# Kant-twist Knurling Tool



## MrWhoopee (Nov 28, 2021)

I've grown tired of fighting bump knurling, so it's time for a scissor type knurling tool. After shopping a little I decided to make my own. I started with one of these imitation Kant-twist clamps.








						(4) NEW  2" Kant Twist Type Clamps         I-299  | eBay
					

Good Usable Condition: "Item may have marks, dents, imperfections but which do not compromise performance/functioning.".



					www.ebay.com
				




At less than $7 ea., I figured I could afford to sacrifice one. It needed to be wider inside to accommodate the 3/8 wide knurling rolls, so I took it completely apart and fabbed replacements for all of the pivots, nuts and spacers. While I was at it, I increased the thread to 5/16-18. 

Here it is just mocked up, I still have some things to do before it gets riveted back together. 




Despite working all the details on the fly, I only made one mistake and it took less than a minute to recover.
It was a good day.


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## woodchucker (Nov 28, 2021)

There is a lot of side load when moving the knurl from left to right.
just saying.


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## C-Bag (Nov 28, 2021)

MrWhoopee said:


> I've grown tired of fighting bump knurling, so it's time for a scissor type knurling tool. After shopping a little I decided to make my own. I started with one of these imitation Kant-twist clamps.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


interesting idea.


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## MrWhoopee (Nov 28, 2021)

woodchucker said:


> There is a lot of side load when moving the knurl from left to right.
> just saying.


Time will tell. I learn more from my failures than from my successes.


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## Kevin T (Nov 29, 2021)

woodchucker said:


> There is a lot of side load when moving the knurl from left to right.
> just saying.


Do you think that could be mitigated some with larger diameter material at all pinned areas? Maybe through bolts clamping a larger diameter spacer?


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## woodchucker (Nov 29, 2021)

MrWhoopee said:


> Time will tell. I learn more from my failures than from my successes.


same here.


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## MrWhoopee (Nov 29, 2021)

I finished it up this morning, swaging all the rivets down with a punch. 
Much to my delight and amazement, the damn thing works.




on aluminum



and steel



There is some looseness on the center pivot which allows it to tilt slightly under load. I could see some axial (left to right) motion of the upper roller mount while knurling the steel. As a result, the ends of the knurls are not always fully formed. The shank should also be longer, the adjusting screw has some clearance issues with the tool holder. Shortening the screw to minimum length will help.

For a wild hair, first attempt I'm pretty happy.


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## Janderso (Nov 29, 2021)

MrWhoopee said:


> I learn more from my failures than from my successes


*You can take that to the bank!*

Nice job. Curious to see how it works out.


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## walz10 (Nov 29, 2021)

I’d say that works pretty good for a first try. I have one of those Chinese made ones with the two pivoting legs that hold the rollers. It didn’t work worth a darn until I removed all the pivot pins and replaced them with bolts that are tight enough to almost lock up the entire thing. I’ve had an idea for one bouncing around in my head for a few years now. If I didn’t have so many half done projects already I’d probably start on making it. Not much about knurling is cheap except some of the folks trying to do it. The design of knurl holder in my head is a scissor type I believe it was inspired by an accu-trac tool. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## woodchucker (Nov 29, 2021)

nice. you never know till you try.
And when someone (like me says nay) just keep plodding along.
That's how our continent was discovered..


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## MrWhoopee (Nov 29, 2021)

There was a misalignment between the two rollers. I did a little shimming and got them quite a bit closer.
This is some 1/2" black pipe, turned to cleanup before knurling.


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## woodchucker (Nov 29, 2021)

MrWhoopee said:


> There was a misalignment between the two rollers. I did a little shimming and got them quite a bit closer.
> This is some 1/2 black pipe, turned to cleanup before knurling.
> 
> View attachment 386892


that looks excellent.  nice.


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## Ken226 (Nov 29, 2021)

Awesome work.  The knurls look great.


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