Hi Mike and Richard,
Thanks for the info. The carriage feed method seems much gentler on
the machine than Martin Cleeve's cross feed method. I also checked
other articles on knurling and, sure enough, found similar info there
(I should have thought of that myself).
Mike, please check out my site:
The carriage lock should look familiar, I copied your design from
pictures you sent to the 7x10 group -- thanks for that too.
Regards, John
--- In 7x12minilathe@..., "Richard Albers"
<rralbers@j...> wrote:
My comments are inserted in the existing text, where appropriate:
--- In 7x12minilathe@..., "walsh2002bc" <me.walsh@s...>
wrote:
Hi John:
When I'm using my clamp-knurler I don't move the cross-feed at
all.
I only move the cross-feed initially to set the knurling wheels
directly on top and below the workpiece and on the center-line.
I start the lathe with the knurls loose on the right side of the
work
and then slowly clamp down until the knurls begin to cut. Then I
use
the carriage feed only to move the tool slowly towards the
headstock. If at any time I think the cross-slide should be
adjusted, I release the clamp pressure on the tool before making
the
adjustment.
I do similarly, but I make sure that the knurl wheels cover only
1/8" or so on the right end of the work. That makes it easy to
clamp
down far enough to get a good (non-doubled) start, without needing
much pressure on the knurling tool's adjuster.
I move the tool back and forth over the knurling area slowly
tightening the knurl adjustment until the knurling looks
satisfactory, then I move the carriage away from the work to the
right and shut the lathe off. The whole process is very smooth
and
normally requires very little pressure. I find slow spindle
speed
and gentle pressure to work best. Steel workpieces cut smoother
with a little cutting oil.
Make that a _lot_ of oil, and I will agree. Use enough oil, cutting
or lubricating, to wash away the particles that result from the work
operation. And that is true of every metal I've tried to knurl, not
only steel.
Once the knurling has started to form the tool will normally
follow
the previous knurling if you have to repeat the process.
Mike
--- In 7x12minilathe@..., "John" <moran03@e...> wrote:
I recently made a clamp style knurler as described by Martin
Cleve:
I had the bump knurler which was part of the Phase II toolpost
so
the
knurls from this were installed in my shiny new knurler and
away I
went. But, now that I've got it, I find I don't really know how
to
use it.
There are other articles in the same group's files, some (all?) of
which have some instructions. Some of those instructions are better
than others -- read them all, then find some books that cover the
subject and read them too. Then practice, practice, practice.
RA
