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[How do I?] How to make a serrated roller?
- Thread starter 7milesup
- Start date
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2016
- Messages
- 3,273
Ok, I have a number of straight knurling wheels coming from eBay. I might have to make a new tool holder for them (see previous post with YouTube video). I also have a couple of 60-degree chamfer end mills coming from the 'Bay too.
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2013
- Messages
- 2,486
Good luck with your project!
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2016
- Messages
- 3,273
Well, I finished the new infeed roller. I ended up just making serrations in it using a straight end mill. It seems to work quite well and is very robust compared to the original rubber infeed roller due to the original having a 3/4" through shaft with the rubber then applied to the end with a 1.375" overall diameter.
A deeply knurled roller would work very well, too, but I wanted to utilize a 'squeeze" type of knurler instead of a bump style, but that would have required me to make one (I want to make one vs. buy, which is on my project list). I needed this planer up and running now so I can finish my house trim.
As with any project, I learned a number of lessons which, if the lessons are not too expensive, that is half of the fun, right?
1.) I started with a chamfer end mill, thinking that would be the best route for making the deep part of the knurling. I learned that either chamfer bits are not to be used utilizing the tip to plow the groove, or my initial cut was too deep because I broke the tip off almost immediately.
2.) Think through how to set up the machining operation and, as the project progresses, how it will affect your setup. I ended up utilizing @Firstram's idea in post #17, but as I continued to machine the part, at some point, it was going to drop into the T-slot of the mill table and mess up with my original setup.
3.) Try and remember what I have bought previously. Yeah, it seems that I have so much "stuff" that I clean forgot I have numerous V blocks. That would have been great if I remembered them from the get-go.
4.) I did not have an indexer but utilized a drawing I made up in Solidworks to determine the spacing. After about the fifth serration, my FEA (Feel and Eye Analysis) started to drift off. It was not a huge deal for this application, but it could have been better.
5.) I made the serrations "backward." DOH! The roller should have been turned 180 in the setup. The sharp end of the serrations is backward, so that was a really stupid mistake. That being said, there is a lot of bite with the roller anyhow, and it is a huge improvement over the stock rubber roller. I may make a new one at some point, but for now, it works great.
That was a lot of words, but thanks for reading.
A deeply knurled roller would work very well, too, but I wanted to utilize a 'squeeze" type of knurler instead of a bump style, but that would have required me to make one (I want to make one vs. buy, which is on my project list). I needed this planer up and running now so I can finish my house trim.
As with any project, I learned a number of lessons which, if the lessons are not too expensive, that is half of the fun, right?
1.) I started with a chamfer end mill, thinking that would be the best route for making the deep part of the knurling. I learned that either chamfer bits are not to be used utilizing the tip to plow the groove, or my initial cut was too deep because I broke the tip off almost immediately.
2.) Think through how to set up the machining operation and, as the project progresses, how it will affect your setup. I ended up utilizing @Firstram's idea in post #17, but as I continued to machine the part, at some point, it was going to drop into the T-slot of the mill table and mess up with my original setup.
3.) Try and remember what I have bought previously. Yeah, it seems that I have so much "stuff" that I clean forgot I have numerous V blocks. That would have been great if I remembered them from the get-go.
4.) I did not have an indexer but utilized a drawing I made up in Solidworks to determine the spacing. After about the fifth serration, my FEA (Feel and Eye Analysis) started to drift off. It was not a huge deal for this application, but it could have been better.
5.) I made the serrations "backward." DOH! The roller should have been turned 180 in the setup. The sharp end of the serrations is backward, so that was a really stupid mistake. That being said, there is a lot of bite with the roller anyhow, and it is a huge improvement over the stock rubber roller. I may make a new one at some point, but for now, it works great.
That was a lot of words, but thanks for reading.
