Building a cut knurling tool was on my list for quite a while now.
Cut knurling is a really interesting and satisfying process and especially for small machines as the Mini Lathe the better choice over form knurling. As the knurl is cut into the material instead of press formed, a lot less force is needed and much less strain is put on the machine spindle and the entire lathe. Paradoxically there is almost nothing to find about cut knurling and cut knurling tools used on small hobby machines here on YouTube.

The tool I made is designed to cut both straight knurls and also cross knurls which is as far as I know a feature no commercial cut knurling tools have. For straight knurls the knurling wheel has to have angled teeth and the tool is tilted so that the teeth are horizontal to the workpiece. For cross knurling a knurling wheel with 90° teeth is needed and the knurling is done in two passes. The first pass with the lathe running in normal direction and the knurling tool tilted at +45° and the second pass with the lathe running in reverse and the knurling tool tilted at 45°.
As far as I tested this method and tool produces some excellent knurls especially on my small hobby machine.

Plans available on Patreon:   / wecandothatbetter  

Many thanks to the german manufacturer Hommel+Keller. The knurling wheels are a bit pricy for a little youtuber like me, so I asked if the want to support me. I'm glad they did and sent me two knurling wheels. Thank you!
https://www.hommelkeller.de/



If you have questions or suggestions, please let me know in the comments. I'll read them all and try to reply to everyone.

Hope you enjoy. Feel free to like and subscribe to the channel.
Thank you!

Instagram page:   / wecandothatbetter  

Keep in mind, due to very limited resources, I have to improvise a lot and go unconvenient ways which may upset some of the "real machinists" out here. Hope with some creativity in the end come to good resoults anyway.

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