Knurling tool photos for Kerrin Galvin

[gerritv]

At a list price of over $1200 your comment is more or less irrelevant in this present context? (Nick I initially misinterpreted your comment and realized later that there is a wink at the end, sorry for sounding snarky.)

If the work you need to do is within the range of .5-1.5", what reason is there to increase complexity? Easy enough to make 3 carrier heads to cover the full range. 3 1" cubed blocks of steel , a bit of milling and drilling and voila.

 

[Nick Hulme]

At a list price of over $1200

Keep your eye on eBay, mine was ex-industrial and needed 1 new wheel and a new bearing/carrier, price was around 1/10th of that
They come up for sale more often than you'd imagine, I found one listed and sent the link for a friend to buy in April this year for a similar price.

- Nick

 

[gerritv]

BINGO! For some reason this entire thread has the knurl cutters being dragged backwards so the teeth contact the workpiece first rather than the flat edge of the cutter as is required for true cutting.

WOB

Cut knurling is made like this:

I took your comment to heart but here is a commercial grade tool (Same brand that Nick has) that does not cut with the leading edge:
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46mPFZrVAKk[/ame] at 1:30 in they cut-knurl with similar configuration to what Bazmak et al started with.

Nick, can you confirm if yours cuts on leading or trailing edge f the wheel?

Gerrit

 

[Nick Hulme]

Mine cut the opposite to how Bazmak and the Integi Video show it

This animation shows how I use mine -

https://youtu.be/7PwBwQR2LNg

and this one -

https://youtu.be/ViRHsf9_VRg

My knurls are all "Quick" branded so I do it their way ;-)

 

[Nick Hulme]

If you analyse it logically then with any system worth using you must be able to knurl to a stop point and have a consistent cut to the end. ;-)

 

[WOB]

I took your comment to heart but here is a commercial grade tool (Same brand that Nick has) that does not cut with the leading edge:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46mPFZrVAKk at 1:30 in they cut-knurl with similar configuration to what Bazmak et al started with.

Nick, can you confirm if yours cuts on leading or trailing edge f the wheel?

Gerrit

There is something odd about the knurling tool's teeth at 1:33 just as it reaches the end of the cut and is retracted. The knurls stop spinning and you can see the leading edge is beveled. This is not a conventional cut knurling tool like the Zeus. It makes me think it is actually a kind of pressure knurling since the bevels would negate cutting if fed into the workpiece in the conventional manner. I believe the reason it was done that way is to avoid cutting into the pressure knurled band just to the left which is larger in dia. than the cut knurled area being machined at 1:30. Maybe. Just a possible explanation.

WOB

 

[Nick Hulme]

Whatever direction the knurls are intended to move no manufacturer will have 2" of tool body sticking out in front of the knurls, at the very least that would render it impossible to knurl a short part in the lathe ;-)

 

[RM-MN]

Since I don't have the square bar stock on hand and the lathe with the 4-jaw chuck is in the unheated garage where it is below zero faherenheit is there a reason I'm not seeing for not using round stock that can be turned in my mini lathe in my warm basement and then milling a couple flats where the knurls would run?

 

[bazmak]

Still watching this thread with interest and soaking up all the comments
As most of us i do not use the knurling tools on a daily basis but i am happy
to knurl a few items all at once say to build up a stock of thumb screws
I can now happily pick at short notice any no of knurl heads to fit either lathe
and produce satisfactory knurls.Not perfect knurls and not at a cost of $100s
I am very pleased that some people have found success and others are thinking
of improvements.When i get around to it my next thought is to to try to reverse the the angle of the wheels so the cut is more prominent on the in rather than the outfeed.This would be an improvement where the knurl is longer and not to a shoulder. Just a thought to keep this thread open

 

[Nick Hulme]

Attached images of my favourite tools

 

[Nick Hulme]

This is an 8mm brass bar knurled with my larger Integi tool as a test to see what a coarse knurl on a small bar would look like

 

[10K Pete]

Dang! It's a gear cutter!!

Pete

 

[Nick Hulme]

Dang! It's a gear cutter!!

Pete

I'm glad it's not just me thinking that :thumbup:

 

[tornitore45]

That is a neat tool storage system!

Very true. For those that have the more popular dove tail holder a length of angle bar mounted like this " < " allow to hang and slide all your holders.