My homemade lathe spawned from my need to do something in during my house arrest in 2020. My DIY lathe had its limitations, which led to the acquisition of a Mid-America cue lathe. Having no experience or knowledge I simply built a bench top to put my new lathe upon and began working on a bunch of bar cues. Inevitably my workstation evolved as my need, knowledge, and experience grew. Some changes spawned from efficiency improvements, some new tooling, and just “I want its”.





Now with a few years experience I decided to update the lathe station to better fit what I have learned. I was disassembling the chuck on the head stock to clean, grease, and bore and decided to keep going. I had already been thinking about how to build a box around it to reduce the noise while using the router as well as the dust. I also decided to add a riser under the lathe so I am not hunching over the lathe so much. Simple idea that should only take a few days… yeah right.

My workspace is limited and I don’t have all of the woodworking tools I would like. One piece of plywood required a bank loan and it would be difficult for me to cut, so I made an executive decision while at the depot and switched to a sheet of foam board. Lightweight, easy to cut, and adds some extra sound barrier. I did my best to plan for all contingencies as I built the framework. Missed a couple things, but I was able to adjust as I went.

What a mess I made.


The plan was to build a riser with a raised back panel for general use and then attach a removable front piece when using the router. Simple. The first part came together nicely. The logistics of the tool bar became an issue. I ended up making the tool bar removable so they are not in the box while the router is running. There is space underneath to put the lathe parts when not in use (cross slides and tail stocks). The side walls clip in and the windowed front gate is on slip hinges to easily attach and remove.






Sides clipped in.





The Dynamat dampened the sound down to around 65 decibels making it a little less than my shop vac. No more dust in the air and all over the floor! The lighting is better and the raised height is great. Better on the back and easier to see what I am doing. The extra drawers are a big plus to have more things conveniently at hand. I knew I would have to rewire the switch on the power feed unit so I could operate it outside the box. I put the ShnitPwr (chuckle) power supply in one of the small drawers along with the re-wired switch. The station will probably get a tweak or two as I get back into using it, but so far I am very pleased.

Cleaned back up.

That's an amazing accomplishment for Mr. Morra, and puts him at around number 72 on the top world players list.
Just to give you an idea of how good Josh Filler is though, at fargorate 863, he is 63% better than Morra!
We've all seen John Morra play- he is fantastic- which makes Filler's rating even more impressive

What’s really unfortunate is how this debacle has tarnished the legacy of Joe Salazar. I first met Joe in 1983. He was a solid player and a likable man. Joe showed me the first Schon cue I ever saw at a weekly Tuesday nine 9 ball tournament at the Billiard Tavern in downtown San Diego. As a businessman I did a few cue deals with him that were completely above board and smooth. In my knowing of him he stood on solid principles. Of course, I realize other people might have had different experiences. I have no idea why his family couldn’t sort out his consignments following his passing.

jay helfert said:

I have not been posting much lately due to health issues. My doctor here has me on an ongoing course of treatments that will last a couple of months.

It all started about a month ago where i was getting weaker and weaker every day. First (my doctor is a young woman) gave me a series of tests and i had severe anemia. It was affecting my kidneys, liver and bladder.

Some of the procedures are very uncomfortable but if i ever want to play pool again i need to do this. My health comes first.

I was reluctant to do this but im reaching out to billiards family for emotional support. Thanks for reading this.

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Hey Jay, Best wishes for your recovery. There’s no doubt in my mind that you will put forth the effort to get there. I’m not far behind you in age and keeping ourselves in good health doesn’t get any easier. Thank God you’re not dealing with a catastrophic illness! I look forward to your posts and seeing you and Lenni again down the road.

Ya he's an 800, but that's an awful low robustness

TwoRailDave said:

What would you use to plug the butt and shaft with if you were to install a new brass radial pin in the butt and change a shaft with a brass insert from 5/15x14 to radial? Thanks

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I like a material that doesn't move as those plugs have fairly thin walls. So Hydex 202 or paper micarta.

Nick B said:

What amazes me is that if asked I would have said John is in the top 25 in the world. He’s 75th. WOW. What a list of Euros and Asians. No wonder USA can’t win a Mosconi.

Nevertheless well done John


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Fargo ratings are sticky. I’d be curious to see how John’s 2026 rating compares to others’ for the same period. I suspect he might be performing in the top 50.