Hand Knurlers

dpantazis · Post by **dpantazis** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 8:50 pm

Can anyone offer any advice on the use of hand knurlers? Like the Eagle Rock one.

Would you use it on a lathe under power or only by hand?

thanks

Jose Rivera · Post by **Jose Rivera** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 9:45 pm

I've never used a hand one but my guess is that as long as you can keep it from wiping and not holding by hand may be OK.

Have you dome Knurling before?
Bare in mind that is a low speed operation and one has to have patience to get a nice clean diamond pattern, plus use cutting oil in order to get a good finish.

I always thought that hand knurling tools are for use when there is no lathe available.

MikeC · Post by **MikeC** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 12:37 am

They are also real useful on small flexible parts that don't knurl well in thelathe becuae they push away... think about a small diameter brass punch.

If you want to use a captive knurling setup like this on the lahte, you are probably better off getting one designed for the lathe. Using the hand knurler on the lathe would be like trying to use a tap handle to power tap. Either you or something else is probably going to get broken.

Old Biker UK · Post by **Old Biker UK** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 4:08 am

Quite a bit about knurls & knurling here. Scroll down on page 2 & there are some pics of hand knurling tools.
Mark

tpulley · Post by **tpulley** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 9:14 am

With smaller parts you'd bebetter off coming in from the front of the aprt and knurling that way. Side knurling will not only break the parts off but can cause concentricity issues.

PeteH · Post by **PeteH** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 10:41 am

How about just hand-rolling the part under a single-cut file, on top of a piece of wood or plastic that won't mark it?

kenh · Post by **kenh** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 10:17 pm

I've used a hand knurler on drill rod, came out pretty good.
(Utilizing a jeweler's lathe so options were very limited)