Lets say I have a Delta benchtop drill press that has a table that will
tilt up to 45 degrees, a pipe yoke vise that will attach to the table
and a 1.5" bi-metal holesaw. Wouldn't it be possible to do acceptible
saddles with this setup in straight 1.5" black pipe or rigid metal
conduit? Obviously
I haven't tried it yet. I'll seldom have to do other than a 90 degree
angle connection. What is it that the notcher adds? I have very
little play in my spindle. I don't have to do this for a living just
an occasional notch.

--zeb

As long as you stay close to 90 degrees. When you try to cut an angle you
are very likely to butcher it.

--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

wrote in message
oups.com...
Lets say I have a Delta benchtop drill press that has a table that will
tilt up to 45 degrees, a pipe yoke vise that will attach to the table
and a 1.5" bi-metal holesaw. Wouldn't it be possible to do acceptible
saddles with this setup in straight 1.5" black pipe or rigid metal
conduit? Obviously
I haven't tried it yet. I'll seldom have to do other than a 90 degree
angle connection. What is it that the notcher adds? I have very
little play in my spindle. I don't have to do this for a living just
an occasional notch.

--zeb

What is it that the notcher adds if I were to do angles other than 90?

The #1 thing is rigidity. With a pipe notcher the clamp is connected to the
spindle by a heavy steel plate over a few inches. With a Drill press you
have the table, table arm, column and drill head in between over several
feet.

When you cut square the saw is working on opposite sides equally which
cancels out the side forces. At an angle one side of the saw is cutting and
the saw tends to wander causing off center holes. Also it tends to bounce
making the hole ragged. The more rigid notcher minimizes those effects.

I have been cutting 1" polished stainless tube for my pulpits, dorade guards
and mast rails. With these rails you want the welds to be almost
invisible. A nice clean cut makes for a tight fit which makes getting an
even weld a lot easier. Started off trying to do it with my 20" Delta DP
and quickly upgraded to a notcher after screwing up enough tube to have paid
for the notcher in the first place.

The other advantage is material handling. When you need to notch a 10'
piece at 30 degrees on a drill press the other end will be bouncing against
the ceiling. You can clamp a notcher on the work bench and keep everything
at a reasonable height.
..
--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

wrote in message
oups.com...
What is it that the notcher adds if I were to do angles other than 90?

There are always several ways to do any job.
When notching pipe to weld together, a really pro shop will have
several different techniques, depending on material, size, wall
thickness, and end use.
A tubing notcher, like the manual ones sold by williams lowbuck tools,
will notch tubing- they wont work very well on schedule 40 1 1/2" pipe,
as they are made for much thinner walls.
Rigid conduit is thinner than pipe, might work with a tubing notcher.
But when you need a very precise notch, you wouldnt use a mechanical
notcher anyway, either hand powered or one that fits in a punch press
or ironworker. These mechanical notchers are not too precise, and are
used in applications like roll bars, where a mig or tig weld will not
even be sanded out.
For real precise fits, a hole saw will work- I use annualar cutters,
like Hougen makes for mag drills, instead of ordinary hole saws, in an
"ol joint jigger" set up in my bridgeport, and it will give very
accurate notches, at any angle, in most pipes.
Other techniques include abrasive pipe notchers- basically belt sanders
with the end roller interchangeable, so the size of its radius matches
the pipe size you want notched.
Or mechanical mini milling machines that use end mills.
Or, in extreme cases, laser or plasma cnc machines with 4 axis of
movement.

How big a hammer you need depends on the nail.

You ought to be able to to some notching with your drill press. You
will find on larger stuff that the drill press is just not rigid
enough, and probably a woodworking tool, and wont go slow enough, for
some metalworking. The morse taper slip fit of the chuck in not
intended for heavy loads, and past a certain size of hole or thickness
of material, you will find the chuck comes loose and spins free- This
happened to me with a much bigger drill press than yours, when drilling
hundreds of 1 1/2" holes in 1/2" stainless bar.

These guys sell a range of device to do this job- the purple hole saw
guide would be the logical next step for you, as it would allow you to
do angles as well-
http://www.mittlerbros.com/

On 1 Feb 2006 11:34:24 -0800, wrote:

There are always several ways to do any job.
When notching pipe to weld together, a really pro shop will have
several different techniques, depending on material, size, wall
thickness, and end use.
A tubing notcher, like the manual ones sold by williams lowbuck tools,
will notch tubing- they wont work very well on schedule 40 1 1/2" pipe,
as they are made for much thinner walls.
Rigid conduit is thinner than pipe, might work with a tubing notcher.
But when you need a very precise notch, you wouldnt use a mechanical
notcher anyway, either hand powered or one that fits in a punch press
or ironworker. These mechanical notchers are not too precise, and are
used in applications like roll bars, where a mig or tig weld will not
even be sanded out.
For real precise fits, a hole saw will work- I use annualar cutters,
like Hougen makes for mag drills, instead of ordinary hole saws, in an
"ol joint jigger" set up in my bridgeport, and it will give very
accurate notches, at any angle, in most pipes.
Other techniques include abrasive pipe notchers- basically belt sanders
with the end roller interchangeable, so the size of its radius matches
the pipe size you want notched.
Or mechanical mini milling machines that use end mills.
Or, in extreme cases, laser or plasma cnc machines with 4 axis of
movement.

How big a hammer you need depends on the nail.

You ought to be able to to some notching with your drill press. You
will find on larger stuff that the drill press is just not rigid
enough, and probably a woodworking tool, and wont go slow enough, for
some metalworking. The morse taper slip fit of the chuck in not
intended for heavy loads, and past a certain size of hole or thickness
of material, you will find the chuck comes loose and spins free- This
happened to me with a much bigger drill press than yours, when drilling
hundreds of 1 1/2" holes in 1/2" stainless bar.

These guys sell a range of device to do this job- the purple hole saw
guide would be the logical next step for you, as it would allow you to
do angles as well-
http://www.mittlerbros.com/
A 4 inch hand grinder makes nice fishmouths, Hacksaw roughly to size,
mark with a template, and grind to fit.

A shaped grindstone on a bench grinder works good too.
Either is faster than the joint jigger. We tried all three building
our fuselage. (all tig welded, and BEAUTIFULLY fitted.

clare at snyder.on.ca wrote:


A 4 inch hand grinder makes nice fishmouths, Hacksaw roughly to size,
mark with a template, and grind to fit.

A shaped grindstone on a bench grinder works good too.
Either is faster than the joint jigger. We tried all three building
our fuselage. (all tig welded, and BEAUTIFULLY fitted.

That's what I did too.
But I used a program called WinMiter to make cutting patterns.
Now THAT works nice...


Richard

On Thu, 02 Feb 2006 01:04:32 GMT, Richard Lamb
wrote:

clare at snyder.on.ca wrote:


A 4 inch hand grinder makes nice fishmouths, Hacksaw roughly to size,
mark with a template, and grind to fit.

A shaped grindstone on a bench grinder works good too.
Either is faster than the joint jigger. We tried all three building
our fuselage. (all tig welded, and BEAUTIFULLY fitted.

That's what I did too.
But I used a program called WinMiter to make cutting patterns.
Now THAT works nice...


Richard
That's what I mean by templates, but my partner in crime is a
professional fabricator, and he carved the joints faster freehand than
I could with the template.