Thread: knurling

First of all these scissor type knurlers require some care in use .
Best way is to set it up square to the work piece first .And make sure you tool post is tightened properly any side ways pressure will move the tool post and the kurling tool will self feed sideways.
Keep the speed low on the machine, and use a good cutting oil applied as flood cooling or by a brush .

Before you start wind the knurling tool in with the cross slide so the wheels centers align with the work piece vertically , and wind the knurl down so both wheels just touch the workpiece .
Wind the cross slide out and clear the wheels from the work piece.
Then adjust the screw to bring the wheels together , maybe 1/4 to half a turn of the nut or knob.
How much you wind it down will take practice and also depend on the size of the knurl you want to do.Coarser= more depth of cut.
You can adjust the depth of cut as you go so you get the right depth.I usually stop the lathe with the knurls engaged and flush away the metal dust and take a good look at the knurl before winding off.You can remove the knurls by winding off and re-engage after , and still get a nice job ,but it doesn't always work , but wind back in slowly to give the wheels a change to align with the cuts.

Start the lathe and apply some cutting oil and wind the cross slide in until the wheels touch the workpiece and then keep winding until the wheels are centers are aligned vertically with the center of the work piece.You need to keep plenty of cutting oil on the job to flush the little pieces of metal way other wise they will get pressed back onto the knurl and make it ugly .
If you want to make the knurl longer , feed to left or right with your saddle hand wheel slowly or lowest power feed setting ( I feed by hand as I find it much more controllable.)
Long knurls may need the support of the tail stock and a center, especially if the work piece is sticking out of the chuck say more than an inch .There is a lot of pressure there when initially starting off.
Diamond knurls are like little gears and because of the angle of the grooves on the wheels they will tend to act like gears and drive to the side so any looseness in your top slide screw and saddle will be taken up by the gear affect.Best to lock the saddle and the top slide if you can , off course if doing a long knurl then the saddle will need to be free to move.

Kev.

thanks Kev...I will give it a go