COOLING TUBE AND METHOD OF USE THEREOF

摘要

A cooling tube assembly (50) for operating on a malleable molded plastic par t (32). The tube assembly (50) comprising a porous tube/insert (52) having a profiled inside surface, and a vacuum structure configured to cooperate with the porous tube (52). In use, the vacuum develops a reduced pressure adjacen t the inside surface to cause an outside surface of the malleable molded plast ic part (32), locatable within the tube assembly (50), to contact the inside surface of the porous insert so as to allow a substantial portion of the outside surface of the malleable part (32), upon cooling, to attain a profil e substantially corresponding to the profile of the inside surface (82). The cooling tube may include an extruded tube with at least one cooling channel (50) produced by extrusion, the extruded cooling tube may be configured to operate without the porous insert (52).