Ebay Wins Again

I gave up and ordered myself a better knurling tool. I think part of my knurling problem was that I was using 304 stainless, which is not all that soft. You need to use a lot of pressure. My lathe is only a 12″ job; there is a limit to the pressure it can exert on a part held between centers. I decided to try a tool that applies pressure all by itself. I found a knockoff of the Eagle Rock scissors-type knurling tool, which has two knurls that apply pressure from opposite sides of the work. The tool I have now has two knurls on the same side, and the lathe does the pushing.

I could have gone with the real Eagle Rock tool, but these things look pretty simple, and I think I should be able to make a perfectly good one once I have a mill. I would at least like to try it before spending money needlessly.

Another problem is that 304 stainless hardens when you apply force to it, so I was clearly an idiot for trying to do multiple turns. On the first turn, you harden the work, and then you’re in trouble.

Some people make their own knurls. A guy named Frank Ford posts regularly on the Chaski forum, and he made his own rope knurl. This is a knurl that goes around the edges of things like cabinet door knobs, leaving a surface that looks a lot like rope.

I have been told that I should use my power feed to move knurls down a workpiece, but as far as I can tell, there is no way to know how fast my power feed moves. The threading chart has speeds listed in thousandths per turn, but that’s not the power feed. Maybe there’s something in the manual. I don’t see why I couldn’t use the threading feed instead.

Someone somewhere said you can move knurls down a workpiece by applying pressure with the handwheel. The knurls try to pull the carriage, but they can’t do it by themselves, so you give them a boost. I haven’t tried that.

I’ve also been told–by a very respected machinist–that when you make diamond knurling, you don’t have to worry about the diameter of the work. Uh…okay. I know he has to be right, but I will have to see it happen in front of me before I’ll get the idea.

I made a lot of notes while watching the ATI lathe videos today. One nice thing about that series is that the instructor uses a puny 10″ lathe, so I don’t have to worry that he might be teaching me things that I can’t do on my 12″ Clausing. The other DVDs I have feature a giant lathe, by my standards. I think it’s a 15″ Leblond, but I forget.

I need to get out in the garage and try to knurl something. The tool I have is probably not good for stainless, but I have other stuff. I would hate to waste good aluminum, which is expensive, but I can grab some crummy steel.

The mill is supposed to be within the city limits tomorrow. After waiting seven weeks, I think I should sell tickets.