OK, with much advice/support/tips from a couple of my machining buddies, here I am trying Knurling Titanium.
Now, being that I am not all that smart, instead of starting with steel, or with CP2 (Grade 2), I am stubborn enough of trying this on 6al-4v.
I am using my Dorian cut knurler, and using a calculator for setting up the diameter based on the knurler at hand:
PM12x36 lathe
Dorian Cut knurler, with RS 25 wheels
Ti Bar Dia = 0.650"
Carriage speed = 0.012 IPR
Spindle Speed = 65 RPM
Infeed = 0.018" (all in one pass)
Getting the diameter set (per calculator):
Cutting a 60 deg area to help ease/start the knurlers:
Setup for my PM12x36 (back gears were left as when I cut 20TPI threads, but the front dials were adjusted to 0.012 IPR as shown in these pictures):
Starting to "cut" threads, various angles (you know me, I can't help but take lots of pictures!):
Infeed:
And yes, we are most definitely cutting metal away, but I am getting a little bit of binding on the cutters:
After a single pass. Obviously not great, but not too bad as a starting point:
Here in the cropped picture you can see that the grooves being cut are not quite "even", and that there is also some metal being displaced as well - note this is "as is" - I have not cleaned the piece):
Short movie:
You Tube Movie
- - - Updated - - -
Now that I have the flood coolant running, I tried again the cut knurler - much, much better. Here on the left I am setting up the OD - the portion on the right was the one I did last time which came out OK:
Just two passes, one at 0.008" and the second (a cleaning pass) at 0.010":
The finish was even better (new on the left, and previous on the right):
The knurling came out nice enough that I decided to go ahead and make a DE handle out of this portion, so I am cutting of the previous piece, then cleaned it up:
Not too bad for a newbie:
Not that anyone would shave with it, but it looks cool:
Here I started drilling and tapping the new DE handle:
Now, being that I am not all that smart, instead of starting with steel, or with CP2 (Grade 2), I am stubborn enough of trying this on 6al-4v.
I am using my Dorian cut knurler, and using a calculator for setting up the diameter based on the knurler at hand:
PM12x36 lathe
Dorian Cut knurler, with RS 25 wheels
Ti Bar Dia = 0.650"
Carriage speed = 0.012 IPR
Spindle Speed = 65 RPM
Infeed = 0.018" (all in one pass)
Getting the diameter set (per calculator):
Cutting a 60 deg area to help ease/start the knurlers:
Setup for my PM12x36 (back gears were left as when I cut 20TPI threads, but the front dials were adjusted to 0.012 IPR as shown in these pictures):
Starting to "cut" threads, various angles (you know me, I can't help but take lots of pictures!):
Infeed:
And yes, we are most definitely cutting metal away, but I am getting a little bit of binding on the cutters:
After a single pass. Obviously not great, but not too bad as a starting point:
Here in the cropped picture you can see that the grooves being cut are not quite "even", and that there is also some metal being displaced as well - note this is "as is" - I have not cleaned the piece):
Short movie:
You Tube Movie
- - - Updated - - -
Now that I have the flood coolant running, I tried again the cut knurler - much, much better. Here on the left I am setting up the OD - the portion on the right was the one I did last time which came out OK:
Just two passes, one at 0.008" and the second (a cleaning pass) at 0.010":
The finish was even better (new on the left, and previous on the right):
The knurling came out nice enough that I decided to go ahead and make a DE handle out of this portion, so I am cutting of the previous piece, then cleaned it up:
Not too bad for a newbie:
Not that anyone would shave with it, but it looks cool:
Here I started drilling and tapping the new DE handle:
)
