If you're like me, you don't like the meticulous tasks in the shop. For instance, I hate cleaning out the sound deadening tar in cars because it seems to take forever. Similarly, I hate notching tubing for roll cages; it requires lots of grinding and I never seem to get the gaps perfect. In building the roll cage for the BMW 2002, I went searching for the perfect tube notcher. Here is my review of one.

There is a wide variety of ways to notch tubing. For my first cage, on the Mustang, I really hacked out the notches; I used a Skil saw with a metal blade to "v" the tubing, finishing off with a handheld 9" grinder. For the Miata roll bar, I used a bench grinder, which was slightly easier. But both of these things were a pain. You get pelted with grinding material and flying metal, making eye protection critical. It's loud, noisy, and not very accurate. I wanted a solution that met the following criterial:

• Quick: It must be fairly fast, with a minimum of post-grinding necessary to get the fit I wanted. I don't like sitting in front of the grinder waiting for the material to get whittled down. If it's a process that I don't have to babysit (like my power hacksaw, which goes automatically and turns off when done), that's even better.
• Accurate: Obviously, I need accurate cuts to fit accurately against the cage. I don't mind filling in small gaps with the weld, but the closer it is the easier and stronger it is.
• Redoable: I like to "creep up" when making cuts in the cage. It always seems that when I get too aggressive, I end up taking off too much material and ending up with extra scrap.
• Cost effective: There are solutions out there that can do a heck of a job, especially those using end mills to cut away material. Unfortunately, those are way outside my budget.
• Low consumables: Nothing worse than trying to work in the shop and find out that I cannot do what I wanted because I'm out of whatever -- hacksaw blades, grinding wheels, welding gas, for instance.

So, with that, I investigated some choices, as follows:

• The Harbor Freight tubing notcher, such as this one. I think that notcher can be adequate, having the advantage of being fairly fast and accurate. If I need to redo a notch, I can adjust the notcher a little, and cut again. However, after a number of searches on the net, it seems this type of notcher could be prone to a number of drawbacks as well. First, as the bearings wear, it can have problems cutting in the center of the notch. Also, it does consume holesaw blades with some degree of frequency. However, given the price in the $50 range, it seems a decent alternative.
• There is the Pro Tools Notcher, which is similar to the above item, except that it doesn't wear out quite as quickly. I also suspect it is more accurate. I would like to review one of these in the future, but as of this writing, was unable to contact them via email.
• There is a beautiful notcher at Van Sant Enterprises. It has the advantage of using end mills and an extremely accurate mechanism for notching. It can notch even at extreme angles. However, at $3400 (as of this writing), it's way out of my price range.
• Last, but certainly not least, is the Williams Lowbuck Tubing Notcher. This is the one I'm reviewing here today.

The Williams Lowbuck Tubing Notcher Review

The notcher arrived at my house within a couple of days, nicely packed. The notcher itself is quite a hefty piece of equipment. It has a thick gold adonized frame, with nicely welded guides. Within the frame is a plunger with the cutter on it, which cuts against the tubing holder. Cutters are interchangeable, and can be swapped out for different sizes of tubing. I did not get a handle delivered with mine, but found that my handle from the tubing bender can easily be used -- you'll see how convenient this is in a bit. I found the tool to be very sturdy, and I expect it can last a LONG time.

First, I had to set it up. The instructions that came with the notcher stated that you cannot expect to clamp it into a vice and expect it to work properly. I suspect that this is because of the big torque that will be used to shear notches into the tubing. I decided to weld a mount up to my tubing bender stand. I figured this is a good dual use of it, and the handle can be stored on top of the notcher. This does have one drawback, which I just recently found out while notching tubing for the 2002 cage -- U-shaped tubing cannot fit "under" the notcher to allow me to notch the inside corners. Beside that, however, this mount works quite well for me. See the sidebar for pictures of this mount.

I also switched out the cutter for to use with my tubing. I work with 1.5" .095 DOM tubing; SCCA specs allow for this size tubing for my weight of car. Larger tubing may be more popular for other forms of racing, but this is what I'm using. My notcher shipped with three cutters: 1 7/8", 1 5/8", and 1 3/8". Not having a lathe to turn down the next larger size to 1.5", I chose the smaller size. Note that the instructions state to use the next larger size (i.e. 1 5/8" for my application), which I suspect would work just as well.

With that, I was able to make my first couple of test cuts. I stuck the tubing in, hard, and pulled down on the 4' handle. It took only moderate force to cut the tubing. I pulled it out, rotated it 180 degrees, and cut the other side. On inspection, these cuts were very clean. Even though the size of the cut wasn't perfect, it was very close (see sidebar pictures for details). Note that with this type of notcher, you can increase cut depth by progressivly cutting out more and more tubing material, up to the point where the top of the tubing hits the notcher, and you cannot insert it any further.

I've since had the chance to make a few more cuts with this notcher while building the 2002 cage. Here are a few of my observations:

• The notcher makes short work just about any notch job. I'm very pleased that with no setup time, I can walk over, notch the tube, and walk away. It's just that fast.
• I have reduced waste with this notcher. I've not been in danger of cutting too much at a time, which can result in scap if the tube gets cut too short. I rough in the tubing with the power hacksaw, then notch it closer & closer to what I need. Also, it allows me to adjust the next cut in angle if necessary, before I get in trouble.
• With the small cutter, I can get good results. Even though my cutter is a bit smaller than the tubing diameter, I can compensate by rotating slightly, and nibbling out just about any necessary shape. However, since the cutter is a smaller diameter, it also will not cut as deep. I should get a 1.5" cutter, but this one is OK for now.
• This cutter works better than I expected, better than anything I've used, and better than I would expect a from a holesaw-type notcher. As a matter of fact, this notcher maynot be the best solution for angles over 45 degrees due to the design. But I will say that this should only happen rarely; good roll cage design should minimize the number of tubes that come together at extreme angles.

Verdict

This notcher is highly recommended. If you want a reasonably-priced notcher, which can work quickly without much mess, this one deserves a long hard look. If there is a better product out there, I would like to hear about it. Send me an email if you know of one.

Summary:

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

The good: quick and easy notching that's accurate. Also, most parts are replacable individually.

The bad: If you're only 95 lbs, you may have trouble using this tool on tubing thicker than .095 wall.