I have a Chris Alston 12 pt cage kit I bought years ago before tubing notchers existed far as I know. I'm finally ready to install it in a car and I would like to know if anyone has had any experience with the import (obviously) notcher offered by HF tools? I know Speedway offers one for twice the price, appears also imported, and of course the Joint Jigger for 3X the HF item. I don't intend to be doing this on a regular basis, so I'm wondering if the HF model would make it thru the number of cuts required for one cage install? Any experience to share? Thx, Bob f
it will do ok... just take your time, well oiled and try to keep it from vibrating, Remember patience... Racinman
A friend of one of my employees bought the HF notcher. He made it 3/4 of the way through his cage before it was worn out. If you have a chop saw, 2 opposing 45° cuts on the end of a tube will produce a 90° notch. Some experimentation will help with other angle notches. They need to be finished slightly with a 4.5" angle grinder, but the notcher leaves material to be cleaned up also.
Slow drill press speed and LOTS of cutting fluid.....the saw teeth will last longer if not allowed to get too hot...when the saw wears out, get a good name brand one.
Check into Pro tools. My friend has their equipment, and its killer. I never looked up the HF one, so I can't compare...what about Baileigh: They seem to have everything...
Another vote for the chopsaw. Once you learn how to do it you will never need a notcher again. I have a Mittler Brothers notcher that I rarely use because the chop saw is so much easier.
iv been doing tubing work for about 10 years , I started with the chop say and a grinder and it is time consuming and Im against making two cuts and then grinding when I can make one cut with a notcher, iv also used the HF notcher and the problem with them is the back plate will flex and bend causing your notch to be off center, I now have a JD notcher similar to pro-tools and have had it for about 8 years and don thousands of notches and never had any problems. I use a hand drill and have the notcher mounted to my work bench and can get about 100 notches out of a hole saw with WD-40 as a lubricant. if your only using it once go with the HF but if you want a quality tool to keep using for many years spend the money and go with the JD or pro-tools
There's this cool little program called 'tubemiter' that yo can download to your computer......poke in the numbers for your tubing size and the angle, print it out, cut it out with scissors. Wrap your new pattern around your tubing, whip out your 3" air cutter, and your on your way fairly fast. Just wear eye protection. On 1-1/2 tubing, you can have one angle cut within about 2 minutes. 3" abrasice disc's are alot cheaper than than the hole saws!
, my computer is acting stupid.....by-the-way, the tube miter program is a free download, I like chop saws myself unless its a bunch of different angles, then I use my plasma or a torch.......
We added a grease zerk to my harbor fright unit... improved things greatly... made a bit of a mess, but it's worth it.
I've got the Speedway one while my buddy bought the Horrible Fright one - he regrets not spending more. Don't get me wrong the Horrible Fright one does work - but it's no where near as nice to use as the speedway one. I dunno - maybe my buddy got a "bad" one - who knows. I do wonder how much nicer the "higher" end ones are than my Speedway one. FWIW - I nothced every tube in my dragster with my Speedway notcher - all 4130 tubing - it still works perfect. ( I do give it a squirt of oil each time I drag it out though)
I have the "Ol Joint Jigger" and it works really well. I use the slowest speed on my drill press and lots of oil, let the hole saw cool down several times during a cut. You still have to use a grinder though to prep it for welding, so maybe the chop saw is the way to go if you want to save some dough.
here's the way i look at it and i do have a couple of hf tools. but if you buy good tools they will work better and actually have (resale) value when you are finished with them.
i bought one its cheesy and sleezy but if your not using it for a living and keep it oiled its ok for jobbing a few projects ,
The big drawback to tubemiter is that it uses metric values, but I still use it. For 90 degree............ http://www.eaa.org/video/homebuilders.html?videoId=1715738136
I made my tubing notcher and foundthe mostimportantthings are slow cutterspeeds,plenty of oil and bimetalic cutters.
i use a bi-metal blade and have done about 10 cages, anywhere from 6 to 10 points.. just make sure the blade is sharp, have a spare blade on hand... and go slow..
I've had my OL JIG -Joint for over 15 years. Made 100's of cuts never had a problem. Like people are saying run slow (usually a drill press isn't slow enough) Lube the cutter and the shaft of the notcher. I did it the old way with a grinder and then a chop saw, the notcher is by far the quickest and easiest. This is my opinion.
I posted the below in my "TECH: Mount any engine/tranny in any frame" I have since swapped using the chopsaw for using a Port-a-band, but the process is exactly the same. I have the Pro-Tools notcher, and a Mittler Brothers, they are on the shft behind the drill press. They take way too much time (setup, and drilling) for the exact if not less than as good a result.
I have HF and have been useing it for about 5 years and have not had any problem to speak of . I got my 39.00 bucks worth out of it..
When I used to do the roll cages for Howe Racing Enterprises I bought a small horizontal mill and mounted a swivel based machinest vise on the table to do the notching. The angle notches were as simple as swiveling the vise to the needed angle and feeding the tubing into a high speed/carbide 4" long cutter of the proper diameter. It was really just a homemade version of the heavy duty notcher that Mittler Bros. sell. I only use it occasionally these days but the $200 I spent on it makes it one of the best tool investments I''ve ever made. FRank
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