Out working on stuff in the garage and looking at my notcher while I work on my bender stand. I started thinking about this below.
I am busy on other stuff but may try to actually do one of these tonight. But for now I just have a quick "paint" drawing to show what I am thinking about.
Insead of the usual fishmouth we all know of like the top one in the picture below.
What if you use the hole saw to actually cut grooves in the tube its meeting. Then the tube thats NORMALLY fishmouthed will fit in it and practically lock in place. The weld area around the outside remains pretty close to if not the same for strength. But the tube cannot slide even if the weld breaks.
Granted this would be a little tougher to assemble some designs of some parts as it would have to be fitted and not jsut slid into place like a fishmouth. BUT in some places this may be a great strength addition.
The only thing I might question is if the tube you bore into with the saw would be weakened once the weld was completed VS one that had a fishmouthed tube around it. It seems like the welded tube would give it the strength back?
Maybe this type of joint already has a name? Anyone ever try this? Thoughts?
I like the idea, but to offset the extra time required to slot the second tube for fitment, I would use gorilla glue to attach the tubes to one another.....
