Eagle Rock Knurling Tool from Enco

Kent,

Thanks for the feed back and I'll probably go for the small one that's on sale. Eagle Rock does make two sorts of scissors knurlers (besides maximum diameter) and I should have made that much clearer than I did. At the risk of getting too link happy, here are the two types from Eagle Rock's web site:

which I think is the one that Enco has on sale, and

which is apparently their newer, 21st century tool and is available in standard and up-to-the-shoulder styles. Beyond that I'm not sure what's different between the two. Maybe they are phasing out the older one. Mostly I was wondering if the newer style was worth considering.

Mike

I have that Eagle Rock knurler. I've been very happy with it. With a little practice, you get so you know how much to tighten the nut for various materials to get a good knurl every time.

Yes, the knurls are replaceable, and it's easy to change knurls for fine or coarse and diamond or straight knurling.

I have one if the Eagle Rock knurlers from about 6 years back. It was basically unusable until I put it through my surface grinder. As received, the joint surfaces were so rough that they locked up if the pivot bolt was tightened enough to take up the slack. It works OK now, but if I had it to do over again, I would spend more money and get one I didn't have to repair out of the box. Perhaps the current version is better, but be prepared.

Randy

That's two for and one semi-against. I'd thought that Eagle Rock was one of the best clamp type knurling tools available but maybe not. I should find out in a few days as I just ordered one.

Mike

Mike,

From what know of Eagle Rocks customer service if you have a problem w/ what you get, call them and they will make it right. I cannot say this strongly enough, their reputation is their living, they will make it right. O'Brian's experience is good intel but he should have called them and raised hell. Kent

I would not get the up-to-the-shoulder style unless I explicitly needed to do that form of knurling. Note that the pin is supported on only one side (to clear that shoulder), while the other on the same page is supported on both sides of the knurls. The thicker side contains a setscrew to hold the pin in place, BTW, to allow changing knurls. And the kurls are a standard size.

When the pin is supported only on one side, there is more chance of the pin tilting over time.

I have another style of Eagle Rock knurler. In mine, the clamp pressure bolt is between the pivot of the arms and the knurls, with no projection behind the pivot. It works well on a larger machine, but gravity wants to make it droop when it is clear of the workpiece.

Mine looks more like this one:

and it was purchased from MSC, where it happened to only be labeled "Made in USA", not labeled by the maker's name. Once I received it, I discovered that it was an Eagle Rock knurler.

And at that time, a representative of Eagle Rock read this newsgroup, and sent me a catalog of all the styles which they had at the time.

But these days I more often use either a T-bar knurler, which mounts in the turret and feeds on over the end of the workpiece, or an Aloris BXA size knurler which has two arms on a dovetail which are moved by a leadscrew connecting them with a left-hand thread on one end and a right-hand thread on the other.

And I now also have a turret mount cut style knurler, which is nice if you want the OD to remain constant. (Normal roll knurlers make the knurl stand a bit proud of the original surface.)

Enjoy, DoN.

Mine is at least 10 years old, never had that problem.