new hightower tailstock

I have now answered hours of emails about these tailstocks and sold a half a dozen or so of them. There is really nothing else to explain about them that has not been said in this thread.

So here is all the information I am have.

It is #2 Morse Taper heavier Duty Tailstock.

It works on a quill feed instead of leaver.

The Price is $175 with no chuck

A chuck is $35

My paypal address is cueman@cuesmith.com

If you want one before seeing it in person at Valley Forge you can order one.

Shipping is $14 in lower 48 states with no chuck and $15 with chuck.

Put "New Tailstock" in paypal message box.

I don't want to answer any more emails about this tailstock.

It has already been told by some well respected cuemakers on here that it is something worth buying. So I don't want to spend any more time trying to sell you one of these blind. I offered these to the ICA members many months ago. Then I offered them to the ones on my e-letter list a while back and had no intentions of publically offering them again until Valley Forge in March. But it got posted here and I gave more information out than I wanted to. If you are not on my e-letter list you can sign up at www.cuesmith.com on the left side of the home page.

The tailstock will only work on the Deluxe Cue Smith. It will not work on the shorter headstock models.

You only risk shipping both ways if not happy with one of these. I will refund the price of the parts only.
 
Kelly_Guy said:
I can understand the reasoning behind Chris not wanting to post pictures of things if he has had a problem with people copying his inventions. But from the perspective of a potential customer, I find it nice to be able to see what you are buying.

Chris advertised a rear chuck assembly for some of the guys with machine lathes for a while. The price seemed right and I was in the market for that very thing so I contacted him about it. I politely asked for pictures a couple of times as I like to see what I am buying, particularly when it comes to lathe tooling. Chris declined because of the already stated reasons. Had he sent pictures and his setup was to my liking I would have ordered.

I have not bought a lathe from Chris, so perhaps I wasn't "vested". I did buy some tooling for one of his lathes I was using at a pro shop, as well as a few things for myself. I have always attempted to be a helpful forum member and straight up fellow, so I was disappointed we didn't make a transaction.

Like I said, I understand the reason, but there is a cost associated with that policy as well. Maybe I am in the minority of people who would choose not to buy a product unseen, and that cost is small.

Kelly
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You would have only risked shipping both ways. I have very few pictures on my website, yet have thousands of happy customers. I have not had one return on the rear chuck or the Tailstock so far. Someone else did post a picture of the rear chuck on here. Most cuemakers are also hobby level machinists and often want the picture to make the item themselves as Dickie pointed out a while back.
 
You would have only risked shipping both ways. I have very few pictures on my website, yet have thousands of happy customers. I have not had one return on the rear chuck or the Tailstock so far. Someone else did post a picture of the rear chuck on here. Most cuemakers are also hobby level machinists and often want the picture to make the item themselves as Dickie pointed out a while back.


Chris as you said hobyist level to make lathe or machine parts you need exprience, your items will sell themselfs on that merit i figure once someone trys to make something with no luck then they will buy the real mcoy
 
brianna187 said:
You would have only risked shipping both ways. I have very few pictures on my website, yet have thousands of happy customers. I have not had one return on the rear chuck or the Tailstock so far. Someone else did post a picture of the rear chuck on here. Most cuemakers are also hobby level machinists and often want the picture to make the item themselves as Dickie pointed out a while back.


Chris as you said hobyist level to make lathe or machine parts you need exprience, your items will sell themselfs on that merit i figure once someone trys to make something with no luck then they will buy the real mcoy
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I agree with you. But the back plates can be made on the lathe they are making one for. The Tailstock would take more skill than most hobbiests could do. But there are also those who might want to copy my items in larger quantities for resale that do have the machining skills to do so, or have access to people who have the skills.
 
I'm interested in learning more but I can wait until the Deluxe V2 comes out as a whole unit. I will be interested in seeing it and seeing what improvements can be upgraded to my existing deluxe. Hopefully new improvements will be able to be purchased and retrofitted to the older untits. I have to say that the deluxe is a pretty unique and versatile machine for someone like myself who doesn't have the room for a giant lathe and just does this as a hobby. The tailstock should be a nice improvement, it's hard to control the feed-rate sometimes with the existing lever. Chris is a good engineer and hopefully the deluxe will slowly evolve over time to become slightly more heavy-duty without becoming really big, heavy and costly.

