Homemade hydraulic tube notcher?

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Hey guys, first of all, merry christmas to y´all, my best wishes for you too. Ohh and happy new year (even thou it´s still far, it´s better to say it now)Well, my question, lol, has anyone from here made its own hydraulic tube notcher? I`ve buy a 6 ton hydraulic ram for making a tube bender (i´ll bend  1.5" .125" tube) but I dont know if itll work. Have to wait till I have the access to the steel and lathe for making the dies. Meanwhile I saw that there´s some tube notchers that use the ram, and will use about 4 tons and that is more than necessary. Does anyone of you have one like these? Any pics that might want to share?Has anyone built one from scratch?how does it work? I´ve watched pics, but they are low resolution and small, so I can´t really figure out how to make one, maybe it´ll be too hard. Thanks for your cooperation!
Reply:Have you seen the Williams lowbuck mechanical tubing notcher?http://www.lowbucktools.com/notcher.html Its not cheap but supposedly works pretty well and is quick.The problem I see with a homemade hydraulic notcher is that it will probably be slow and you are still going to need some kind of punch dies.The commercial ones I have seen demoed at the welding supply place are quick but fairly expensive.Hobbiest hack
Reply:yeah actually thats the one I took a look at. However Ive only seen it on that page. I dont know how the punch dies are like or anything. Do you have a pic of them or something like that? I dont have any knowledge of it rather than those 2 pics of the site. I would like to make mine so thats why Im asking. Thank you.
Reply:of course, you could always go with the holesaw model...something that will hold the pipe and then hold a holesaw bit for a drill perpendicular to the pipe so that you can drill the round notch out of the end.  It obviously won't do anything other than round cuts though.
Reply:Yeah, thats a good option and I could easily do it. However, I would love to understand how the punch works, since it seems to be faster and I have this hydraulic ram standing next to me doing nothing. Anyway, tomorrow ill go looking for some holesaws.
Reply:I have a Lowbuck.  I have had it for 2 years.   I like it.  It is quick and simple and portable. It cost $350.  It comes with two or three dies depending which option you choose.  I use to notch 1.25-1.75 sched. 40 pipe.  I don't know how hydraulics would help you with this tool.  It works fast enough and with proper handle(4') cut relatively easy.  Only thing that would make it faster is being able to notch more than one pipe at one time.  Takes practice to notch angles other than 90 degree.  Though it does a good job once one gets the hang of it.Only used a hole saw once on some tailpipe, immediatly determined it was too slow a process for me. Don't know what you are doing with it, though if speed and heavy wall metal is tubing is in the plan the the notcher is the way to go.Last edited by tapwelder; 12-18-2005 at 10:56 PM.
Reply:If you have a lathe or a milling machine you can buy a side cutting milling bit in whatever size you need and either clamp the cutter in the lathe chuck and rig up or buy a fixture for the tool post, or use a milling machine and cutting even compound angles would be easy.
Reply:the milling bit has to be a side cutter
Reply:Thanks guys, im interested in making one like the lowbuck. Cause of the easyness and time it takes to notch something. I have access to a lathe and a mill but in a workshop at my school. If I use this notcher I might use it here at home. Here I work saturdays and sundays(days in which I have the most free time)  and school is not open, so a Home notcher is important. BTW tapwelder, would you mind to post some pics of the dies? maybe some of the notcher? maybe some measurements? I also dont understand if the lowbucks actually cuts the pipe or if it just bends it. I took a look at this page http://www.lowbucktools.com/intime4.html and it seems by the picture that it is just bended. Can you help me tapwelder? Thanks!Last edited by elvergon; 12-19-2005 at 12:07 AM.
