Dumb Knurling Question

[Twmaster]

Ok, I understand how to make knurls. At least I understand about diameter and such.

The thing that mystifies me is how do you make knurls that are longer than the knurling wheels are wide. scratch.gif

Do you advance the carriage toward the chuck or do you retract the knurling tool and then advance? ???

Thanks!

 

[Blogwitch]

I get the knurl to finished depth, then with plenty of lube along the part, I engage slow feed and just carry on cutting, lubing and cleaning with a wire brush as it travels along.

This works for me, but I do have a fairly rigid lathe setup.


Bogs

 

[gbritnell]

As Bogs stated if you have a very rigid machine and sharp knurl wheels you can get away with going to depth and then moving the carriage.
On my little 6" Atlas/Craftsman lathe I would run the knurl tool in until it picked up both patterns and then move it left or right to get the desired length. Once this was done I would progressively deepen the cut until the knurl pattern was where I wanted it.
I have since gone to the scissor type knurl tool so as to not put a lot of stresses on my lathe.
gbritnell

 

[Tin Falcon]

I was taught pretty much the way George describes. Even though I learned on a full size machine.
and I agree scissor style of some kind the way to go.
I did work in one shop on one job where we would plunge in with the scissor pre- set to depth. but that is more o a production technique.
more info here on page 56
http://www.metalwebnews.com/machine-tools/ch7.pdf
Tin

 

[Dave G]

There are no dumb questions in my book, just different levels of knowledge. Good luck with your knurling .Dave

 

[compspecial]

Spot on Dave, if we don't ask questions how are we going to learn?

 

[bentprop]

Before I found out how to do it,I used to run the knurl to depth,retract it,and then move the knurl next to the bit I'd already done.Seemed to work ok,but needed careful positioning of the wheel.
The only dumb question is the one not asked.

 

[Omnimill]

I would run the knurl tool in until it picked up both patterns and then move it left or right to get the desired length. Once this was done I would progressively deepen the cut until the knurl pattern was where I wanted it.

Yep, thats how I do it. I'm part way through building a clamp type holder so my technique may change soon! ;D

Vic.

 

[Twmaster]

Vic, are you building the holder from the plans on Little Machine Shop?

 

[Omnimill]

Hi Mike, No I'm winging it at the moment and making it up as I go along! I can post some pics if you like, although I've no idea how well it will turn out ... sometimes it takes longer to draw the plans than cut the metal so I've cut out that stage this time :big:

Vic.

Just took a pic.

The arms are 16mm Sq x 100, the plates 75x50x6.3