Tube notching advice
Discussion
Ok, I thought i'd ask this in here where there is probably more hands on experience of this kind of thing. I'm looking at building a cage/tube frame car and will need a notcher. I have a large pillar drill so was going to get one of the type that you use with that but have since seen a large leverage type notcher that uses dies to punch the notches in the end of the pipes. Any advice as to which is better/easiest to use would be much appreciated, I expect a lot of fine fettling is required afterwards whichever method is used! Am only planning to build for myself so one-off really, possible future projects + bits for mates but essentially it will be for occasional hobby use not production line! Any thought much valued, thanks.
I use a hole saw in my lathe to notch tubing. I have a milling table bolted onto the bed with a v shaped fitting with a clamp that allows anything from 0.75 to 1.625 tubing to be clamped.
The fitting can be raised to cut tubes with bends near the ends and swivelled around to set the angle of the cut. I use an angle finder to set angles so both sides are the same and try and keep a clamp with a straight edge attached to the tube so that I can remove the tube from the lathe to test fit and then replace at the same angle if i need to cut more.
I use Bosch holesaws as I can get them in imperial sizes, (tubing is imperial Chrome moly), and have made at least 100 cuts on the same holesaw - trick is not to run too high a speed.
Because the lathe is so rigid, I can make fine cuts of as low as 10 or 20 thousands. I'm told that the pillar drill types are not as rigid, so you can't take small cuts - but I have never used one, so I can't vouch for that.
The fitting can be raised to cut tubes with bends near the ends and swivelled around to set the angle of the cut. I use an angle finder to set angles so both sides are the same and try and keep a clamp with a straight edge attached to the tube so that I can remove the tube from the lathe to test fit and then replace at the same angle if i need to cut more.
I use Bosch holesaws as I can get them in imperial sizes, (tubing is imperial Chrome moly), and have made at least 100 cuts on the same holesaw - trick is not to run too high a speed.
Because the lathe is so rigid, I can make fine cuts of as low as 10 or 20 thousands. I'm told that the pillar drill types are not as rigid, so you can't take small cuts - but I have never used one, so I can't vouch for that.
google the joint jigger, fairly cheap alterative.
I use a pillar drill. Trick is to remove the pilot drill and replace with a bolt with the head cut off. Have a piece of steel under the tube with a hole drilled to take the shank of the bolt, this allows the whole thing to run concentric. I used to run it slow but if you have a pillar with some balls you can cut at higher speeds just drench it in cutting/ tapping fluid.
I use a pillar drill. Trick is to remove the pilot drill and replace with a bolt with the head cut off. Have a piece of steel under the tube with a hole drilled to take the shank of the bolt, this allows the whole thing to run concentric. I used to run it slow but if you have a pillar with some balls you can cut at higher speeds just drench it in cutting/ tapping fluid.
Gassing Station | Drag Racing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff