FAQ

Vita Needle offers the following terms:

• Net 30 - Preferred payment method for qualifying customers. Three credit references and a bank reference are required to be submitted for review & approval.
• Prepay - Paid via check or wire transfer in US dollars.
• Credit Card - Only available if a customer does not already have Net 30 terms & the order value is under $5,000. Credit card information can be submitted via phone call or our secure portal. This payment method has a convenience fee.
• COD - US only and only for select items.

Due to the 2018 ruling on South Dakota vs. Wayfair, Vita Needle may charge sales tax in states other than Massachusetts, if sales are beyond taxable thresholds. A sales tax exemption certificate is required for each U.S. state or territory a customer ships to, before or at the time an order is placed, to avoid being charged non-refundable sales tax. 

Random lengths are lengths of tubing or wire stock not necessarily cut and deburred on the ends, with fairly wide length tolerances. The standard length tolerance for random length tubing or wire is ± 3". Tube ends may be crimped or cut on an abrasive saw with some burrs remaining. Random length tubing is sold with the understanding that the customer will be further processing the material into components or parts, thus the extra effort and cost to deburr all ends is not incurred. 5' or 10' random lengths are standard in the tubing and wire industries.

Vita Needle can cut and deburr tubing and wire to custom lengths and tolerances provided by the customer. For raw material only, Vita Needle typically sells in 5 or 10' random lengths. Other "as cut" lengths are available by customer request for lengths 12" or greater. As cut means that the tubes or wires will be cut to the approximate specified length, but may have burrs present on the ends of the tubes/wires. Lengths shorter than 12" are only offered as cut and deburred, which means that all burrs are removed from the tube or wire ends.

Vita Needle does not have the ability to cut sizes larger than 1/2" diameter or walls .049" or larger. (To be adjusted, as necessary, to our current capabilities. We have to tell a lot of Commercial Customers that we can't cut)

Vita Needle is both a manufacturer and distributor of stock and custom products. Vita Needle manufactures the vast majority of its' raw material. This vertical integration saves customers substantial dollars and time relative to other companies.

For almost all material sold, Vita Needle is the mill.

Due to confidentiality agreements with mills that allow us to obtain steeply discounted pricing on raw material in return for not having to handle end user inquiries, original mill certifications are not available. Vita Needle maintains all historical records for complete traceability and the certification data is directly copied from the mill certifications.

Also cannot change certs to add ASTM, AMS, MIL or other information not originally quoted.

• Origin of Manufacture vs Origin of Melt, requesting for quote but information is not provided in advance of order.
• DFARS vs Domestic vs Domestic manufactured, requesting for quote but information is not provided in advance of order.
• Quotes valid for 30 days only unless otherwise noted.
• Not ITAR registered

Please contact our sales department for questions on specific products. Because manufacturing tolerances and methods are proprietary, complete engineering drawings for these products are not available.

Vita Needle maintains one of the lowest minimum order requirements in the industry. With these low minimums, obtaining small quantity test pieces/products for a project is affordable for almost anyone.

Shipping carriers that Vita Needle partners with, such as UPS, do not permit COD shipments to Canada.

Yes, Vita Needle manufactures DFARS compliant tubing, wire and other products. Please advise your sales representative when submitting your request for quote that this requirement is necessary.

Vita Needle is FDA charter registered (we’ve been making needles long before the FDA was formed in 1972), and also ISO 9001: 2015 and ISO 13485: 2016 certified. Copies of our certificates are available under the Media Gallery of this webpage.

FULL hard vs Hard Temper: We default all of our descriptions to hard temper because there are wide variances in the tubing industry with respect to tensile strengths (the preferred metric for evaluating temper). Larger diameters and heavier walls will reach their cold work limit and have a peak tensile strength that is lower than smaller diameters and thinner walls, generally speaking. Tensile strength is directly correlated to the amount of cold work applied to a product, and some manufacturers weld their tubing close to final size, resulting in lower tensile strengths. Generally, our tensile strengths are higher than most manufacturers, as we manufacture most of the tubing we sell. Also, tensile strengths vary between lots as the same size of tubing can often be made using slightly different processes, just as a given machined part can be made on many different types of CNC machines.

Vita Needle requires full specifications and a print. If the requirements are close to what we can offer then our team will provide redline suggestion; although we are unable to design for or quote to your specific application.

All documentation, special certs or requests for validation would have to be requested at the time of requesting quote for the product.  Vita Needle internal documentation is proprietary.

