pipe fence question

[bushman]

I am building a steel pipe fence ( 2 3/8" ) for my home and need suggestions on how to cut the saddle out of the line post so the top rail rail sits smooth on top. I've tried the torch but have problems with slag and rough cut. Any tools or tricks I should know about? I've got about 5 acres to do and It will take me FOREVER at this rate!

[aametalmaster]

Well by the time you are done with the 5 acres you will be real good with a torch. You can use a hole saw but thats a lot of drilling. Or theres an ironworker for about 20 grand but that won't work for you either...Bob

[man of steel]

they sell fittings (90s and ts etc) whatever you need so they just slip on and can be tack welded and they give a nice clean look also ,makes fitting the fence a lot easier too. good luck

[k.a.m.]

i am with aametalmaster after five acres we will be asking you for advice,there is no quick fix here that i know of,what wall thickness is your pipe,is it drill stem,you might need a smaller tip for more accurate cuts,plusa clean tip is a happy tip, 23/8 not much saddle i just free hand them,to big of a tip would account for alot of slag on tubing gets the metal to hot to fast. you really have to move to stay ahead of your melt back behind you. hope this helps

[Dustyhaze75]

your going to do all 5 acres ? wow, that sounds expensive. there are many different ways you can do this. an end mill would be very fast and acurate but they are expensive. you could grind/sand your way through using a bench grinder with a large abrasive stone that has the corners dressed off. you could use the roller end of a bench mounted belt sander, you could even use a rotary sanding drum mounted in a drill press. or you could use a die grinder. It's actually pretty fast. when using a die grinder most people will use a hole saw notcher to chop through it at a 45 degree angle. then they dress it down to the real angle using the die grinder. to do this accurately you have to use thin cardboard angle templates. you wrap it around your tube, trace the line then cut. a computer based tube miter program called "tube-miter" by Giles pucket can be found at http://www.ihpva.org./tools/index.html Its listed way down at the bottom of the page, for some reason its listed in the section entitled "spreadsheets"
print the output on 65 pound paper. remember, never have sharp edges on your miter or the welder will just burn them off. for example if you use a 1.25" hole saw to miter 1.25" tubing the resulting cut end will have almost razor sharp edges and look like a round knife blade. on the outher hand if you use a 1" hole saw on 1.25" tube the edges of the miter will be blunt, having almost the full wall thickness entirely around the perimeter that will take a good full penetration weld. another handy tool to have around the shop is called the longacre pipe master that is actually a set specially designed collars that slip down over a tube connection and forms a boundary line you can trace around for the correct miter at virtually any possible intersection angle. you have to have one pipe master for each tubing size you work with, but they're fairly cheap. I know most of this doesn"t apply to you but I thought I'd throw it in for the outher readers. hope this gives you a few ideas............................................. ......................................
most of this info. can be found in the chopper builders handbook under tools and tube miter programs. how much is this fence going to cost you?

[aametalmaster]

My buddy did an acre garden with 2" black pipe, posts and top rail and i was impressed to say the least. But he works in a large machine shop and i bet he milled all the saddles because they were stick welded and perfect. He painted it all green and it looked nice...Bob

[FusionKing]

Are all the posts set in the ground already??
If so all you need to do is make a small notch in line with the top rail an each side and leave a bit of the original cut still there. About a 45 degree bite. Start small and then check your fit. It's really super easy once you get the hang of it.
If your doing it before hand then just use a chop saw and make 2 45 degree cuts on opposite sides with about an inch between them.
It's pure gravy.
If you start checking out factory exhaust systems you will begin to get the idea, they don't waste anything there and fit good.

[Bob the Welder]

A 12lb. beater and an anvil will make quick work of one end to weld to another pipe. Not quite as nice looking but a LOT faster! You don't want to flatten the end completely, just enough to get a suitable fitup to weld.
Check out handrails, some are fit this way.

If looks are important, consider cutting saddles on the ones near the house or wherever you want the best looking sections and do the others with one end slightly flattened.

If you do that you should be able to get done sometime before 2009.

[Dustyhaze75]

sounds like that would be the cheapest way to do it especially with 5 acres. I love my die grinder but a 45 degree cut would be super fast. never tryed it, not sure how tight the fit up is, I'm going to try it tomorrow. thanks for the idea fusionking.

[FusionKing]

It is fast...I used to own a muffler shop plus done a bunch of stockcar stuff.
Once you catch on to the chopsaw method then you can duplicate that "look" with about anything you have in a pinch. Torch, plasma, sawzall whatever. If your a little "off" then a 4 1/2" grinder will smooth it in. Angles are very easy to do this way as well...you just make one notch.


If I was building a profesional racing chassis then I would use better stuff tho.


Out in the boonies on a fence??? A BFH and A BFR would be just fine for me