Look Who it Was Random video

DIY Making a Custom Shift Knob Out of Aluminum

4,483 views · Published 29 November 2018 · 4:45 · Indexed 3 October 2026

Channel: Tormach Inc. · 2018 · Science & Technology

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Learn more about the PCNC 440 - https://hubs.ly/Q03jwx3C0 and the 15L Lathe - https://hubs.ly/Q03jwyt90 - powered by our free PathPilot software https://hubs.ly/Q03jwzXD0.

Link to Lathe Tooling Guide: https://tormach.com/media/asset/d/s/ds10524_lathe_tooling_1123a.pdf

We are off to the races today machining a custom shift knob on the PCNC 440 and the 15L Slant-PRO lathe. The material of choice is 6061 aluminum with a step-by-step overview of what it takes to turn into the knob. Throughout the video we will cover a high level overview of the different types of lathe tooling. You can check out our more in-depth lathe tooling overview below: 

Lathe tooling overview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jjyf6tqRdI 

For the custom shift knob that we created, it was a straight forward process. While thinking of the design side of this, I had to think of how to make this aesthetically appealing. Typically, on this type of part, we like to try make the finish with the same tool, all at the same time. Hiding the blend line wasn’t a priority, so designing it in a way that it could get finished off at the same time was a priority. 

The process on making this knob was to chuck up the backside of the part and turn out everything possible except for the top face. Once we got to that part, we finished it up on the PCNC 440 where we took the shear hog to finish off. Once that was accomplished, we engraved the Solidworks logo in. 

To start we roughed the front side. After that we put a thread relief in and roughed off the backside of the knob. A button cutter was used to finish off the body of the part. The last stage of making the custom part was to thread the knob and part it off. You’ll see the finished part has a great surface finish, and overall a great project to work on. 

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