Apparatus for the in-line cropping and/or chamfering of a plastic tube

Apparatus for in-line cropping and chamfering operations using at least one cutting device, of a plastic tube moulded by extrusion, which apparatus is adapted to be sited in an extrusion line for the continuous moulding of said plastic tube, said apparatus comprising means for positioning a tube section with respect to said at least one cutting device, at least one deforming roller associated with each cutting device on either side thereof for deforming the tube section on which the cropping and chamfering operations are to be carried out, and a rotatable combination of a coaxially mounted rotor disc and a face cam, said face cam having a groove comprised of a plurality of levels and said rotor disc having a plurality of cam-follower rollers engaged in the face cam groove levels, wherein movement of the cam-follower rollers in the face cam groove levels controls movement of the deforming rollers and the at least one cutting device in carrying out the cropping and chamfering operations, and wherein the rotor disc and the face cam have the same circumferential dimension, the apparatus further comprising a planetary gear box for varying the rotary speed of one of the rotor disc and the face cam, said planetary gear box having the capacity to match the rotary speed of said rotor disc and said face cam to each other.