Hot Rods Tubing notching on a lathe.

Hello everyone.
Has anybody set their lathe up for this?
I knew a guy years ago that had a holddown for holding tubing using his tool rest, then he just installed a end mill in the chuck.
Its been years since I saw it (80's)
Anybody else done this or have a pic or suggestion?
Thanks.
Regards.
Al

 

Depends on your tool post. They have milling vices for lathes.


Here is one made with a piece of angle and hose clamps.
http://www.homemetalshopclub.org/projects/fishmouth/fishmouth.pdf

 

I've not done it but saw it done that way at Ed Howe's shop in 1974.

 

Google up Mittler Bros. Tools they have a purpose made machine along those lines. Real pricey but it might give you some ideas.

 

End mills work well, I've used a hole saw.

 

When Budd Olsen started building Dirt Modifieds full time in the late seventies he had several different size fixtures wth the correct inside diameter tubing and adjustable angle that fastened to the lathes carriage and used end mills ......

 

At work we have an old horizontal mill than was donated . at first we didn't have much use for it ,till we chucked up an end mill in it to build stainless steel hand rails. And we have miles of em

 

Yeah, I've cobbled up a tubing holder on the toolpost and chucked up both end mills and hole saws. Better than laying out gobs of cash for the store bought tubing notchers. Unless it's something showy, a hand grinder is pretty quick and easy, also.

 

I have done on my lathe with a home made jig that I attach to my tool post. It works fine, but because I make the jigs out of wood, I need to make a couple more jigs to accommodate the different sizes of pipe.
I used to have one of the Atlas milling attachments, and like a fool I let it go when I sold the Atlas lathe.
Bob

 

I had a fixture I would bolt to an angle plate and I could fish-mouth tubing on a Bridgeport I had at work. It worked extremely well but I'd catch hell doing g-jobs while on the clock. I used an end mill, whatever the diameter of the tubing was. Shorter pieces I could do in the vise even on shallow angles, more if I hung the vise at the end of the table or let it partly overhang off the back of the table.

 

Thanks guys

 

Quicker and easier to di it on a bandsaw. A fishmounth is just a straight cut (like a bandsaw blade) across a curved surface.

 

I can't count how many I did with a torch and grinder. I had the shop I worked at save worn out hard grinding wheels, those worked well for finishing up ones I cut with the torch.

 

Here's the DIY setup I've been using for getting a good fit up for some parts my OT racecar. It's just a block of scrap Mild Steel bored on the lathe centre height which was then split across the bored hole with a couple of bolts to provide the clamping for the tube.



The small collar that is there has number of (not visible in the photo) witness marks around it so I could index the tube correctly to give an accurate fit at both ends of the tube for my rather basic skill level with a TIG torch.



Later on I got much faster results using the same setup with a "ripper" style milling cutter in the chuck rather than the endmill that's being used in the first photo

 

x2 on the band saw