Thread: Knobs made from Cabinet Handles

I got a heap of round stainless drawer knobs recently and as they are solid I decided to try one as a machine knob.
Looks they will be perfect and perfect size at 30mm diam.
I mounted one in the lathe and drilled and tapped it to 10mm thread.
Easy enough to do but is there a better way of holding them in the lathe or perhaps a mill is better. I put a drawer screw with the head cut off in to the knob then held this in a keyless chuck in the tailstock. I then advanced the tailstock until the knob was in the lathe chuck and then tightened the 3 jaw over the knob. Then removed the screw and went on to drill and tap.
While it was close it is not perfectly centred so is there a better way to get the original drilled hole centred?
DCP_1312.JPG

Could you make some form of split collar that is bored to the diameter of the straight section of the knob, and is bigger in overall diameter than the ball itself, then grab it with a 4 jaw and dial it in as required?

Of course, the existing hole might not actually be perfectly centred anyway?

Thanks J&H
What I ended up doing was drilling down the existing thread with a slightly oversize drill. I then transferred the knob to the lathe and did the same thing holding the drill bit in the tailstock and then tightening the three jaw chuck over the knob. While it wouldn't pass a DTI it is quite respectable for a knob and as true or better than the plastic ones I replaced.
I spent the afternoon replacing eight knobs on the mill, three on the drill press and one on the tailstock of the lathe.
They look and feel much better than the plastic ones and not a lot of effort to modify them. Certainly a lot quicker than making them with a ball turner.

Originally Posted by rodm

They look and feel much better than the plastic ones and not a lot of effort to modify them.

That's interesting, I actually prefer the feel of plastic (Delrin or phenolic) knobs. Maybe it's a Melbourne winter thing, but the metal knobs always feel cold and hard on the hands. Or maybe I'm just soft.

Jack260

You have a point but my excuse is the original handles on the mill are hollow and feel too light for the purpose. I hadn't planned on changing the handles until a box of 80 solid stainless ones turned up so it was an opportunity rather than a necessity. The only other purpose I could think of was throwing them at the pesky cat that craps in our garden most nights.

Rod,
Yeah, they have to be dense, solid plastic or they look and feel like crap. You need to make a cat trap.

Young Rod,

Bruce "Abratool" Smith could loan you his cat trap. Dural, NSW no longer has a feral cat problem so Bruce's trap is sitting idle.

I'm a black plastic knob fan too. The Waldown knobs are 38mm in diameter and the 13's, 45. Comfortable. 30 is small. It's not like you've got little fox mitts size hands RM. I can bring you over a larger knob to try.

BT

I'd love to catch the cat but I work for the wrong people to be seen doing anything about it.
Perhaps a 30mm bore cannon might be good for the 70 odd knobs I have left then I can ping a few dealers and bikies we have living in the street. I could be the artillery backing up the sunrise raids by the TRG. I don't know if it is common in all areas these days but we seem to have had our fair share in the last couple of years.
Back on track the drill press and lathe tailstock knobs were plastic and have been long gone so better to have 30mm knobs than nothing. The mill are the same size as the ones they replaced and despite your claim bigger is better I wouldn't have turned up 8 knobs from scratch so these will do.
Thinking about it a larger knob in stainless would really be heavy so perhaps that is why they make them from plastic.

Hi Rod,

Sorry I can't offer any advice with the cat problem, I know a relative who makes good use of sub-sonic 0.22's but he's on a semi-rural property and he's an avid bird watcher (twitcher?) hates cats with a passion.

Very impressed with the nice work re-purposing the cabinet knobs,

Regards
Ray