Having spent far too much time fruitlessly looking for knobs to replace those missing their brass trims, I decided to make my own. Here is how I did it.
Raw material. 0.5mm thick brass strip, obtainable from model shops.
Rough blanks, cut from strip with tin snips, ready for pressing.
Convex press tool, made on lathe to be the same outside diameter as the finished item. Concave press tool. Made larger than finished item in order to ensure even curvature at the edges.
Pressing blank between convex and concave tools using 6" bench vise. This would be better done in a hand press or fly press but, as I don't have either to hand, careful alignment by eye allows an acceptable result.
Concave lathe arbor. Same outside diameter as finished part.
Trimming the part in the lathe. The pressed part is held between the concave arbor and the convex tool under pressure from the the ball-bearing 'live' tailstock centre. Double-sided adhesive fixes the part to the convex tool and helps prevent slipping and consequent scoring. The surplus material is trimmed off and the part finished to the correct diameter.
MORE TO FOLLOW IN PART 2