Well after my 25.5 cage and two 10 point cages my cheap Harbor Freight tubing notcher was alittle tired. The cuts were starting to wander as the brass sleeves wore. I couldn't find any brass sleeves that matched the factory size so I was getting ready to buy a new one. I was in the local hardware store and found a sleeve that had the correct ID but wrong OD so I picked up 2 and hoping it would fix it. Drilled out the old sleeves opened up the hole to the right OD and popped the new sleeves in. BAM it cut the same as when it was new. Who says that harbor freight tools are junk.

 

if your bushing wear out again,you can go to the joint jigger website and get a bearing support for it that will bolt right on.

 

Thats great news. Thanks for the tip.

 

Mine lasted about 3 cages, 3 or 4 bumpers and 2 full chassis cars. It's pretty clapped out, but there are A LOT of notches on it. Key has been to shoot gear oil into the hole to lube the arbor every few notches and keep the hole saw lubed to keep the chatter down.

 

My experience with the cheaper brass bushed notchers was as the bushing just begins to wear (half way through the first cage) the necessary rigidity is lost and the hole saws wear faster and loose teeth quicker.

I finally broke down and bought a JD squared notcher and it has probably paid for itself in extended hole saw life.

I now have the JD notcher that allows offset notching which is great for dual downtube motorcycle frames where the downtubes meet the steering neck.
(hows that for useless info. on a car forum?? )

 

We use the harbor freight notchers for doing sloped 1.5" handrail. But my guys are hard on them. Usually buy them two at a time and they are going for about 400 linear ft of rail a piece. I have a JD notcher for the shop. Havent killed it after 2 years. We have a couple of hardware stores around here called Elliots. They are the only place I had found this particular type of carbide tipped hole saw. Running it with lubricant will cutting they last forever. Of course you should always use lube or cutting fluid when cutting like this.