[Spiffy Lab]

What knurling tool do you guys use to diamond knurl on aluminum and brass? I typically work with bar stock from about 5/8" to 1" in diameter.
Tormach doesn't sell a knurler, specific to them.
Thanks.

[jeffrey001]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_J1gyGBSkFE

Jeff

[adamvs]

I used a Dorian SCKN self centering tool. I used 5 passes with about a .01 step over. It really came out beautiful. I was apprehensive at first ... now I want to knurl *everything*.

[Spiffy Lab]

Thank you!

[MetalShavings]

I don't own one of these CNC lathes but I dream of some day owning one with all the bells and whistles like the one shown in the video.

I'm still using my trusty manual gunsmithing lathe. Anyhow, with regard to getting the pivoting end of my knurling tool from drooping to far down off center; what I did was file a flat on either side of the pivoting head just behind the cross-pin that holds the housing that the actual knurling wheels ride in. The flats that I filed aren't real pronounced. They are filed just deep enough so that when I slide an appropriately sized tight fitting rubber O-Ring down the shaft of the knurling tool, that O-RIng rests up against those flats and thus keeps the knurling wheels from drooping down and off center.

Because it's made of rubber, the O-Ring has some give to it so that the knurling wheels can still pivot as much as they need to in order to center themselves. The O-Ring only serves to keep the knurling wheels in a fixed position as they approach the part being knurled. A slight chamfer on the end of the part is still a good idea but, the wheels on my knurling tool also have a slight chamfer on them so if I ever forget to chamfer my part, the fact that my knurling wheels are being held on center by that rubber O-Ring mitigates the chance of crashing my tool into the end of my part.

MetalShavings

[Spinnetti]

How do you keep the knurling wheels from rotating when you do another pass messing up the pattern? - Does it self-align? (haven't knurled anything since high school 35 years ago lol)

[MetalShavings]

How do you keep the knurling wheels from rotating when you do another pass messing up the pattern? - Does it self-align? (haven't knurled anything since high school 35 years ago lol)

I don't know. That's a good question. All of my knurling is done just the width of my knurling wheels with an eight to a quarter inch space in between the knurled sections for that very reason. The only time I've ever tried a full length knurl was when I was experimenting with aluminum rod. One deep pass on the lathe gave me a knurled surface but any following passes tended to mess things up just as you've mentioned so, I've stuck with my inexperienced method of knurling.

Initially I thought it would be just like threading where one would use the threading dial as your guide but I couldn't get that to work for me either. I'm sure there's an easy trick to it. I just haven't learned that trick yet.

MetalShavings

[Spiffy Lab]

I used a Dorian SCKN self centering tool. I used 5 passes with about a .01 step over. It really came out beautiful. I was apprehensive at first ... now I want to knurl *everything*.

Which Tormach tool holder do you use it with?
Gang or turret or QCTP ?