One Cool Fab Tool

I've been working on boat railings, flounder rigs, leaning posts, etc.... which all involve pipe fabrication, as some of you might know. Up until now, I have been using a pattern to mark or layout my "fishmouth", miters or saddles as some fabricators call em. I would then simply take my 4" grinder and cut away and form the "fishmouth" on the piping. I've used this method for years and I have it down pretty good. I can basically tell what the miter is gonna look like n grind it.

I bought one of these tubing/pipe notchers from Eastwood, I have had this tool for at least 2 years and have never used it. Well today we were fabing up a duck hunters rack for a Polaris Ranger, and I decided to try this thing out. I found it pretty easy to use, all ya have to do is square the mounting base of it with the main frame and bolt it to your drill press stand, line up the shaft to your chuck on the drill press and presto, ya got a instant notcher. Simply install the tubing or pipe into the tools holder and with the proper size hole saw it makes perfect "fishmouth" cuts for your project. Check out the pics.

Very nice.

Interesting, I wouldn't have thought that drilling would be the best way to accomplish that but when I think about it a while, it is a good idea. I'm guessing that all you have to do is use a drill bit the same diameter as the pipe that the fishmouth is going to rest on?

I saw one used in Jacksonville, FL in a company that made aluminum Tuna Towers for boats.
All the guys that fabricate tubing say there is NO WAY you can do it economically without
that little CHEAP gizmo !!! Plus, the welds are smooth and pretty and adds strength to the joint.

Great Job !!

JMichael, you are correct, just use a hole saw the same size o.d. as your pipe being welded to, as in this case, I used a 1 3/8" hole saw. It was a lil bit bigger than 1" pipe o.d. but was close enough.

Barefoot, I went to a shop where my nephew had a canopy put on his 42' sport cruiser, I talked with the welder/fabricator there. I was like hey show me your fab area, he agreed as he knew I was a welder also. He took me to the fab area where he builds the tops and I was like, where is all the equipment? It was bare essentials, I mean all he had was a tig welder, a hand hydraulic bender, and a table band saw. I asked him how he coped the anodized pipe for welding, thinkin he had something similar to one of these. Charlie, showed me how he does it, he proceeded to pick up a couple of pieces of scrap tube and just eye balled the miter, the took a sharpie made a few cut lines went to the band saw and cut the fishmouth with it, it wasn't the closest fit in the world, but he explained that he liked the bigger gap so he could get better penetration on the weld. I mentioned the use of one of the hole saw jigs, he wouldn't hear of it, said he didn't need it. Just goes to show ya can make do with what ya got. Personally I will use it from now on. Charlies work on the tops they make was first class, even for how little he had to work with. The top on my nephews boat was over $10,000 worth of work.