As far as pictures are concerned, anybody who really wants to copy this tailstock could just buy one and then copy it, it's impossible to keep a secret forever and without a patent (even with one unfortunately) things get copied. I'm guessing that there will be nothing in terms of design or engineering in the new tailstock that hasn't been around for 125 years or so. Anyhow, I don't buy much stuff but what I do I buy from Chris. He is reliable, honest and his customer service is old-school, personal and high quality to a degree that you just don't see much anymore.
 
once burned . . .

Hard to buy a pig in a poke although at this point we know pretty much what we are getting from Chris. I've spent a lot more than two way shipping to look at something also.

Chris's side of the story is one I'm too familiar with. I designed an all new piece of equipment, nothing like it anywhere. One of the most reputable people in the sport wanted to see what I had so I sent him a simplified version of it. Two months later one of his friends marketed my design. I sent the man I had sent the piece to a blistering e-mail, never heard from him again and it has been years.

I may market my design yet, the complete design. I won't offer it until I can flood the market myself. If the thief claims it is in any way a knockoff of his things will get ugly in a hurry. Theft of something you have put your time and sweat into makes a person that mad.

What nobody has mentioned yet is the R&D that goes into making something new and unique. Rarely is the first generation proto-type exactly what you want and it may take months of thought and drawing to even get that first generation proto-type built. We used a team of six people and many outside consultants to build something that fit in a backpack and used mostly existing components when I was in R&D. Nine months and $75,000 later we had a proto-type; generation one, still a long ways from ready to market. The design thieves bypass all of this and start with a marketable model and work from there.

Hu
 
Hu,You are right with what you say.
There are a lot people out there trying to make it without any work themselves.Just copy and sell to a market keen on anything new or different with an apparent advantage.
I have not seen Chris put out a bad product yet.And have no doubt that the new parts he is selling is to the same quality that he himself would be expecting if he were the purchaser.
As Chris is offering a money return to those that are not happy, I wounder if any have returned the tailstock yet. I would doubt it very much.
I support Chris for not putting up pictures of the new product. At least that will buy him some time before it gets copied and undercut.
Neil
 
i ordered mine... was suppose to be here friday but rescheduled until monday... cant wait

before anyone asks... NO I WONT TAKE PICS PUBLICALLY OR PRIVATELY.

i will tell u how i like it tho

I UNDERSTAND CHRIS. HOW DO I SAY THIS NICELY.... IF YOU CANT AFFORD 200$ TWORDS EQUIPTMENT MAYBE YOU SHOULDNT MAKE CUES....
 
ShootingArts said:
Hard to buy a pig in a poke although at this point we know pretty much what we are getting from Chris. I've spent a lot more than two way shipping to look at something also.

Chris's side of the story is one I'm too familiar with. I designed an all new piece of equipment, nothing like it anywhere. One of the most reputable people in the sport wanted to see what I had so I sent him a simplified version of it. Two months later one of his friends marketed my design. I sent the man I had sent the piece to a blistering e-mail, never heard from him again and it has been years.

I may market my design yet, the complete design. I won't offer it until I can flood the market myself. If the thief claims it is in any way a knockoff of his things will get ugly in a hurry. Theft of something you have put your time and sweat into makes a person that mad.

What nobody has mentioned yet is the R&D that goes into making something new and unique. Rarely is the first generation proto-type exactly what you want and it may take months of thought and drawing to even get that first generation proto-type built. We used a team of six people and many outside consultants to build something that fit in a backpack and used mostly existing components when I was in R&D. Nine months and $75,000 later we had a proto-type; generation one, still a long ways from ready to market. The design thieves bypass all of this and start with a marketable model and work from there.

Hu
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You know how it is. I appreciate your input. Nobody can grasp how many failed mounting plates and wasted material went in to making the first tailstock mounts.
Or the several years of various lead screw set ups before one that was satisfactory, which was only meant to be used on my long lathes and Taig's short version.
Not to mention the large headstock and smaller headstock with 15mm bore, lathe pins, adjustable taper bars and the longer beds. All this took many thousands of dollars worth of R & D and it does bug me that someone else gets to pick up right there and start making parts without having put in all the $$ and effort just by copying me.
As you mentioned I do not try to reinvent the wheel. I will use parts made for other machines and adapt them to mine and this makes me easier to copy.
What really puzzles me is that some copy me and don't even bother changing the looks. Take the headstock knock offs and the taper bar knock offs for example. Same exact hole pattern and so forth.
 
ha ha , I got mine and thanks Chris

no picture , of course

it is a good item :grin:
 
Hi,

I don't have a Hightower lathe and can't make an experienced judgment on it's performance. However, I do know that there are a huge amount of cuemakers around who love it and are dedicated to making their cues on it.

I own 8 lathes in my shop and the only reason I did not buy Chris's lathe as my first lathe is because on the fact that the waiting period was so long at the time and I did not want to wait. High demand for a great product lost my sale, go figure!

As for Chris not posting the pics of his new tailstock, I think he should do so. If someone else copies it, Kay se ra!. Let face it, Chris Hightower is the trailblazer here and I am sure we have all read his book and learned immensely from him.

If I had a Cuesmith lathe and wanted to upgrade to a better tailstock, I would stay the the Cueman that took me to the dance in the first place. I think customer loyality should out perform a few discount dollars in the long run.

Rick G
 
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Rick, well said can't buy what I don't see . 2010 YAMAHA moto-cross bikes are out and ads are posted everywere, seeing the new bike makes me want one. post a pic of your new tailstock sell a boat load of them , the choice is yours. the old seacret about cue making is out the window , that is why we have this forum to help people out , sell product , ect..
 
hillscues said:
Rick, well said can't buy what I don't see . 2010 YAMAHA moto-cross bikes are out and ads are posted everywere, seeing the new bike makes me want one. post a pic of your new tailstock sell a boat load of them , the choice is yours. the old seacret about cue making is out the window , that is why we have this forum to help people out , sell product , ect..
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I have tried to make it clear that I was not trying to move many of these at this time. I planned to introduce them to the public in March. I only sold them to ICA members and those on my e-letter list until this thread got started. I will post a picture of it when I am ready. These take a little bit of time to get together and with all the irons in the fire, I was not really wanting to have to build a lot of them right now. This is my busy season and time is limited.
 
Gotcha, I wish I had 7 darrins in the shop 1 doesnt cut all the time , so I feel your pain. good luck with everything.
 
hillscues said:
Gotcha, I wish I had 7 darrins in the shop 1 doesnt cut all the time , so I feel your pain. good luck with everything.
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The only problem with having 7 of myself in the shop would be we would all want to be boss and would probably spend more time arguing than working.
I know because I have both of my kids working in my shop. Three want to be bosses already causes problems. :)
 
Chris, I'm the same way. If some body is helping me in the shop i'm allways looking over my shoulder and can't get any work done.
 
hillscues said:
chris, i'm the same way. If some body is helping me in the shop i'm allways looking over my shoulder and can't get any work done.
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i think it goes twards quality... Im the same way. I do it or it doesnt get done. People have asked to come in but..... Not a fan of that
 
cueman said:
I have both of my kids working in my shop. Three want to be bosses already causes problems. :)
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LOL ... That is what you get when family gets into your business.

Chris, I am very happy with my CueSmith Deluxe lathe the way it is but am interested in any improvements.
Please add me to the list of names for when they become available.

My dealings with you in the past have always been pleasant and over the years you have, time after time, proven yourself to be honest and a person of strong moral values ... Actions always speak louder than words.
 
ill tell you one thing... people are ruthless... i keep getting pm after pm to sneak pics... not heppening guy so please stop asking

i think i said that 2 pages ago
 
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