knurling for ratchets or extensions

[sickboy motors inc.]

Can knurling be done from home maybe on a lathe or? ... Anybody know.any techniques or if this is pretty much a factory thing? I have some tools that I want to try this out on if it is possible anybody have any thoughts?

 

[Provincial]

Knurling reqires a lot of pressure to be applied to the part in order to push the metal into the diamond shape of the knurl. Usually it is done before the part has been heat treated and is in a soft condition.

There are tools that make the knurls that have rollers that apply pressure on opposite sides of the part, but if the tool is very hard or tough, I doubt you can get a good diamond shape knurl with any tool.

 

[darkk]

There are knurling tools for lathes. It does not require a lot of pressure and the results are really nice. My knurling tool has three different size patterns on it. The metal you want to knurl however must be soft. Knurling hardened metal will be impossible buy hand. I'm not even sure hardened metal could be knurled properly...

 

[holt2ton]

The one bad thing is that if it is already chromed it will just tear that right to hell. And then if you do happen to get a good knurl, you can bet there will be little shards of chrome stuck down in the knurling just waiting to get aquainted with your fingers!!

 

[OEXL16B]

but if the tool is very hard or tough, I doubt you can get a good diamond shape knurl with any tool.

^This. The tool needs to be knurled before going into heat treatment. Same thing with tools that need to be bent like combination wrenches; they need to be bent before the heat treatment process while they're still soft.

 

[Mickey O]

 

[wmartin]

Wow! The Knurlmaster. That's really cool.

How did they knurl the Knurlmaster?

 

[tribbles]

Wow! The Knurlmaster. That's really cool.

How did they knurl the Knurlmaster?

With a Knurlmastermaster?

 

[beerdog]

Cool tool. Where did you get that? It looks pretty old.

 

[beerdog]

Should have googled first. Still purchasable for at least $150.

 

[sickboy motors inc.]

Thx Mickey o for posting those pics I will.def get me one of those!

 

[Mickey O]

Cool tool. Where did you get that? It looks pretty old.

Picked it up at a garage/house sale a few years back, then knurled a pile of tools and still use it occasionally. Everything at the sale was from the early 70/s back so it's at least that old. It was a sale I stopped by a few hours before they were open because I was in the area and they let me in, I had 2 hours in the basement before anyone else showed up, left with a full van of vintage tools.