I need weekly injections I was while looking at the needle and wondering how they are made. The are so small that I can’t see the hollow part being drilled or bored out. They can’t be rolled as there is no seam. My wife thinks they are molded. Any clue?
Sorry for the disaster that was my question. Being tired and typing on my phone isn’t my best skill. It should have read as follows:
Hello,
I need weekly injections and while looking at the needle, I was wondering how they are made. The are so small that I can’t see the hollow part being drilled or bored out. They can’t be rolled as there is no seam. My wife thinks they are molded. Any clue?
Sorry, I missed the edit window. Mods can you delete OP and replace with this post? Thanks.
I’m at work (and there’s someone sitting very close to me) but How It’s Made has done this and this appears to be the clip from it. I haven’t watched it, but IIRC they do show how they make the actual needle itself.
ETA…apparently A LOT of people got in there while I was finding that clip.
Yes, tube drawing. Really fine tubing is made for many purposes, not just hypodermic needles.
You might also wonder how they mass produce the fine points and other neat little ends on the tubing lengths. I have seen a manufacturing process for this that uses grinding wheels that are also powered with a DC current, with the current path flowing between the wheel and the tubing itself. The coolant used on the wheels is also an appropriate electrolite, and they plate metal off the tubing as they grind it, so a burr never grows. It makes some of the cleanest and neatest cut surfaces you care to imagine, and it’s fast. For some steps they clamp a big bundle of tubes and do the cuts simultaneously on all of them.