Reply:wanting to see this
Reply:Williams of Low Buck is one sharp cookie in my book.  I've been a fan of his since the last century. (I bought my Low Buck notcher in 1988)  I still have it and used it just last week.I also have a Vogel. Attached Imageslife is good
Reply:I have the Vogel in a hand press.  If I remember correctly the hand press is at the limit for cutting notches in two inch (2 3/8) schedule pipe.  I believe it's rated at six tons pressure.When we're doing production I put it in an iron worker.  But most of the time I use it off of a receiver hitch.  I have three on the back of the truck, one on each corner and then the trailer receiver.  I also have receivers on my different benches. Attached Imageslife is good
Reply:Having the receivers on the corners of the bed enable me to use all kinds of tools from vices to benders on the truck as I need them.I have the Vogel of course, the Low Buck notcher, a Hossfield knock off, pipe vise, machinest vise, and different specialty tools on inserts.  These allow me to build what I want generally on site if required. Attached Imageslife is good
Reply:A friend of mine used to make the Craft Bender and sell it at the Canton Trade Days.  He made me this larger version just because he was such a good guy and I relented and sold him my baby Hossfield. Here I'm using it to bend saddles or rings for piers. Attached Imageslife is good
Reply:I make my notches by cutting a point at the end of the tube to be welded. For a 90 degree connection two 22.5 cuts with the chop saw provide a fishmouth complete with a veed edge for weld to fill for strength. Plus my chop saw maxs out at somewhere around ten inch pipe much thicker than any notcher could handle. For a forty five degree joint I'll just cut a 22.5 cut on one side leaving the original 90 degree cut for the other 50% of the end making an angled fishmouth. Admittedly it takes time to figure out what kind of cuts to make for various angles but it is possible. Give it a try.
Reply:You must be one gifted fitter.  And I would like to see a picture of your chop saw.Your description of a forty five fit resemble this? Attached Imageslife is good
Reply:Of course I don't use a chop saw, noise, sparks, fire danger during our drought, etc. and so on.  I've found a portaband much more user friendly for field work.The other day I had to do a quickie at a friends and I didn't have my Vogel with me.  This is a notch done with a portaband on site. Attached Imageslife is good
Reply:Of course if you don't really want to notch a two inch pipe to two inch  or two and a half to two and a half inch pipe or a combination of those two sizes you can use a ring that a friend of myself and me came up with some time back.Here I'm attaching a two inch (2 3/8) horizontal to a two and a half inch (2 7/8) vertical post using not only the ring but the tool we designed for aligning the joint. Attached Imageslife is good
Reply:As you can see here the joints are close enough that Ray Charles could have welded them up rather easily. Attached Imageslife is good
Reply:Here's a shot of our alignment tool.Yeah, I know.It does a lot like a modified pair of vice grips doesn't it?If you're doing a fence or railing the the rings then some sort of alignment tool is necessary. It's really difficult to tack up the rings in place on the post and then have the rails come in perfectly.  A little off means a different gap and a different gap means a different distortion from the weld to have to deal with afterwards.We usually put the posts on eight foot centers and use four alignment tools.  One on each post and then one to align to the previous length of pipe since we use twenty four or twenty five foot lengths of pipe for railings.First we put the ring alignment tools on the posts inline.  Then we lay in our rail pipe.  We follow that with the rings between the post and the rail pipe.  The alignment tool uses gravity to hold the ring in place properly positioned while tacking up. Attached Imageslife is good
Reply:The beauty of learning how to notch pipe is you're only limited then by your imagination when it comes to making things from pipe.The posts are six inch (6 5/8) and the gate is four inch (4 5/8) pipe.  The gate is made with sprinkler pipe, about fourteen gauge and the posts and overhead are all schedule forty. Attached Imageslife is good
Reply:If you think it's overkill consider what goes inside that bowtie emblem. Attached Imageslife is good
Reply:Of course it fit!And yes, a weldor can be a sculptor of stone too.  In fact it makes things much simpler.  One idea, one man, nothing but a thing. Attached Imageslife is good
Reply:Originally we had a rock star in the overhead with a camera in it.  An errant concrete truck driver took it out.  So I not only got to replace the posts on the overhead, I got to make another star.  And this time we moved the camera into the overhead to clean up the appearance of the star.Here's the first star in place before we installed the camera. Attached Imageslife is good
Reply:Here's the new rock just being a rock on a stand after a couple of cuts with a worm drive armed with a diamond blade. Attached Imageslife is goodI like to say the biggest difference between me and Jesse James besides all the money, the movie star wife, the height, tattoos, etc, is he plays with rock stars, I make them.In this stone was a rock star just begging to be exposed. Attached Imageslife is good
