Pipe notcher??

RalphWD45

Well-known Member
I have a new need, and don't seem to be able to google it up. I probably am not using the right words in my search. I would like to build some livestock panels and gates, out of heavy pipe. I would like to buy a pipe notcher ( hand operated ), to fit a pipe up to another pipe for a 90 degree weld. In the welding shop at Boeing, we had an outfit mounted on the wall, that worked like an arbor press. You could put the end of a piece of sch. 40 pipe in it and pill the long handle down, and it would munch a simi circle out of the pipe, then rotate the pipe 180 deg. and do it again. You ended up with a set of notches on your pipe, which would fit quite nicely, on your upright pipe, to make a 90 deg. the only thing I came up with, was hole saws that you put in your drill press, and I can't imagine , those working very well, without jumping around, and causing a problem. Can anyone point me in the right direction?
 
Here we have a lot of used oilfield pipe, I build fences out of it, 2 3/8" and 2 7/8". I never was good with a torch but have got quite decent with my Milwaukee port-a-band. I have notched probably a 1000 notches in the last 4 years with it. Works well for me. Been working on replacing barb wire fences with pipe around my place, I work about 30 Saturdays a year and got a few years ago. Doing it for my grandkids, JB
 
Hi Ralph;

Although I can't remember enough of the specifics to be of much use to you, I have a vague memory of reading years ago that you could do quite a bit that would approximate notching by cutting pipe with a chop saw. For instance, if you make two 45 degree cuts back from a center point at the end of a pipe, you get a saddle which will fit snugly over pipe of the same diameter, perpendicular to it, of course. There was a similarly simple way to make a notch along a pipe, which I can't recall. But if I saw the information once, it probably still exists on You Tube, or somewhere.

Stan
 
I would just build a template from a piece of pipe with a saddle notch cut out that fits over the pipe i want to cut.
 
Thanks, but I really can't imagine how you would use a portaband, without breaking the blade or bending the blade,till it jumped off the guide rollers. I guess I can't visualize it!
 
Years ago we built our own with a square piece that had the curve on the end to notch the pipe. It was hinged on the other end with a leaf spring to bring it back up. We put it on the punch press & like you said, trip the press , turn it over & do the other side. Way faster than the hole saws. The die was curved like the pipe so it fit in squarely. We case hardened the cutting edges with cyanide.
 
Now I see what JBDRYER, was talking about! Bison and Stan thanks. It had not dawned on me that a man could use a saddle type notch. I am used to using a half circle notch, to make guard rails ECT, with. I liked the Bailegih Industrial notcher, that I looked at, but the $500. price tag scared me. The other pipe notcher driven by a I/2" drill, was cheaper, but I think that bimetal hole saws would not last very long. I think I will experiment with the saddle notch, before committing to a higher priced solution. Thanks to all who responded!
 
Harbor Freight sells a tubing notcher for $50 that will work ok for a while. Wouldn't try to earn a living with it though.

You'll end up spending your money on the cutters, which vary considerably in quality. Last time around for me, I believe the Vermonts, Starrett's and DeWalt's were the longest lasting.
 
Years ago dad built some portable corrals out of 1" pipe. Instead of notching he had me hammer the end of the pipe into an oval and then he just welded it to the side of the pipe. I didn't hammer the end all the way closed, just enough to allow him to weld it on.
 
https://www.fastenal.com/web/products/details/0960778

I don't know if that link will work or not, but we have the Baileigh purchased from Fastenal. We have the one that will do 2" and/or 1 1/2" sch. 40 pipe. Works just like you described. Spendy.
 
Ralph, for a little time,steel, and of course $$$ . You can build a 3-point pipe press for making gates. I built one for a farmer about fifteen yrs ago. Just think of it as a HEAVY BUILT PRESS run with a 3 inch bore hyd cylinder. Plugged into the back of your favorite tractor and hooked onto the three point arms. Heavy ???. YES !!!! Simple to make. I made a A-Frame from six inch channel iron. Beefed the heck out of it. Made a slide with some 1-1/4" flate iron, drilled a hole in the end of hyd shaft. Bolted that onto the cyl. Cut a hole into a plate the size of the cyl. Welded the cyl to the steel vertical.... You can do it your way... We then simply inserted the pipe in the press and had a handle that hooked to the tractor valve scv on the back. Tractor idleing i could smash the ends on four inch drill stem with ease. Flip pipe over, smash other end. Nice flate area to weld. I made A LOT OF GATES with this. But we used 2-1/2" drill stem mostly. Made nice gates too !!! This was for a feedlot.
 
Never thought of this before, I'll be using this when working with pipe in the future. Thanks for that.
 
I make all of my own gates and pens with oil field pipe. I always just use a sledge hammer and a section of RR track to mash the end flat. Then I just butt weld them.

The neighbor hired out someone to build a catch pen. He did his with a leather jig and then traced it with soapstone. Then he cut it with the torch. He could make a torch cut look like it was cut with a saw, though.
 
I have a set of templates that you wrap around the pipe. Then you just trace a line around the edge of the template. Take a torch or plasma cutter and cut along the line. Works great and is pretty fast with a plasma cutter.

I found them on a Welding supply site years ago. They came as a set for several common sizes of pipe. They have ones for the butt notch and one of a hole in the side. They are just on the opposite ends of the template.
 
You can get templates for free online somewhere that you print out, cut out with scissors, wrap around the pipe, and trace out.
 
Greg, Sure glad I read through the post before responding. Pop had me do the same thing. He went through a binge of remaking every gate on our place out of pipe, rebar, and woven wire, not long after he learned to weld in an adult Ed. classes at our local school. I still have his old Lincoln stick welder that I learned to weld on 50 years ago.
 
Might think about this.

Harbor Freight Tubing Notcher Modification

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ty915Z0GrJo


:>)
 
I'm fence and gate person for over 40 years. If want a notcher that will do the job for years and years hands down Lowbuck. Inexpensive and can do full weight pipe. Just need secure base and long handle. If hydraulic lean toward Vogel. What we have work.
Good luck. for get about hole saw idea for your application
 

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