Outer Limits 4x4 Board

For anyone who has seen the tv show american chopper, can you tell us what tube notcher they use on their handlebars? it looks like a cutting thing in a lathe with a vice setup to feed the tube into it to notch the pipe.

looks like it works awesome, just wondering wtf its called and if ya can get em over here?

ahah that was a funny series.. caught some of it when i was in utah last yr.. unfortunately i dont remember catching any episodes with tube bending in it

i did see a heap of bickering, atitudes and phat choppers.. wonder if we'll see it over here after mythbusters is finished..?

that one they made for lance armstrong was pretty tidy..

shorty_f0rty wrote:ahah that was a funny series.. caught some of it when i was in utah last yr.. unfortunately i dont remember catching any episodes with tube bending in it

i did see a heap of bickering, atitudes and phat choppers.. wonder if we'll see it over here after mythbusters is finished..?

that one they made for lance armstrong was pretty tidy..

its on Discovery Channel on Foxtel -- if you got pay tv

probably an end mill notcher

The problem with using this style of notching tool, it that you end up with very thin ends on the notch as the cutter is size for size with the pipe. This doesn't make for a very strong joint.

I prefer to use this style of notcher, as the ends are full thickness & you can get a good stong weld on it

http://www.steeraust.com.au/steer/notcher.htm

The other way of doing it, is some laser cutter cutting workshops have a third axis on their machines, which is actually a lathe chuck. The laser head will poistion itself ontop of the tube & the chuck will rotate to make the cut. This is used when building complex tube frames (like a buggy). I have used this method for a race car chassis.

http://vansantent.com/tube_coping_machi ... otcher.htm

champion bubs, thats it .......but for $US3500 i think we'll have a crack at setting it up in our current lathe

will have to track down an end mill cutting bit somewhere round here

antt wrote:champion bubs, thats it .......but for $US3500 i think we'll have a crack at setting it up in our current lathe

will have to track down an end mill cutting bit somewhere round here

for the end mill try hare and forbes on boundary road coopers plains

better off trying to set it up in a mill

and a endmill to do 1 3/4" tube will cost you a fortune aswell

The pipe notcher I posted earlier would cost about the same as one end mill, however it comes with 5 dies to do every thing from 25 - 50NB pipe. I have tried both & would recomend using the manual one, just easier & quicker, plus for the same price you can do a range of pipes.

We're notching Chrome/Moly or Stainless Steel tubes most days but we use a bridgport mill and a "roughing end mill cutter" as we get the best and fastest results using these. They kill the holesaw type cutters hands down and we can cut the tubes at any angle we like, offset cuts, whatever we require. They also have the benefit of being able to place back in the mill and take just a tiny extra sliver of a cut if required.
Regards Andrew.