A Notch In
Time
Sooner or later, you'll be faced with the task of fitting one bar to another. Using a bench grinder or torch is time consuming and inaccurate. Belt sanders are expensive. So what's left?
A lot.
The following article on home-shop tubing notchers appeared in Stock Car Racing magazine's November 1995 issue. It was originally more than seven pages long, so I cut it down a bit to make it easier to print, but I think it still tells the whole story. It is adapted from and reprinted by permission of Stock Car Racing magazine.
There are two effective and inexpensive styles of tube notching equipment currently available. Dave Williams is the owner of Lowbuck Tools and is a longtime friend of weekend racers. He patented and has been offering a "punch type" notcher for many years.
With the Lowbuck notcher, the tube you're going to notch rests in a saddle below a circular die. "You put the tube in, pull the handle, and it shears a piece of the metal out," explains Williams. "Then you turn the tube over and pull the handle again and it shears another piece of the metal out and it's notched to a perfect fit, ready to weld, in about five seconds."
The diameter of the die determines the size of the notch (and the notcher comes with a set of three dies that will cover 1-1/4 inch to 1-7/8 inch O.D. tubing). Fitting tubes at an angle still requires some measuring and/or trial and error, but can be done in a matter of seconds.
This is the way tubes should fit before welding. Anything less is not likely to yield a strong fabrication. The outer two tubes were notched with different hole saw notchers, while the inner pair of tubes were cut with shearing notchers.
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