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Tubing notching

Hi all! I am putting together another circletrack car, and am about to start the rollcage. I bought a basic cage kit, and am going to cut and fit the rest, such as front and rear hoops, ect. In the past, I have tried different methods of notching the ends of the bars, with various levels of effort and results. I have used hole saws, torches, grinders, files, all the fun stuff! I was just looking at a Williams Lowbuck Tool catalog, and they have a notcher that looks simple. It has a die, it says you put the pipe in and pull the lever and the die punches the notch out. I will be using 1 3/4 inch .095 thick steel roundstock. So a few questions... How does this notch the tube without collapsing it? The catalog says the die is 62 Rockwell, any idea how long/how many notches this might last till it is dull or worn out? Has anyone used this tool before, or something similar? It looks like a huge timesaver, but at a little over $300 I really don't want to just try it, and end up with another dustcatcher! Any thoughts/experiences are appreciated! Thanks, Earl

Reply to
big e lewis
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I haven't used the unit in question, I do have a lot of production experience with the technique. The unit clips the bottom side of the tube using a die the same diameter as the mating tube. This means full support on the bottom (outside) of the tube.

The big issue is fitup: A notcher does not give the full fitup that a hole saw rig will. Is it good enough for you? Open question. For certain you will have a flat end that will need to be hammered flat against the mating tube before.

Life expectancy is an open question. Rockwell 62 is more than hard enough to handle the tube, you need to ask the questions about clearances, precision, etc. If the tool is anything at all, I'd guess that wear would not be an issue for the first several roll cages. You are only talking a few hundred cuts.

We build full tubing frames with 1" and 1-1/4" tube (small off road buggies) A roughing mill in a bridgeport or mill/drill is really nice. Allows precise cuts, rework is a breeze. We switched to a hole saw rig, works ok, all rework for better fit is hand grinding. Using the notcher in conjuntion with a proper sized sanding head is fast and easy. Suspect you will not like the fitup you get with the notcher without some sort of secondary sanding/grinding. But it sure gives you a nice start.

big e lewis wrote:

Reply to
RoyJ

It notches one side at a time. I bought one of those for South Seattle, and it worked fine, as long as you had it set correctly. It is designed for pipe, not thin wall tube. They are very popular with fence installers.

Reply to
Ernie Leimkuhler

The one we have in the race shop is about 12 years old. Still works like a charm. I would hate to use anything else.

Reply to
Steve Austin

Gee, 3 answers:

Sorta OK Piece of Junk Works like a charm

Someone needs to break the tie

Reply to
Rex

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