i'm looking for info about the cheapo tubing notchers that harbor freight sells they range from $29 to $49 or so. i know you get what you pay for blah, blah, blah .... but i find it hard to believe the $179 ones from JD2 or pro-tools is that much better, especially for the avg home user who doesn't make 5 cages a week. any recommendations ? thanks ....

- jack

It is not the notcher that notches, it is the drill :D
Get the cheepo one.

I have the cheapo Harborfreight notcher. Worked great for me in my home shop, only built 1 cage with it. Get it.

Originally posted by morpheus
i'm looking for info about the cheapo tubing notchers that harbor freight sells they range from $29 to $49 or so. i know you get what you pay for blah, blah, blah .... but i find it hard to believe the $179 ones from JD2 or pro-tools is that much better, especially for the avg home user who doesn't make 5 cages a week. any recommendations ? thanks ....

- jack grinder!

interesting comment ... are you saying it's the drill itself and use a good drill or use a good hole saw ?

brings up another question about tube notchers, drill press or hand drill ??

thanks.

- jack

I agree with Jimmy. Use a grinder with a cut off wheel. Or better yet get a chop saw. Angle the tube, cut, flip it over, cut again. Presto, notched tubing. And you get (Or maybe have) a chop saw. :D:D:D

For the first few years I used the chop saw/ grinder and then I bought the JD2 notcher. Best thing I bought for the bending!
I clamp it the the bender and use a 1/2" one speed slow hand drill!

A bimetal hole saw, or free hand them with a torch.

I have the cheap harbor freight nothcer. I think it works great. well worth the $29.95. just my .02

The only difference between the spendy one and the cheep one is the bushings and the country of origin. USA v CHINA

Like I said I have the JD2 version and it rocks BUT I could see one for less$$ doing just fine in a garage type setting. All it really does is holds the tube while the hole saw cuts out the notch. With some decent bushings you could make something real easy. I will post a pic of mine in a few and if some one has the $29.00 job and can post it that would be great for a compare.

Here it is.

I am just starting to do my own bending and notching, but I plan on using my drill press, a hole saw, and nothing else. I can easily clamp the tubing to the work surface and rotate it to any angle. Is there something I am missing or does no one here have a drill press?

J. J.

How long does one hole saw last? It seen like they would get dull really fast.
:usa:

Originally posted by patooyee
I am just starting to do my own bending and notching, but I plan on using my drill press, a hole saw, and nothing else. I can easily clamp the tubing to the work surface and rotate it to any angle. Is there something I am missing or does no one here have a drill press?

J. J.

No your not missing a thing, why don't you do and tell us how it worked out for ya and to answer some of your questions the JD2/Pro Tools notcher works very well. At our shop we have three of them, I think it's the best borring style notcher you can get. However it all depends on how much it's worth to you, how much work you going to do? I think good tooling is important at some point, cause believe me we have worked with some really cheap shiat and it makes some jobs seem as if there is no end... My .02

Originally posted by rokcrln
Like I said I have the JD2 version and it rocks BUT I could see one for less$$ doing just fine in a garage type setting. All it really does is holds the tube while the hole saw cuts out the notch. With some decent bushings you could make something real easy. I will post a pic of mine in a few and if some one has the $29.00 job and can post it that would be great for a compare.

My $29 el cheapo is out on loan :rolleyes: so no pics, at least till I get it back or until the dude thats borrowing it reads this and takes some :D I can say that the JD2 is certianley better made. For one the clamp is better on the JD2. Now have I had a problem clamping with the $29 harbor freight notcher? I havent had any problems at all with it. Course in my opinion it wont last nearly as long. For me, at this point in my life, thats not a big deal. I figure when I wear this out I'll spend the $$$ on a good one.

We go through an avarage of 1 notcher per Cage... Ocasionally we can get a bit more. that is the cheapo unit from Harbor freight or Grizzly..... IT is worth the $ to purchas the protools notcher. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that a LARGER shaft rotating on Bearings is going to be more acurate and stronger. Also the cheapoo's I usually have to modify so they cut somewhat acurate and strait. I would save myself a ton of time buy stepping up and making the purchase. They always seem to break where the adapter is for the hole saw and usually weld the holesaw on them perminant and chuckem when we're done. Like the old saying goes....Can't make chicken salad out of chicken shit!

I have the cheepo on and I honestly use it at least every other day. It looks about the same as the JD2 pictured above (but obviously it's gonna be less built for that much less $) But mine has paid for itself many times over and even if I had to replace it now it'd be worth it. The is one thing that has worn and that is the threads on the clamp part, they have started to strip at the 1 3/4 size (the size I use all the time, probably due to tons of metal shavings and constant clamping and unclamping) but even with that I could drill out the old bolt hole weld a nut to the bottom and it'd be as good as new. And about using the grinder F@#k that! let's compare 30 sec for a perfect notch everytime ( it's totally predicatble and easily duplicated) or 5-10 min on a nothch trying to get it close, then trying to match it on the other side. I actally tried to grind a notch the other night (cause of the stripped clamp) and cussed the whole twenty min, going back and forth checking and grinding.....................then I had to duplicate it :flipoff2:

Originally posted by patooyee
I am just starting to do my own bending and notching, but I plan on using my drill press, a hole saw, and nothing else. I can easily clamp the tubing to the work surface and rotate it to any angle. Is there something I am missing or does no one here have a drill press?

I've done that.
I've also freehanded 'em with a torch.
And I've used the chop saw.
And I've used a grinder.

Now I have a JD2 notcher. One of the best investments I've made; it gets used just about daily.

Problem with holesawing tube in a drill press, is the chatter from the holesaw, will unseat the taper seat in the backside of the chuck, repeatedly. Other problem I had, was about halfway down, it'd bind, kick the table a bit (this is why most guys who do this, use a mill instead of a drill press) and then it'd break off my pilot drill bit and/or bend up my holesaw.

As for holesaws going dull fast, you get the good ($8-15/each) bimetal holesaws, and I think we replace holesaws about once a month or two. Remember, that's daily use.

For occasional use, the cheapie ones should be fine, but it's worth getting at least a cheapie. Much easier than anything else. For my own stuff, I knew when I started doing this, that I wanted to eventually do it for a living, so I spent years buying good tools and working on my own stuff till I had enough to do it full time.

I good option is to make a pipe jig for your drill press and use a bi-metal hole saw blade.

I have a 'Ol Jigger that cost about $180 it works great

I also have the William's low buch notcher - $269 it's awesome, you put in the tube, pull and lever and it chomps off the end of the tube into a perfect notch.

I like it better than the hole say unit, it's faster, no mess, no hole saws, just pull the lever and your done. Plus, it does not leave a knife edge that is a bad weldment.

I have used Plasma, smoke wrench, grinder, etc in the past. All work but kind of take too much time and hard to make look as nice.

-Stumbaugh