An adjustable depth sensitive helical cutter was required for use by service engineers to remove the outer skin from specialised co-extruded pressure pipes.

The design had to absorb the pipes variable cross sections whilst keeping the cutting head at a specific depth. The cutting action was further complicated by the extreme field conditions and restricted working envelope.

Through the use of extensive spring design combined with user trials and rapid prototyping techniques a new low-cost design with optimised cutting performance was created.