lathe knurling tool

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Hopper,

Sound advice re push in knurling tools, to take account of the load on the bearings.

That's why whenever possible, I use the clamp type tool and use a diamond knurl.

I am happy to tell you that the BL12-24 has nice big taper roller bearings. But I try not to push the straight knurl tool hard with big cuts. I'd rather spend time making several passes with a very fine feed, rather than stripping the Headstock to fit new bearings and oil seals!

Howard

[Matt HarringtonParticipant @mattharrington87221]

My favourite is the Marlco knurler. It has the advantage of a lever to easily put on the 'cut'

Noel, I would love to know how you get on with the cut knurler. I believe they produce a much crisper type knurl.

Matt

[Philip RoweParticipant @philiprowe13116]

I was originally going to show this photo in my thread on building the tailstock turret but I feel it's more relevant here. With this casting at 4" in diameter the chances of finding a clamp type knurling tool are pretty remote, so l decided to do a straight push in knurl with the tool held in the tool post. Even with the lathe in slowest back gear the knurling wheel was whizzing round far too fast, so I reverted to a handle in the lathe mandrel and turned it as slowly as possible. Now I am aware of the strain that knurling puts on a lathe but I had no idea how much until I was knurling this casting, I could feel the strain being imposed on the bearings and how difficult it was to turn the feed screw to increase the depth of knurl, not least of all the difficulty in turning the mandrel handle. Ideally I would have liked to have had a deeper knurl but I just didn't want to put the lathe under any more strain. I realise that this is perhaps an extreme example but it's opened my eyes as to how much strain knurling can place on our hobby sized machines. Phil.

[Nigel McBurney 1Participant @nigelmcburney1]

The way I was taught was to set the knurl at the depth required and feed the tool from left to right,flooded with soluble oil to wash swarf away. To finish a knurl a 45 degree chamfer was turned at each end of the knurl with a form tool. ref the end feed knurl I have used a similar type of knurl that one had two opposed jaws which could be adjusted in or out to suit the work dia and each one could be rotated to adjust the knurl pattern from parallel to 45 degrees, work well on most non ferrous and mild steel once set it did not need adjustment ,used on Ward 2A capstan lathe and end fed via the turret ,those knurls did thousands of parts ,mainly microscope fittings.

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