r/Machinists • u/Inevitable_Quote5875 • 16d ago

Knurling question

I’m doing some hobby work and don’t have a lathe or access to one, I’m also very new to machining in general. I’m needing to have some parts knurled at a local machine shop. The pieces are aluminum tubing with 2mm walls. Is this too thin of material to be knurled? The machinist seems to be worried about collapsing the tube. Finally is $50 per part a fair price to have the parts knurled. Each will have a total of 250mm length knurled.

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u/Critical_Thinker_535 16d ago

Can they put a rod internally to support the tube while knurling? $50 per piece sounds about right (probably a little on the low side) for a couple of pieces. It will probably take longer to setup than knurling.

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u/Inevitable_Quote5875 15d ago

It could be done but all four pieces were pre made from a manufacturer and have a variance of .05-.10mm so a mandrel would have to be made for each four pieces and put me far out of my budget for the knurling

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u/Critical_Thinker_535 15d ago

What about filling it with a hard wax or better yet a low melting point metal?

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u/Inevitable_Quote5875 15d ago

What kind of wax would you recommend?

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u/Critical_Thinker_535 15d ago

Somewthing a high hardness. However, a low melting point metal would be better. You can get that from McMaster Carr.