The Johnson Notcher...this is a basic notch tool that Church
put together out of old scrap laying around. These tools are
either very expensive or garbage!! Looking at the junk from most
import tool locations, including "Hubbaflait", these machines
are basically wasted money.
You can build a good unit yourself but you need to find a
supplier of "thick wall" tubing. As an example: you can
purchase a 2 inch ID tube with a 2 1/2 inch OD from e-Bay.
You can also purchase a 1 1/4 ID "thick wall" tube
from most local suppliers. Prices are reasonable so you can build a
simple notch tool for under 20 bucks, but remember you also need
a decent drill press, flat vice and fresh hole saw with the drill mandrel.
I managed to find an old drill press head that used an 1 1/2 ID
pedistal mount. I cut off the mount and secured it into my 4 inch
flat vice. Now I notched all the tubes Gary needed to upgrade
the old chassis. Since the roll cage supports were not welded to the
top edge of the frame, we decided to incorporate additional
tubes on the frame rails. The fabricator's over-use of gussets was
obvious.
Most low price "tube-notch" machines are going to use utilize
your drill press, so the result will look very much as shown here.
Clean up with a decent "flap wheel" will finish the job. May I remind you.
The
hole saw must match the tube you are welding to, not the tube
you are notching.
The Johnson Notcher...this is a basic notch tool that Church