TheSamba.com :: View topic - Tube notching/coping? What tools do you use?

Fri Aug 08, 2014 8:53 pm

I spent an hour and a half notching one tube to go in to my baja. I cut it, checked it, cut it again, checked again, cut, check, cut, check, cut, check ect. I was just chasing angles.

So im wondering what tools you folks use (outside of a notcher) to do this same business.

I use a notching calculator which helps a lot. But finding the angles on my car to enter into the calculator can be difficult.

I have an angle finder and i dont know what the other thing is called:

Pretty much i have used these two tools, as well as the notching calculator (http://www.metalgeek.com/static/cope.pcgi) but i still end up cutting a bunch of pie slices out to get these tubes to line up correctly

Heres the two tubes i just added

So, is there an easier way to do this? Is there another helpful tool i could be using?

Thanks for any input.

Fri Aug 08, 2014 10:56 pm

chop saw to get close and 4 1/2" Angle grinder till it fits

Sat Aug 09, 2014 3:45 am

4.5" angle grinder, slitting disc to rough it, flap wheel to finish.

Sat Aug 09, 2014 7:52 am

http://snip.awardspace.com/

This is an online calculator I use a lot when notching tubing. Put in your info as far as tube size, wall thickness, and intersection angle, the calculator will give you the cut angles for each side of the tube.
You need a bandsaw to make it work, but it is pretty spot-on.
I have used it on everything from 1 3/4" tube up to 3" sch 40.
Tim

Sat Aug 09, 2014 8:42 am

http://www.metalgeek.com/static/cope.pcgi

This one works pretty well. You just enter your info, and it gives you a printable template to lay onto your tube to follow.

Sat Aug 09, 2014 8:52 am

Dam, i was really hoping there was some magical tool that made it easier to do this.
Any one ever use any of the following tools?
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/pfr-p-t150/overview/

http://www.syncnotcher.com/snap_collar_purchase.html

(i found this one to be some what of a joke. I use a peice of angle iron to mark a straight line on the tube)
http://www.syncnotcher.com/images/centerfinder3.jpg

Sun Aug 10, 2014 1:24 pm

I do a ton of measuring, which I suck at. Then I make my cuts by hand with a hacksaw. Clean them up with a bench grinder and 4.5 angle grinder. It works great but at times is frusterating as hell!

Sun Aug 10, 2014 2:18 pm

I like the metalgeek deal Axitech posted. One of the tough parts is judging how far along the tube to place the template.

Use a piece of angle iron to lay a reference line along the side of the tube as suggested by thesatelliteguy. It helps keep you from going to the effort to notch one end and then the other end and winding up getting the ends out of rotation. You don't really need to mark the whole length of the tube, just near the ends where you're gonna notch. Mark both ends without having moved the angle though!

Sun Aug 10, 2014 2:35 pm

I have wanted to get the pipe master one.. SSSS PipeMaster: http://youtu.be/kbwNRnu_i0M

Sun Aug 10, 2014 3:27 pm

Even better. But if you deal with multiple tube sizes, it can get expensive. Note the price of the set in the right foreground. they can save a HUGE amount of work and frustration though and can certainly be well worth the cost.

Mon Aug 11, 2014 12:07 pm

I use the Tube Mitre program for all my notching.
I have a POS Eastwood notcher but this program ends up being a lot easier.
Generally speaking, I just printed up sheets of templates every 5 degrees from 5 to 90 for 1-1/2" .095 tube. When I got a tube to notch I get a rough idea of the angle by using a little yellow adjustable locking protractor I got from either Sears or HF and a piece of flat stock longer than the gap I plan to put the tube in. I have a protractor like the one on your pic too, but that's only good when your angle runs almost perfectly verticle from the ground since it works with gravity. Set the flat stock in the spot you want your tube imagining your looking at the long side of the notched tube on the one side of the flat stock. Then I carefully fold up my little locking protractor holding it on the nearbye tube and eyeing the reading along the edge of the flat stock. Then I use the angle I found, round down to the nearest multiple of 5 , grab a photocopy of the template for that angle, cut it out with a razor perfectly, wrap it around the tube and line it up while scotch taping the seam together. I can then slide it up and down the tube to where I want my angle cut. Using a black sharpy I trace the angle off the edge of the template to transfer the notch to the tube. Grabbing my angle grinder with cutting wheel I cut on that line keeping in mind it is easier to take away than put metal back.
After the notch is cut out I use a combination of a flap disk or a round sanding drum(the flap kind lasts longer) to get the profile hand matched to the surface it will be welded to. This is where most of your time is taken when doing it by hand. Just depends how easy you want to make the welding on how well your joints match up.

I didn't always like hand notching but once I figured out a system to make them consistantly I had fun making this cage and actually went a little over bored just because I got carried away.

Mon Aug 11, 2014 12:17 pm

http://c.shld.net/rpx/i/s/i/spin/image/spin_prod_2....9,0.5,0,0
This is that protractor I use..

btw that top thing in your pic you'll prolly find useless because it's too big. I bought one similar but with out the angle guage on it and quickly realised it looked better in the trash.

Mon Aug 11, 2014 12:26 pm

Harbor Freight sells a tube notcher for less than $50 that works in a drill press. You can guesitmate the first notch and fine tune it with fitment within 30 seconds, the second notch takes only a mockup fitment and a magic marker to get the last angle cut right and eye ball the rest at the notcher. Nine times out of ten if you are paying attention to your own reference marks you can get the right cut the first time. Each tube takes only a few minutes to cut and fit for welding. Save the hand grinding for fine tuning a fit after its notched and test fitted.

Mon Aug 11, 2014 5:21 pm

You can use that HF notcher with the cutter in a 1/2" chuck hand drill and the frame clamped or bolted to the edge of a work bench, or clamped in a vise too. So you can have a number of ways to work with it. It doesn't HAVE to be in a drill press.

Mon Aug 11, 2014 7:33 pm

i use a sharpie, portable band saw, and sometimes the grinder. built several sandrails with that.

Mon Aug 11, 2014 10:30 pm

I use a notcher most if the time. It is just so fast and precise. If I am not using a notcher my plasma cutter works pretty good also.

Mon Aug 11, 2014 10:43 pm

I use a 4.5 grinder and a williams notcher.

Wed Aug 13, 2014 4:29 pm

Hey Bugzyla how does that work? Ive never seen one. Looks to be like tis some kinda press nibbler???

Wed Aug 13, 2014 6:30 pm

its kind of a sheer type of cutter. Check youtube.

Thu Aug 14, 2014 4:39 am

I have used something as simple as a toilet paper tube and pen/pencil compass.
(that divider thing that is used to draw circles)
Slice the paper tube and wrap it around the Steel tubing. Using the compass,scribe a line around the paper tube. Cut the paper tube on the line, You now have a perfect template. Use a angle grinder, saw what ever.
This method is really good when trying to add tubing at intersections.

DWP