Tubing Notchers

you guys are giving away all the secrets !
after watching the guy installing the handicapped rails at the post office struggle for hours with his "joint jigger"...i walked over at lunch and shared the chop saw method with him..3 notches later he tossed the drill press into the truck and finished the job in about 1 hour...i shoulda asked for royalties !! LOL

 

If you are making notches without a notcher or end-mill you might want to check out the link (to another link) below. It's a little program that allows you to print off templates that you can wrap around tubing and mark what angle the notch needs to be at. I haven't needed to notch any tubes since I read about it, but it'll probably make it easier on newbies like myself that don't have years of experience pipe fitting.

http://64.172.168.34/neatstuff/tubing_miter_programs.htm

 

Kiwi Kev, When I started using my hole saw notcher I was oh so precise measuring the exact angle each brace would be at and transferring that to the notcher - cutting it - trial fitting it - adjust as necessary - etc. At firts I used a digital protractor - then found it easier to use a cheapy angle finder....as I used it more and more I realized knowing the angle was really a complete waste of time.
Now all I do is put the tubing in place at the angle it should be - I eyeball the intersection points on the notch (two straight lines drawn across the tubing to be notched) - I stick it in the notcher and again eyeball those two lines - sometimes I use a straight edge to make it easier to see they are vertical. Then blast away.

I find that I can get as closer or closer using this method than actually figuring out what the real angle was.

 

The key to a good fit and notch is the "PipeMaster" (tm). We use it and make the notch with a 4 1/2 inch cutoff and a flapper to clean it up. I would prefer the band saw or a mill over those hole saw units.

Now what do you use to bend the tube?

 

I have built a bunch of tube race cars and I just use my head and a sawsall,touch it up with a die grinder.
A lot of the time you can design your tube where it hits the other tube with a 90 degree instead of some oddball angle.It speeds things up and allows easier welding because you can get all around the tube easier.

 

Here's some that I have done with my Pro-Tools notcher... works like a dream.

http://www.pro-tools.com/

The only complaint I have is that I sometimes need to finish off the notch with a hack saw because the hole saw isn't deep enough to get all the way through the tube if the tube is an an extreme angle... you just have to cut the excess tube off, knock the little piece off and then finich the cut.

 

I've got a Protools notcher, but rarely use it. I'm a huge supporter of the Chopsaw method. I can crank out the angle I need so fast with all the practice I've had. whewwww The both have their shortfalls when it comes to really steep angles, then out comes the torch and grinders.

Theres no right or wrong way, just take your time with the tools you got and you'll get good.

 

I have allot of experience with notching tube with a holesaw notcher. There are a couple ways to prolong the life of your holesaws when notching tube. A mindful operator can get close to 100 notches out of 1 holesaw.

 

same thing with a chop saw

 

Well, It was strange to see my old post at the top after over a year. I thought I may as well show what we did.
We used the vise , drillpress and holesaw method and it worked beautifully. Heres some pics of the tooll and the result.

 

If you have a metal-cutting band saw you don't need a notcher.

I built my rail and two front ends this way. I cant see what I would need a tubing notcher for. Got so it worked perfect. Nice snug fit already sort of V eed and welded great on one p***. Used a sharpie to mark edge and centre of tubing then cut off both halves .Might have ruined one or two pieces but i cant remember it now. It worked perfect once got the hang of it.
Don D

 

I have a dedicated notcher, I also have a fixture that I can use on my lathe to notch tubing, but 99% of the time I use my chop saw to notch tubing because it is alot faster and just as accurate. I have done thousands of notches using the chop saw method including NHRA certified chrome moly cages.

 

Moly will definitely eat up holesaws.

 

Unzip this attachment and away you go...without a notcher. The only downside is that it uses metric system, so you will have to convert prior to data entry.
It is basically a pipe wrap program.

 

I have had an older version of the JD2 and it works great. We purchased I second one from JD2 and they changed the vise clamp and it ****s(tubing slips) and there customer service is one of the worst. The Harbor freight one lasted one night. About three times a year we notch 250 ends of 1"x.063 round tubing and with the early version JD2 it works fine. The barrel sanding type I think is the best(next purchase).

 

good stuff. i'll be back to check this one out some more later...