IslandTractor
Super Star Member
- Joined
- Sep 15, 2005
- Messages
- 15,802
- Location
- Prudence Island, RI
- Tractor
- 2007 Kioti DK40se HST, Woods BH
I'll give a 4/5 star review for the HF pipe/tube notcher, model 42324. Tubing Notcher & Pipe Notcher. About $32 with coupon.
It's a copy of a US made notcher that sells for about 4x the price. Main body is 0.223" steel and sturdy enough. Base needs to be bolted to a workbench or drill press. Adjustment range from perpendicular is 0-60 degrees left. The pipe clamp hold up to 2.25" pipe. The spindle is 3/4" with 1/2"-20 threads and a 5/8" adapter is included. Worked fine with my HF Warrior bimetal hole saw set although you need a skinny 7/8" wrench to dismount the adapter once the hole saw is tightened. There isn't enough space to fit a standard thickness wrench between the mounted hole saw and the washer. I ended up using pliers.
The spindle support is machined aluminum. The machining seems true but there is more play than desirable.
I used a HF 1/2" low speed drill and it had way more power than needed to notch 16g tube. Virtually any drill press would have even more power.
I used it to notch the ends of 1 3/8" 16g fencing tube. The notches were consistently slightly off center and after examining the tool I can see that the clamp requires shimming (such a surprise with a fine quality HF device!!). Needs about a half to one millimeter shim which will be easy to insert. Otherwise the tool functioned fine. No plastic bits to break and nothing much to wear out except the aluminum block which seems beefy enough though a bit sloppy. I'd imagine the tool will last quite a number of cuts.
Overall a useful device for non critical notching though in typical HF fashion it isn't true right out of the box.
It's a copy of a US made notcher that sells for about 4x the price. Main body is 0.223" steel and sturdy enough. Base needs to be bolted to a workbench or drill press. Adjustment range from perpendicular is 0-60 degrees left. The pipe clamp hold up to 2.25" pipe. The spindle is 3/4" with 1/2"-20 threads and a 5/8" adapter is included. Worked fine with my HF Warrior bimetal hole saw set although you need a skinny 7/8" wrench to dismount the adapter once the hole saw is tightened. There isn't enough space to fit a standard thickness wrench between the mounted hole saw and the washer. I ended up using pliers.
The spindle support is machined aluminum. The machining seems true but there is more play than desirable.
I used a HF 1/2" low speed drill and it had way more power than needed to notch 16g tube. Virtually any drill press would have even more power.
I used it to notch the ends of 1 3/8" 16g fencing tube. The notches were consistently slightly off center and after examining the tool I can see that the clamp requires shimming (such a surprise with a fine quality HF device!!). Needs about a half to one millimeter shim which will be easy to insert. Otherwise the tool functioned fine. No plastic bits to break and nothing much to wear out except the aluminum block which seems beefy enough though a bit sloppy. I'd imagine the tool will last quite a number of cuts.
Overall a useful device for non critical notching though in typical HF fashion it isn't true right out of the box.
Yeah, I wouldn't feel good about that either but it works great for my bikes even at full lift....never a wobble that worried me. Of course, my bikes are all 400#s...give or take.
