On Tuesday, November 10, 2015 at 9:48:36 AM UTC-8, Cydrome Leader wrote:
I see the how to drill stainless comes up every couple weeks. Here's a
variation.

What's the trick to knurl stainless? I was looking at some dental tools
that have a beautiful job and are clearly quite hard. Some other stainless
parts I've examined have botched up knurl jobs, but for adding friction
for a grip, it's good enough.

I've knurled unhardened steels, brass and aluminum on the Sherline lathe.
It's takes a couple passes some times, but there's enough fudge factor
where the results are fine. I've not bothered to try stainless, but I
suspect the multiple pass trick just isn't going to work at all,
especially on a small machine.


The trick is to use the right tool which is a straddle knurler:

http://www.accu-trak.com/holders_straddle.html