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Post by another rick on Mar 19, 2018 8:39:44 GMT -6
When building roll cages and frames I like to fishmouth the ends of the rods and tubes for a cleaner fit and a better glue joint. However I have a difficult time getting the fishmouths centered in the ends of the tube (.080 and .100 size). I also have a difficult time getting each end fishmouthed on the same plane, in other words they are quite often a few degrees off from being parallel with each other. I use a small round jewelers file for this work. Does anyone have any ideas on how to get better, more even fishmouths?
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Post by 41chevy on Mar 19, 2018 11:01:40 GMT -6
I use Chain Saw Files. You can mostly match the file diameter to the tube or rod diameter and get any angle you want easy. It also to my eyes seems self centering.The set of 6 I got at Tractor Supply starts at 3/32 and goes up to 5/16.
As for keeping the fish mouths aligned, I lay the tube next to a somewhat thick 12" metal ruler and run a pencil line down the entire piece. That gives me a "center" line to be close to alignment on my fish mouths.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 19, 2018 13:01:54 GMT -6
I haven't tried this with anything related to model building, but I had occasion to need identical fish mouthed pieces of brass when I made knives. I found a small vise that came with soft, rubber inserts for the jaws. I placed two (or more) pieces in the vise and made sure to exposed the least amount of the brass as possible. Then I used Paul's trick of a chain saw file to make the fish mouths. Doing both (or more) at the same time pretty much guarantees each piece will be nearly identical to the other(s). Then like Paul said, draw a pencil line to give yourself a line to center on.
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