General Fabrication

Awesome, will do! So don't try to power through the cuts, slow and steady wins the race.

 

Very much so. When you don't let the saw just chew through, the steel heats up which hardens it, making the cut tougher, wearing out the saw faster and often the heat will oval the hole saw too. We use the same notcher and a DeWalt drill.

 

Great! Thanks for the info! Have alot of ideas in my head for some self fab stuff on the truck that could be interesting

 

You're going to have loads of fun with the items you got! So much things to be made.

 

i cant find any pics of the one i made for my old work, but i want to say i had under 200 bucks making my own setup. some angle iron, and i used some scrap 2" tubing. went to ebay to find the cheapest bearings i could find (happen to find some 1.75 bearings that worked perfect) and some time.

 

Oh and when coping the steel tubing, let's say 1-3/4" od, don't cope the piece that'll be perpendicular dead center as in coping it to .875". Step back off that by .25" to .375" so you have some wall thickness to weld to. If you take it to the point then you'll just burn away material and have a weaker piece. Make sense?

 

I've tossed around the idea of making one. I've seen lots do it and it is cheaper. Just thought if I could find one cheap enough if grab it.

 

Nope lol, you lost me, I'm coming from a mechanic/operator background with very little fabrication work under my belt, but after watching a few other guys build stuff I decided I was tired of paying for it and I want to learn how to do it myself! If after a few years I still suck balls at it and all my stuff looks like the tin man took a shit, then maybe I'll rethink it lol.

The little I understood about that was basically don't cut the notch at such a steep angle that it will leave thin metal on one side that will just get burnt through

 

We built our tube rests for the band saw I just used C channel and conver rollers I bought on McMaster Carr they are 10 foot and you can roll 500+ lbs of tube on it with one hand.
I did cheat and toss the channel on the plasma to cut evenly spaced hexagonal holes that they required.

 

Is what he's saying is when making a cope you dont go to the center of the hole saw. You cut the notch a little less only cutting about 80% of the tubes wall on round tube.
Think of a square tube notch you want to move the hole saw in just enough to cut the two side walls and not touch the bottom and top wall make sense?

 

That is true with all drill bits really, a bit of actual cutting fluid and the right speed gets you there a lot faster and cleaner. I like real cutting fluid vs WD because it handles higher temps and is made to cling to the surface and not just run off or burn off.

 

I think I get it. So when notching the end of a tube dont use the full bit, only use enough to cut the notch but the tube doesnt go even halfway through the bit

 

True, very true. I was spoiled when I worked at that machine shop in Sac, they had a giant drill press with 100s of bits and cutting fluid and cooling water spigots to blast the stuff you were cutting built in to the press. The thing was the size of a car, but dam it could make a hole.

 

You got it!

 

Makes sense! Thanks guys! First project is a cart for my welder (Miller 211)! Then we'll see how that turns put and if I have the skills and knowledge to tackle some truck stuff

 

Just play with settings on scrap and practice technique. I always recommend practicing on thin stuff, if you can weld thin without blowing thru and warping then you'll be a damn professional on thick stuff.

 

Yeah I still need to stop by @JLee 's shop and raid his trash/scrap pile for some practice stuff

 

Anyone use bend tech? Considering getting the pro version since im caging/linking my truck in a few weeks

 

I use it daily. It's the bees knees.

 

Pretty easy to pick up?