mandrel process — distinct from piercing, which leaves dimples the part may not be able to tolerate.

Our in-house machine shop runs conventional mills and CNC lathes alongside the tube work, so complicated parts and assemblies don't have to leave the building for a second vendor's queue. When a part needs a protective or cosmetic finish, we offer zinc plating, Galfan, painting, ecoating, powder coating, anodizing, tin dip coating, phosphate coating, and autophoretic plating, chosen to match the corrosion, appearance, or wear requirements of the application. The result is custom tube assemblies that arrive finished, tested, and ready for your assembly line, optionally loaded on racks we design and build to fit your material handling.

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

Curtis Products has been fabricating tube assemblies since the 1950s, when Curtis Heckaman won a contract to supply short-run, formed tubing assemblies 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 anything ships.

That kind of history is what OEM buyers are really underwriting when they hand Curtis a complex, multi-process assembly: on-time delivery, design expertise, and competitive pricing on parts that combine several processes and can't afford a weak link in any one of them. We use launch planning tools like Team Feasibility Commitment, Design Review, and Mistake Proofing before a new assembly reaches full production, inside 254,000 square feet of dedicated plant space in South Bend, Indiana.

FROM PRINT TO PRODUCTION PART

A tube fabrication project usually starts one of two ways: a finished print, or a sample part and a rough idea of what it needs to do. Either way, our rapid prototyping group — equipped with current design software and dedicated prototyping equipment — builds a working prototype from your specs, or reverse engineers a sample, so you can test and quote the part with confidence before committing to volume.

From there, low-volume and custom tube assemblies get the same design attention as repeatable runs. We size materials, join methods, and finishes to the application rather than the other way around, and finished assemblies deliver straight to your manufacturing floor, ready to install. If you already know you need bending without the rest of the fabrication process, see our tube bending services page for a closer look at that capability on its own.