John Ecker of West Bend, WI explains that at age 79, his fingers are smooth slippery, especially when steel parts are oily. He had trouble tightening up his 3-jaw chuck with the Tommy bars without his fingers slipping off. He solved the problem by turning up some easy-to-grip knurled brass sleeves that are pressed onto the end of the 5/32" diameter Tommy bars. The new brass handle is about 1.75" long and is pressed on leaving about 2" of Tommy bar remaining for a total length of about 3.75". If the press fit isn't tight enough, some Lock-titeŽ can be used to keep them in place. If you are looking for a test job for your new knurling tool, why not make something that you will use hundreds of times in your own shop?
If you don't have a knurling attachment, you can simply turn grooves in the end for grip as Larry Simon did on these brass ends, which are pressed onto standard Sherline Tommy bars. (Click on photo to view larger image.)
If you don't want to deal with custom building your handle, here's another way to add a little length and some grip to your Tommy bars. Stock knob handles are available in most hardware stores. Buy the smallest you can find. Tracy Atkinson sent in this photo and suggestion. He used super-glue to hold the knob in place.
The least expensive Tommy bar I've seen is a large nail with the point ground off. The head of the nail probably isn't the most comfortable handle in the world, but it does give you some grip. Clyde Hackler of Plastools uses these in his Sherline lathe when demonstrating his cutters at shows. It's not fancy, but it works. If you lose your Tommy bar on the bench some time, it might be quicker to find a nail to use until you locate the bar among the chips.--Craig
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