I have recently started working at a nut and bolt factory and have started talking to them about making some self centering pins for me. I would like to give all the cuemakers on here a chance to chime in and put forth some features they would like to see incorporated. Like me personally a threaded end beyond the 60degree center drill for easier install. Or maybe a hex head put right in the end for an allenwrench. I plan to start off with 3/8X10 in phenolic, G10, and brass to start with. If they sell good I will expand to the other threads. That is unless everyone would rather me start with a different thread. All sugestions would be greatly appriciated. I'm guessing that I will have to order atleast 2000pcs to get any kind of deal on them.
Would you like some advice???
Don't do this. Don't embark on this project.
2,000 pins will cost you at least $5,000 and quite possibly a lot more.
You've been building for how long now??
Do you think that you know what attributes constitute a good pin? No offense, but do you?
If you did, you wouldn't be asking everyone what they think you should have made.
Good pins are already pretty easy to come by. In a pinch, I can make my own.
You're about to dump a ton of money on a product that you'll likely be stuck with.
Except for maybe the 10 or 20 to the person that wants something totally goofy made.
Would you like a tap with that?
Smart-a$$, yeah, I know. But consider this. Unless these proposed pins are made in
dimensional compliance with respect to currently established and readily available taps,
you're into yet another line of products.
PUT YOUR MONEY INTO YOUR OWN BUSINESS so you can learn what makes a good pin.
People will tell you things about what they want for this reason or that.
That's how rumors & lies get started.
Personal experience is truth, it never lies.
Hopefully, you'll understand why I'm telling you this, in this way.
I'm not the dream-squasher that you may perceive me to be.
Quite the contrary, I've seen this movie before and I know how it ends.
You certainly wouldn't be the first on this site who's spent big-bucks to have a product
made only to wind-up holding the bag. In this case, a very expensive bag.
There's a world of difference btwn mill-run nuts & bolts and cue connection pins.
Are you prepared for the additional expense of electro-polishing should you go to stainless steel?
The reason I ask is, even the slightest burr or unpolished surface of the pin will have
a detrimental effect on the shaft's threads. It will just keep getting more loose.
G-10 can be a tad abrasive also.
I know that you're trying to be helpful to the other CMs/C-Tecs here and with your new
job at the bolt factory, this seems like an ideal way to do it. Trust me, it's not but
your good intent is acknowledged.
What I see possibly happening is that you'll become hopelessly in debt and without
sufficient means to allow you to build cues. This can be a very expensive hobby.
Put the time & money into your cues and learning how to build them. Then, maybe in 5-10
years you'll have acquired enough knowledge on the elements of a cue's connection pin to
know how a good one is made and why it's made the way it is.
If everything I've said here has fallen on deaf ears, so be it.
I'd like to see you give this a little more thought. What can it hurt?
Am I the only one seeing this or just the first to say it?
