I often am asked about knurling on the Taig lathe, and where one can get a knurling tool that will work on a lathe as small as the Taig. For those that want to make one I have some drawings of a simple tool, but not everyone wants to make all of their tooling.
Knurling on the Taig is problematic. The lathe does not have a lot of low end torque, nor does it have the low speeds that knurling works best at. In all of my knurling over the years I have found that with any knurling tool a fine knurl is usually all that you can achieve. The only knurling tool that should be used on the Taig is the scissors or clamp style kurling tool - those that press in from the side will put too much strain on the cross slide screw and will wear the nut or even cause more damage.
Littlemachineshop.com kindly provided their 1911 large capacity knurling tool for me to review. Shipping as usual from LMS was prompt. The Knurling tool was of the usual mainland Chinese quality, which is to say a little bit rough. The #1911 Large Capacity Knurler is a tool that worked well with the Taig and allowed me to make a quality knurl with little effort.
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#1911 Large Capacity Knurler $39.95 Comes with fine, medium and coarse knurls, 0-2" diameter capacity This is a tried and true design that LMS had made specially for them |
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The bar that clamps in the Taig toolpost is almost an interference fit - you may have to file a little material off of the bar or in the Taig toolpost slot depending. In order to change knurls you have to remove the small circlips that hold the knurl axles in the body of the tool. It is best to have two new 1/4" circlips standing by as they will not really work well after being removed. I again only recommend the fine knurls for use on the Taig. |
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The large diameter knurled knob that tightens the tool down on the work allowed me to easily apply enough pressure to get a good knurl. |
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The #1911 Large Capacity Knurling Tool setup for knurling. |
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A nice long perfect fine knurl on 1" 6061 barstock |
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Knurling 5/8" 6061. Notice the 2nd toolpost next to the one holding the knurling tool. This is to prevent the toolpost from pivoting under the force as you travel axially along the work. |
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