Knurling Tool

naijin

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I am thinking of making a knurling tool for my lathe..... any one out there who made one, or have any ideas or plans, and wishing to share them I would greatly appreciate it, thanking all in advance....:))
 
I am thinking of making a knurling tool for my lathe..... any one out there who made one, or have any ideas or plans, and wishing to share them I would greatly appreciate it, thanking all in advance....:))[/QUOTE

I made this one, I milled a hex on the knurled part so I could apply extra pressure.

KNURLING.jpg
 
I recently made a cut knurler; used to make diamond knurls rather than straight knurls. It takes a little more fiddling to set up than a pressure knurler but puts less strain on the lathe and makes a nice knurl in one pass. It uses straight knurl wheels with a sharp (not chamfered) edge to produce diamond knurling. It cuts the knurl so the diameter of the work doesn't increase - if you need to expand the diameter, as I sometimes do with a fine straight knurl for a press fit, use a pressure (aka bump or clamp) knurler. So, straight knurl wheels can produce diamond or straight knurling, depending on the type of knurler used.
Cut_Knurler_0S.jpg

I made a clamp knurler previously and this cut knurler was easier to make. Cut knurlers are generally more expensive than pressure knurlers so they're not as common in home shops.
More info here: http://www.gadgetbuilder.com/Cut_Knurler.html

John

Cut_Knurler_0S.jpg
 
I read your web article and the attached links. Looks really interesting, but I can't understand why it needs less pressure. Can you elaborate there? Does this also mean that you would not need a follower rest when using this?
 
Pressure knurling exerts enormous pressure to extrude the material, that's why clamp knurlers are favored on small lathes. A cut knurler cuts the material, a little on each revolution, so there is relatively little pressure involved - just enough to keep the knurl fully engaged so it cuts. I run the work at low RPM and feed slowly slowly; it is possible to knurl at several hundred RPM and feed much faster but this would likely need flood coolant. A cut knurler can knurl a fairly thin tube, one which would be crushed by a pressure knurler.

There is some pressure involved so on thin work you might need something to keep it from deflecting. I knurled some 0.300 steel extended a couple inches from the chuck without difficulty, something that couldn't be done with a bump knurler but could be done with a clamp knurler.
 
John,

It's great to see you posting here! Yours is one of my "go to" sites.

Steve
 
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