This is the only method that guarantees a proper compression type Knurl every time. I prefer doing a single pass if the workpiece is ridge enough.Great advice Thank you.
It's always worked for me. I'm usually hanging out with no support, so I go slow and steady. I need to try a one pass with support, but have never needed to at this point. Good luck and take care, G.
Old video, but..... Thanks for the Knurl videos, really helpful. I created my own spreadsheet using your formula and I got great results on both aluminum and mild steel. This will most likely save me plenty of headache knurling in the future.
No apology necessary! I've already watched all four clips with great interest. I did my first ever knurl the other day based on your spreadsheet with great success. Regards Andrew
Great job on the knurl vids, I am learning on a 7X12 and I love this stuff, real helpful info on this kurling process I want to learn this process and your video really breaks it down...Thank you
+Lorddarthvader1701 Thanks! I know the 7X12 is a really popular machine and have seen tons of good mods to make it even better. I'm glad the series will be helpful! Good luck, G.
+ghostses Hi again! I worked a bit on knurling too. I wanted to ask you this: why do you divide the Pitch decimal with pi? Ι do not understand this, and in fact it does not work for me! I should underline that I think and work metric and I do not know the pitch of my knurls. So, I inked and rolled my knurl on paper, measured the total length, counted the lines, subtracted one and divided the total length with this number. This result I consider to be my knurls pitch. It actually is the distance between two consecutive knurl teeth. Now, if I divide this number with pi, and multiply with 1,2,3,4 etc, and use this as outer diameter on the shaft to be knurled, the knurl does not come out ok. If I directly multiply my pitch with 1,2,3,4 etc, it works just perfect! Any thoughts?
+Kostas stamatakos Kostas, to be honest with you I'm horrible at math so I'm probably the last person to know the answer to your question. I figured this out about 5yrs ago pulling info from various places- mostly math related sites. I really don't have any thoughts, so hopefully someone else will chime in with an explanation. But, if directly multiplying your pitch by incremental numbers is working out- that's great! At least you're getting good knurls now so hopefully the answer will come in time. Good to hear from you. Take care, G.
What is the math for? Is it for how thick the material is and how fast we should go or what? thanks for the video is great this is the only thing im confused about.
Thaddaeus, the math is used to determine the correct diameter a part needs to be to get a good knurl pattern. If the diameter of the part is not correct, the pattern of the knurl will over or under track on each new revolution- creating a bad pattern. Think of the teeth of a gear with painted teeth rolling around the part and making marks. If the diameter of the part is correct, the teeth will line up with the paint on the next revolution. If the diameter is incorrect- the teeth of the gear will paint new marks and destroy the pattern on each new revolution. I hope that makes sense. Good luck, G.
+Alicia Hamilton No problem Alicia! I'm glad the series will be useful. I consider myself a novice as well, but I guess I come across like I know what I'm doing...lol. Take care and good luck, G.
Is there a way to confirm the pitch of my knurling tool? I bought a three in one knurling tool and the description that came with it said fine, medium, and course. Thanks for the great videos.
No problem. I found one post in a forum that gave an explanation. I don't know if it's correct but here's the quote. Hope it helps, G. "To determine the pitch I counted the serrations on the die and divided that count by the circumference of the die." pitch= number/ 3.142(Diameter)
+Roy Schrader Thanks Roy! I'm glad you liked it! I've had sights to do many videos related to basic machining operations but just haven't seemed to find the time. I still have sights to do them, but when I really don't know. Take care, G.
I don't think that will work. I'm not that good at math so I don't know the formula. What I would do is use an ink pad to ink the wheel, then roll it on a piece of paper about 1.5-2 inches. Then use a ruler and count the number of marks you have in 1 inch. That should get you the TPI of your knurl. Or you might find a calculator online to get what you need. Good luck, G.
I'm not totally convinced that the wheels are exactly the pitch they claim to be! If I'm right, my 21 wheel is 3/4" with 48 teeth giving 21.20. I've turned the spreadsheet around - enter the dia and no of teeth and it gives the appropriate diameters.
Andrew. I see I read your post incorrectly- so I'm editing it. Sorry for my hasty reply. I don't know if what the "manufacture" says they are- they truly are. Probably not with the import wheels I use for sure. It's probably a "close enough" number. I'm really not that good with math, but you're probably right about your knurls. The spreadsheet works well enough for me, and any deviation seems to be canceled out when the knurls are formed. Again, I'm truly sorry for my misread of your post- I was out of line. I hope you accept my apology. G.
