METALWORK FORUMYeah, yeah, I know these are supposed to be Woodwork Forums, but many woodworkers also do a lot of metal work. Here is a forum for those who dare to work in metal. Use it wisely.
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This little knurling tool works extremely well, even I was surprised. It was designed to fit onto the saddle of my Unimat 3 lathe via two screws and two tee nuts. Just change the body to suit your lathe.
It is of the clamping style, which has a few benefits over the conventional single sided style, plus, there is a bonus. With knurling rollers on each side of the work, very little strain is applied to the chuck spindle, and more importantly, the work.
This means that very small diameters can be knurled without bending anything.
I am not going into construction details, except to say that some improvisation took place.
The grooves for the circlips were cut with a small hardened screw driver bit. The sort that fits into your battery operated drill, just perfect.
Attached are a couple of drawings showing the assembly and details, and some pictures.
Knurling at low speed took very little pressure to produce a nice crisp knurl, even in mild steel.
I said there was a bonus, if the entire knurling tool is swung around on an angle, say 15 degrees, a diamond pattern will result. Not bad eh from a set of straight knurling rollers?
Might not be orthodox, but it works.
There are a few more projects to come, I just have to finish them,
were does the time go?
Well, it took 18 months but I finished your design yesterday. It worked brilliantly, firstly on brass and then on steel. Thanks!
Cheers
Graeme
Got any pictures? I uploaded Kens plans (with his permission) to my site and I'd like to add some additional pictures of the finished project. If you have some that would be great. In any case, congrats on finishing it, I still have it on my to-do list.
__________________ Tyler Youngblood
Free Metalworking Projects and Plans ProjectsInMetal.com
No pictures as yet,but Ken's photos are pretty good. The only mod I've made was to attach the arms to a plate with a piece of 10x10mm steel on the other side which fits into my QCTP.
Cheers
Graeme
Nah, got both the Unimat and the Hercus. Picked up the Hercus a long time ago in need of refurbishment, and as an interim, purchased the Unimat just to play with.
Turns out the Unimat is a bit more than a toy, in fact it's a precision made lathe with milling facilities, just scaled down a tad. Can be picked up in one hand! Just great for small stuff.
Mini lathe/mill project No.3 Knurling tool 