All requests for audits/visits must be approved by the president, please contact sales with request. Please note Vita Needle has a closed shop policy due to proprietary machines.

Vita Needle can ship anywhere as long as the customer provides a shipping account number and address.

Vita Needle manufactures small diameter precision tubing in two primary forms: welded & drawn tubing and seamless tubing. We also specialize in hypodermic tubing — ultra-small, tight-tolerance needles used extensively in medical devices and drug delivery systems. All tubing is produced to exacting specifications, making Vita Needle a trusted source for engineers who need consistent, repeatable results across production runs of hundreds to thousands of units. 

Vita Needle primarily works with stainless steel and nickel alloys, offering both welded & drawn and seamless tubing in these materials. Stainless steel tubing is ideal for medical, aerospace, and industrial applications that demand corrosion resistance and dimensional consistency. High-purity vacuum-melt 316 stainless alloys are available as well for demanding medical applications. Nickel alloy tubing is well-suited for high-temperature and high-performance environments, and especially corrosive applications. We also offer tubing in brass and copper alloys primarily for industrial applications. While Vita Needle can manufacture tubing from other materials on a case-by-case basis, stainless steel and nickel alloys represent our core capabilities and greatest expertise.

Vita Needle primarily serves the medical device and aerospace industries, though our precision tubing and fabrication services are applicable across a broad range of high-demand sectors. Medical manufacturers rely on Vita Needle for hypodermic tubing and small diameter tubing used in surgical instruments, drug delivery devices, and diagnostic equipment. Aerospace customers depend on our tight-tolerance tubing for and fluid-transfer applications where reliability is critical. We also serve instrumentation and laboratory markets. Our industrial customer base is wide: temperature sensing applications, adapter assemblies and fluid transfer products are some of our more common applications.

Hypodermic tubing refers to extremely small diameter, thin-wall tubing — most commonly associated with needles and minimally invasive medical devices. Vita Needle is a leading hypodermic tubing manufacturer, producing tubing used in syringes, catheters, biopsy needles, drug delivery systems, and other precision medical applications. This product line represents one of our highest-value offerings and is manufactured to meet the strict dimensional tolerances and surface finish requirements that medical OEMs demand.

Welded & drawn tubing starts as flat strip stock that is formed into a tube and welded, then drawn through dies to refine its dimensions and improve mechanical properties. Seamless tubing is produced by extruding or piercing solid material, resulting in a tube with no weld seam. Seamless tubing is often preferred for high-pressure and critical medical applications, while welded & drawn tubing offers excellent dimensional consistency and is a cost-effective solution for many precision applications. Vita Needle offers both options in stainless steel and nickel alloys.

Vita Needle is structured to support production orders ranging from single units to millions of units, making us an ideal partner for medical device manufacturers and aerospace suppliers who need consistent quality across mid-to-large production runs. We are not a commodity distributor. Our value is in producing precision, standard, or custom tubular products and building long-term supplier relationships with buyers who return order after order.

Yes. Custom fabrication is central to what Vita Needle does. We work directly with engineers and procurement teams to manufacture tubing to precise outer diameter, inner diameter, wall thickness, length, and finish specifications. Whether you need a unique alloy combination, temper, a non-standard dimension, or a tight-tolerance hypodermic tube, our team can develop a solution tailored to your application. Customers are encouraged to submit drawings or specifications for a quote.

Vita Needle combines decades of precision manufacturing experience with deep specialization in small diameter and hypodermic tubing — the exact product types that medical device OEMs need. Our focus on stainless steel and nickel alloys, combined with rigorous dimensional control, makes us a reliable source for components used in FDA-regulated devices. Medical customers value our consistency across repeat orders, our ability to work to tight tolerances, and our responsiveness to custom requirements.

Yes. Vita Needle supplies precision small diameter tubing to the aerospace industry, where dimensional accuracy, material integrity, and batch-to-batch consistency are non-negotiable. Our stainless steel and nickel alloy tubing is well-suited for aerospace fluid systems, sensor housings, and key components that must perform under extreme conditions. Aerospace buyers benefit from the same custom fabrication capabilities and production run flexibility that we offer to our medical device customers.

While Vita Needle's core expertise lies in stainless steel with nickel alloy, copper, and brass tubing, we can work with other materials on select projects. Customers with unique material requirements are encouraged to contact us directly to discuss feasibility. That said, for applications requiring the combination of tight tolerances, corrosion resistance, and high-performance mechanical properties, stainless steel and nickel alloys remain the optimal and most commonly specified materials for the industries we serve.