Reply:wroughtn nice work  dont know about you but im lazy so i find simple and fast ways to lay out and set upstuff  its all most a must wen you work by your self and it makes the job easerChuckASME Pressure Vessel welder
Reply:Everyone knows you can't have rocks stars without bars.  Just as true is the fact that the bars can't just be bars, they have to be twisted.  The only thing better than twisted is twisted and hot. Attached Imageslife is good
Reply:One of the things that's hardest for us to do is to see something for what it can be over what it appears to be.It doesn't matter if it's a kid or a hunk of stone. You have to have vision and faith in them and in yourself.This is especially true when you've worked you butt off and what you've got is just this. Attached Imageslife is good
Reply:I like to say "you can't make a sword without heat and a hammer."The same is true of rock stars. Attached Imageslife is good
Reply:Those of you in the know look at that star and smugly smile.  Nothing but a little work with a sandblaster and some kind of patina.You'd be wrong, real wrong.The patina and polished finish come from a weldor's bag of tricks.Cutting torch.It's like magic, just waving a wand healing cracks and smoothing out blemishes while spreading a tan that takes Mother Nature centuries to copy. Attached Imageslife is good
Reply:These also come from a weldor's bag of tricks. Attached Imageslife is good
Reply:Originally Posted by 12,000 DoorsI make my notches by cutting a point at the end of the tube to be welded. For a 90 degree connection two 22.5 cuts with the chop saw provide a fishmouth complete with a veed edge for weld to fill for strength. Plus my chop saw maxs out at somewhere around ten inch pipe much thicker than any notcher could handle. For a forty five degree joint I'll just cut a 22.5 cut on one side leaving the original 90 degree cut for the other 50% of the end making an angled fishmouth. Admittedly it takes time to figure out what kind of cuts to make for various angles but it is possible. Give it a try.
Reply:And now you know why rock stars hang out around twisted bars.  It isn't the alcohol, it's the support. Attached Imageslife is good
Reply:See what I mean? Attached Imageslife is good
Reply:Originally Posted by SandyDo you use the same 22.5º for a T on all diameters?  After seeing some pics of what looked like the cut you are describing I was playing around with various angles and this cutting method works pretty dern good. I didn't measure the angle, just made a mark on the deck of my band saw.
Reply:Excellent work Harv, as always, very creative.
Reply:This happens to be two inch schedule forty (2 3/8).  The measurement will be three quarters plus or minus a thirty second or two.I want a diagonal cut from three quarters of an inch back to about a third of the end of the pipe. Attached Imageslife is good
Reply:Ideally when I'm done I'll have two of these cuts a hundred and eighty degrees apart. The end of the notched pipe will be divided approximately in thirds.  One third top cut, one third uncut, bottom third bottom cut. Attached Imageslife is good
Reply:The only variance I've found in this is when I'm dealing with different gauges of pipe.  Thicker walls mean cutting less and thinner means cutting a little deeper.  But half inch pipe to twelve inch, it's all worked for me. Attached Imageslife is good
Reply:Originally Posted by SandyExcellent work Harv, as always, very creative.
Reply:Ideally when I'm done I'll have two of these cuts a hundred and eighty degrees apart. The end of the notched pipe will be divided approximately in thirds. One third top cut, one third uncut, bottom third bottom cut.
Reply:Some of these young guys are going to take my hard earned lessons places I can't even imagine them going.And that's a good thing.Right?
Reply:I am truly impressed. You are indeed an artist. Not many can become a sculpture in steel, stone,and tool. I can only hope to come close to your level of competence before i die. I know it will take many years of hard work and practice. There is one little thing, WHY DON'T THAT GATE SAG???
Reply:Originally Posted by SandyThanks Harv, exactly what I was needing filled in. I was doing some 1 and then some 1 1/2 cutting darn near to center. Looked to me like with hole saws you would have a very long leading edge. Couldn't see where that would add anything to strength at all. Could I guess that the angle you cut varies a little along with the pipe diameter? Maybe maybe 15° on a 4" and 30° on a 1" ?-?-?-? Or is it always about the same angle?
Reply:Originally Posted by KEENAVVI am truly impressed. You are indeed an artist. Not many can become a sculpture in steel, stone,and tool. I can only hope to come close to your level of competence before i die. I know it will take many years of hard work and practice. There is one little thing, WHY DON'T THAT GATE SAG???
Reply:Do you have a picture of the hinges??
Reply:Originally Posted by KEENAVVDo you have a picture of the hinges??
Reply:cool stuff
Reply:Originally Posted by wroughtn_harvA friend of mine used to make the Craft Bender and sell it at the Canton Trade Days.  He made me this larger version just because he was such a good guy and I relented and sold him my baby Hossfield. Here I'm using it to bend saddles or rings for piers.