Thanks man! No, not down to tenths. I round to the nearest thousandth, up or down. The forming of the knurling will push the material around to a degree and cancel out any errors. If you're not pretty close to the required diameter it can result in some nasty looking over tracked knurls. I've looked in the handbook, but most of it was related to the tools. I didn't find a section on how to determine the proper diameter- but I may have missed it. G.
I tried to edit this post after seeing part 2 where you answered my first question but it just froze and said "posting". I don't have the handbook yet, but I'll get one soon. They're pretty proud of the new ones. I think I can manage with an older, cheaper edition. Thanks again.
blmeflmm66 No worries! I shot this long ago so I don't even remember most of what's said...lol. Yes, they are proud of the newer versions of the handbook. I picked up a 28th edition off Ebay for $46 to the door which was a sweet deal. I just kept looking til I got lucky. I'm sure tons of the info in the books has changed very little over the years and is still pertinent today. You might even be able to find a pdf version of something if you look around. G.
Hi Ghostses, I haven't checked in for a while, I hope you are doing well. I love your calculations here and I will be replicating my own spreadsheet based on your instructions. Thank you! I know this is far to go for a little humor, but the songwriter Cole Porter once wrote, in the preamble to "It's Delovely": "I feel a certain urge to sing/ The kind of ditty that invokes the spring!/ So control your desire to curse,/ While I crucify the verse!" Well, after (and before) watching you knurl, I would like to sing: "I feel a certain urge to knurl/" but I can't get any further, I can't find anything to rhyme with knurl!! But I still want to knurl! The doing, the knurling is the mail thing, rhymes & songs mean little, BUT if you have any suggestions, I'm completely interested! David Pearce, Washington, D.C.
Can't help with the song David..lol. I have a document that can be downloaded if you don't want to make a sheet. The link is in the video description. G.
I watched your video several times and I found it informative, but I can not determine how to choose the "Base Multiplier". Is it based on the intended diameter of my part? Thanks.
It's hard for me to explain Falcon. The base multipliers are used to basically create a chart of target turn diameters. You measure your stock, locate the nearest turn diameter on the chart, turn to this dimension, then knurl. I have the pdf link in the description section if you would like to download it. If you're looking to do the math at the lathe, you might need to look for a different method over what I've shown. Good luck, G.
Wonder how critical it really is. If you did not carry the numbers out to as many significant figures then the one example of 0.5 would not be 0.5002!. Does this formula work since you are upsetting the material therefore changing the diameter? As you move the wheels along the shaft horizontally what keeps it tracking and not overriding what you have already knurled. Is there a feed rate just similar to threading to make it track? Never knurled anything so really lost. Knurling tools have different diameter wheels so how does this work out. I know this is an old video so maybe nobody follows the questions any more.?
The diameter has to be close, but not necessarily perfect. I believe I said somewhere in the series, I will round up or down depending on the situation. Really to the nearest thousandths or half. If you're really close, the upset (like you've stated) should straighten itself out as you advance the tool. As for the horizontal travel- it shouldn't matter the feed rate so long as you got a good pattern before the traverse. Testing the initial tracking is the focus. If the diameter of the stock is correct, there should be no over-tracking- or very minimal at best. Different diameters and pitches of knurls can be plugged into the formula to give the best results for what you have to work with. Hope this helps, G.
Great video but your formula is incorrect. you have to figure it based on the distance tooth to tooth, so you roller diameter is needed as well. I made a spread sheet if you would like to take a look at it and maybe do a video on it to help other you tubers out. I have it set up where you enter 3 things ( # of teeth, dia of roller and desired material diameter). it will tell you the closest diameter to turn your stock to and one size below and above. Please let me know. Thanks
cruch9 Thanks! That's quite possibly true. Although I've never had one go bad using my information, it certainly doesn't mean it's spot on. I believe any small errors are canceled out since it's forming the knurl through displacement, in lieu of cutting it. And since I round the tenths to the nearest thousandth, being in the ballpark seems to get the job done well. Post a video, or give me a link to your sheet for download, and I'll link to it for others if they want to use it. I did mine as a print out since I can reference it while I'm working at the lathe instead of going back to my computer. I never took the time to clean it up since it works for me and it's free so I really didn't care what it looked like...lol. It could be cut to a couple of pages if I formatted it better...lol. Someone actually wrote an Android app after watching my series. I have it on my phone but haven't tested it out. You should check it out. I think it's linked in the comments on one of the videos in this series, but don't know which one. Its called "knurling calculator" I'm not sure if the equations are what I used, but it would be a good test to compare to yours while knurling. Good luck, G.
