Cutting tubing

To those of you that build your own chassis...what tool do you use to cut 4130 tubing? I am looking at purchasing a new cutting tool and was looking for some input from the experts.

Thanks in advance,

~Ron

 

Tube Cutting

Milwaukee Chop saw.
I notch with a proper diameter cartridge roll. takes longer but the fit is perfect.


Corey

 

Yup, abrassive wheel (chop saw) is much more cost effective than a band saw. I prefer notching with fine tooth roughing end mills on the bridgeport, self centering vise helps too

 

Band saw most of the time. Followed by fitting using a Wilton square belt sander. Followed sometimes by a rubber backed sanding tube of the appropriate size. Tube might be the wrong word.

 

chop saw and a good quality tubing notcher don't buy the cheap ones they dont last. then file to fit and clean up on the belt sander

 

Anybody use the Williams Lowbuck tubing notcher? How does it stack up against the tubing notchers that utilize a hole saw blade?

 

Hole saw ones work good but yea cant rush the cut or let it bite or it will break the hole saw, im sure there are better tools out there that can do a better job then a tubing notcher with the whole saw it all depends on how much money you want to spend ?

Im building a new chassis for my car and the whole saw seems to work well but it's alot of filing and grinding to fit.

 

If your just building a car for yourself and time isn't an issue, you can get by with a hole saw notcher, better than nothing. You will knock the teeth of a BUNCH of saws and have lots of clean-up, but will eventually get the job done. Built my first chassis YEARS ago with one

 

I slept in a holiday inn express last night

when i volunteered in a chassis shop, Used a makita 10 inch abrasive wheel chop saw, If you chop at about a 45 twice to get a fish mouth for nineties you get pretty close by rounding off the tips of the fish mouth. Also used an air die grinder with a carbide to tune up the fit. A bench top belt sander helps too. Never used a hole saw. Also was a Bridgeport and milling machine but your not gonna have them in a home shop. I think the cheap tubing notchers are geared more to the home shop for building mild steel cars. Make sure you clean off all abrasive debris before tacking in place. And drill 1/8 inch holes inside the clusters so expanding gas inside the the tube has some place to go when you close up the tube with bead.

Al Smith

 

As for cutting steel a Makita model LC1230 is the way to go. It is a metal cutting saw not an abrasive. At first I was very skeptical but it out performs my band saw, cold saw, abrasive saw, you name it.

 

Glad you mentioned the "pee hole" Al, lots of "rookies" don't know this and get REAL frustrated when the filler blows up the tungsten at the end of the weld

 

Yup thats the saw i described above. only the blade guard was orange. Was an early model. May have been ten or twelve inch. Don't remember.
http://www.shopping.com/xPO-Makita_Makita_12_Metal_Cutting_Saw_LC1230

same saw different blade though. the old one I described had an abrasive wheel in it. But the saw itself was almost identical. I see this new one takes a carbide blade.

Al Smith

 

OK - I'm experiencing this one right now...so will give ya my opinions: To cut the blank size (without notches) I used a spark thrower (chop saw)...fairly inexpensive and got it at Home Depot - Then I upgraded to a Dake Cold Saw (Van Sant Enterprises in Pella, Iowa). Either works well - just depends on how many cars you are gonna build and how much of mess you are willing to make. Now for the notching issue: I started with the mill - and it's a small home version - actually a Drill/Mill. Worked well, but after building this first chassis some of my mills are getting dull. I think that I mighta spun em too fast and maybe took the temper out of them - not sure. I also tried several hole saw style tubing notchers with little success - and now use the JMR brand (Van Sant Enterprises in Pella, Iowa). This is the best for the money in my opinion! You can do sharp angles. I use an 18 volt battery powered drill and it mows right through the moly tubing. The JMR has a REAL heavy shaft - easy to read scale - HUGE bearing block. The nice thing is you can buy the hole saws locally on a Sunday afternoon and JMR will have a 3" deep, fine tooth hole saw for this application available soon. I calculated the end mill cost per car was gonna kill me. I even considered buying an Ultimate Tubing Notcher at PRI last year....but the JMR solved my issues and it stores in the cabinet when not in use. End of rant now....

 

I have some of the Williams tools and all work well except the tubing notcher.
I mean it works but not like what we need. I think you would be disappointed.

 

I almost am afraid to say this when i built my first car over 20+ years ago i used a band saw (very fine tooth blade) and a big pedistal grinder with a 12" wheel on it
i could fish mouth a tube with it faster than any mill or any other way
we did have a bridgeport then but I prefered the grinder

 

We have a chop saw and a band saw and the band saw leaves a much smoother edge than the chop saw but I guess if your notching it dont matter. We also have a tubing notcher that clamps in a vice and uses holesaw bits and a drill. Only about 199 bucks too.

 

Thanks to all for the info. I believe ya'll just saved me some money
I was ready to buy a cold saw and the William's tube notcher, but now I will go with the Milwaukee and a good 'ole fashioned notcher.

Thanks,

~Ron

 

Try a sawzall. With this thin wall tubing the sawzall will blast through it. It doesn't get the tubing hot or leave a nasty burr. With a wire wheel on the bench grinder you can knock the burr off and clean the pipe [inside and out] all in one shot. You need a variable speed trigger on the saw to start the cut or it will jump all over.

 

I don't care how you cut it....but make sure you try the Dillsburg Airplane Works in Dillsburg PA when you buy it...they are a bit unconventional, but you'll save a bunch of money...

 

As I stated in an earlier post I use a Wilton square wheel belt sander to do the notching.
http://www.wiltontool.com/Products.aspx?Part=4103&cat=333304

This morning I came across this belt grinder which is ideal for chassis and other work and the price is reasonable.
http://www.beaumontmetalworks.com/index.html

Watch the demo vids. It shows how I do the notching on mine....as long as I know the angle. A lot of the time it's an eyeball, sand, test, eyeball deal but it goes fast.

I may have to get a new belt grinder!

Dave Koehler
http://www.koehlerinjection.com