Bought one of those drill press tube notching jigs from Baileigh's for work this week. I have three prototype tube frame parts I need to get welded next week and have a pile of tubes to cope in preparation for that. Just looking for general tips, tricks, and advice.
My thinking is I can center drill the tubes in a mill to get the locations of the copes and use a digital protractor to get my angle relative to the tube axis and rotation of the cope relative to bends in the tubes that are bent. Sounds logical?
Also, recommend me a hole saw?
oldtin
PowerDork
5/13/16 1:34 p.m.
I've clamped a flat bar in position and stuck an angle finder on it to set the cut. Just use a Home Depot/rigid hole saw. Don't forget to precut your piece so you aren't trying to run the hole saw through the entire tube.
I have the Harbor Freight version. It works great. Beats the hell out of eyeballing it. Get a good hole saw. A really good one, like the best one you can find, Bi-Metal.
Buy a good hole saw, then wear it out a bit. They actually work a bit nicer after they are not quite as sharp.
When you are doing a cut, its not unusual for the tube to slip down in the vice a bit, which will compromise your angle a wee bit.
The bushings will wear, and allow the cutter to move to the right from the tube centerline as time goes on. I've built 30 or 40 cages, and I've changed the bushings 3 times. If I was real concerned about accuracy, I would have done them more often.
Angle is pretty easy to get right. Rotation is a bitch. If I need to account for rotation, I will cope one end, then hold it in place and mark the tube. I also never work from anything more than a rough sketch, either. I see pros who draw the whole thing, then cut and cope all the tubes. No hable, senior.
They work great, but they are tough to be dead accurate on. If you want real accuracy, there is a machine out there somewhere that uses an end mill and a protractor. Its about 100 times more cash than and "Ol' Joint Jigger"
There is a guy with a series of YouTube videos that shows how to make increasingly complex and incredibly accurate notches and bends in tubing with only a chop saw, angle grinder, and manual tubing bender..
Streetwiseguy wrote:
When you are doing a cut, its not unusual for the tube to slip down in the vice a bit, which will compromise your angle a wee bit.
The bushings will wear, and allow the cutter to move to the right from the tube centerline as time goes on. I've built 30 or 40 cages, and I've changed the bushings 3 times. If I was real concerned about accuracy, I would have done them more often.
They work great, but they are tough to be dead accurate on. If you want real accuracy, there is a machine out there somewhere that uses an end mill and a protractor. Its about 100 times more cash than and "Ol' Joint Jigger"
That sums up my experience with one also, but I presumed it was a combination of the cheap setup I bought plus my lack of experience using one...I'm sure that was part of it, but glad to know it wasn't just me.
I the end I just used an angle grinder to get them fishmouthed.
