Didnt see a Tools/Shop section of the board like other forums have, so i guess I'll throw this here. Feel free to move it to the proper section if this is the wrong section to put it,... anyways,...

Picked up the HF Tubing/Pipe notcher. $40 w/ 20% off coup, not too bad on the price considering the fancy ones are 300+. In addition to that, I picked up a 13pc Milwaukee hole saw ket from homeDepot for $80

Eariler today I went to Waukegan Steel Sales and got some prices on steel. 1 3/4 DOM .120 wall is about $5/Foot. Plus they didnt have any in stock, so I headed back to Home depot and bought a few feet of 1 1/4 Inside diameter, and 1 1/2 inside diameter Sch. 40 Black pipe. Remember,... PIPE goes by INSIDE diameter, and TUBEING goes by OUTSIDE diameter. So,..

Turns out that 1 3/4in hole saw was the closes that came in the Milwaukee set for the 1 1/4 pipe(out side diameter is 1.66in)

I took the HF tubing/pipe notcher out of the box, and set it up with the 1 1/4in pipe and started notching.(I havent made space for it to bolt down to my work bench, so i just put it in a vice for now.)







The Milwaukee hole saw did very well cutting into the thick Sch. 40 pipe. BUT, the hole saw where not deep enough to cut all the way through the pipe cause of the section that was being cut was hittin the very top inside of the hole saw. I backed up the hole saw, used a pair of plyers and was able to wiggle and break the cut portion down, OR JMR makes deep hole saws that will allow full continuous cut


(second cut, with lube, note the top of the cut portion was removed to allow the full cut)

You may ask, why dont you just turn the pipe 180* and finish up the cut,... Reason you cant do this is cause from the factory, the drill is not perfectly centered over the pipe. Common complaint on the HF website under the users reviews.




gaps are caused by not having the proper sized hole saw for the OD size of the pipe.

 

Pics of the gaps


(can see light through the gap)


(Spent a little time with the grinder and cleaned up the gap a little)



45* cut, max is 60*




I think I'm gonna get some thin washers, and space out the pipe holding fixture, and that will help center the pipe fixture. Also with the correct diameter hole saw(for pipe), OR, since 1 1/4 pipe is 1.66in outside diameter, I could try
using my 1 1/2 hole saw and then use the grinder to widen the the notch,... That polly will be easier than using the 1 3/4 hole saw and trying to grind the middle of the notch...

Another thing i noticed is that what the drill shaft is held in(I'm gonna call it the drill shaft block), all that has is brass bushings, not needle bearing like the big dollar ones have. These will wear your eventually, so try to keep them lubed to avoid excessive/premature wear

I did not try the 1 1/2 ID pipe. Will save that for another time. I ran out of wire for the welder after welding up all the pieces I cut. Need to work on the welding part a little more,...

 

I started with one but it wore out in about 10 notches if that

 

yeah, i figured as much. Those brass bushing that support the shaft are junk, but eh, it will get me though some step bars I wanna build for my Ram