Retipping 80+ one piece bar cues.

PickPocket

PickPocket

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
So wanna help some friends of mine out. He has about 80 or more cues that need tips only. I dont have a lathe yet, or money to buy one. I do have hand tools i use on my own cues.

Im making a shopping list, and looking for any advice to make this task smooth and as painless as possible.

I use Loctite Gel for my own tips. Stick with this or buy something that comes in a larger size?

Tips: Im thinking Lepro's would be the best all around tip for house sticks.
any feedback here?

Going to purchase the Porper Big Shaver to assist with the task of the volume.

also i have the rapid top sander, but ive noticed its not consistant, and for my own cues, i take extra time by hand to ensure a flat surface tip/ferrule. any recommends, to speed up this process?

last question, supplies this may turn into more of a side business for me. What do i need to buy my supplies from a distributor at cost? just a tax id number?

open to all advice, and feedback. thanks!
 
I know you're not dealing with 80 high end custom cues, but I would ask your friend if he wants to invest in a good cue repair lathe.
Even with a repair lathe, the rapid comes in handy.
I also have a Willard Tipper that has a pretty effective rapid on it.
As far as the tips, Elkmaster or Lepro from a cost standpoint.
Get a box of each, some people still like Elkmaster.
Super glue gel is OK. some of the cue parts and cue lathe suppliers probably have something that's better.
We are using a 2-part modeling epoxy.

Sounds like about 3-weeks of work for me, maybe 4...:smile:
I can't resist repairing shaft dings, so with 80-house cues it could take a while.
 
I don't use the handle on my rapid sander, I hold the disk with 4 fingers on top and gently rock the sander about an inch back and forth. I then relocate the base 180 degrees on the shaft and repeat.

Triangles might be an other tip choice.

Pre-clean ferrules with magic eraser.
There always a mess on house cues.

A simple V block bed with a drill or motor attached to a sewing machine treadle.
Chuck up a piece of hose that will fit over the butt to spin and finish sand tips and ferrules. I would use a piece of dowel with a pin centered in one end for the chuck and a hose on the other to hold the butt. Fast cheep and simple.
WARNING: Not recommended for Babushkas
 
ok..

cuesblues said:
I know you're not dealing with 80 high end custom cues, but I would ask your friend if he wants to invest in a good cue repair lathe.
Even with a repair lathe, the rapid comes in handy.
I also have a Willard Tipper that has a pretty effective rapid on it.
As far as the tips, Elkmaster or Lepro from a cost standpoint.
Get a box of each, some people still like Elkmaster.
Super glue gel is OK. some of the cue parts and cue lathe suppliers probably have something that's better.
We are using a 2-part modeling epoxy.

Sounds like about 3-weeks of work for me, maybe 4...:smile:
I can't resist repairing shaft dings, so with 80-house cues it could take a while.
Click to expand...

Willard Tipper is that the $600+ machine?
 
Rig costs..

bud02 said:
I don't use the handle on my rapid sander, I hold the disk with 4 fingers on top and gently rock the sander about an inch back and forth. I then relocate the base 180 degrees on the shaft and repeat.

Triangles might be an other tip choice.

Pre-clean ferrules with magic eraser.
There always a mess on house cues.

A simple V block bed with a drill or motor attached to a sewing machine treadle.
Chuck up a piece of hose that will fit over the butt to spin and finish sand tips and ferrules. I would use a piece of dowel with a pin centered in one end for the chuck and a hose on the other to hold the butt. Fast cheep and simple.


WARNING: Not recommended for Babushkas
Click to expand...


How much to set up that type of a rig? And where would I pick up the odds and ends to build it?!

Would you happen to have pictures?
 
PickPocket said:
Willard Tipper is that the $600+ machine?
Click to expand...

The Willard Tipper is a great little machine, I just sold mine and bought my first lathe about a week ago. There WERE several other Willards on the forum for sale, just do a search and you should find a couple in the $250-$300 range, plus there is a VERY nice one out on Ebay right now with a starting bid at $349 and it looks brand new or very close to it (and NO, it is not mine). I wish my local pool hall wanted all their tips replaced, sounds like a sweet deal. Good luck.
 
bud02 said:
I don't use the handle on my rapid sander, I hold the disk with 4 fingers on top and gently rock the sander about an inch back and forth. I then relocate the base 180 degrees on the shaft and repeat.

Triangles might be an other tip choice.

Pre-clean ferrules with magic eraser.
There always a mess on house cues.

A simple V block bed with a drill or motor attached to a sewing machine treadle.
Chuck up a piece of hose that will fit over the butt to spin and finish sand tips and ferrules. I would use a piece of dowel with a pin centered in one end for the chuck and a hose on the other to hold the butt. Fast cheep and simple.
WARNING: Not recommended for Babushkas
Click to expand...

Do you use the magic eraser dry or wet ??
 
I tipped way too many bar cues. It's a pain. You need to set up a system or you'll hate life. Triangle tips handled bar life the best. All other inexpensive tips had a higher fail percentage. Splitting, cracking, chipping not delaminating. It's not fun to start a pile of 100 bar cues and 25 are new tips you just installed that failed.
Replacing ferrules on bar cues is no fun. If you can talk the owner into no ferrules it helps.
 
I do them for all the bar and poolrooms here in Nashville out of JOB Billiard Club. I charge $7.00 ea. to retip. If it needs a ferrule I explain to them that they are better off purchasing new stick as the ferrule and tip is more expensive than new cue most of the time. Most of the time can just shorten ferrule and make do. With a good lathe can do 20 an hour.

Might be worth your while to purchase one of Chris Hightowers lathes to retip and do cue repair. To do 80 at $7.00 each would almost pay for the cue repair lathe.
 
Absolutely invest in a repair lathe that will do one piece bar cues.
After 20 hand tips you will want to jump off a bridge.
I charge 8.00 for an ell master to the bar.
 
willard tipper

a friend of mine has one he wants 250 i believe if your interested let me know ill ask him if i can give a number to call
 
PickPocket said:
How much to set up that type of a rig? And where would I pick up the odds and ends to build it?!

Would you happen to have pictures?
Click to expand...

If you have a decent drill and the ability to cut some V blocks from wood and line them with some used felt all you need is a treadle, I bought a complete sewing machine from goodwill for $20.00.

For that matter you don't even need the V blocks or the treadle. Just chuck up the drill with a hose to fit the butts and hold it in your hands. I've seen a tip replace guy do the same thing at a pool tournament in the NW. Motor with a hose attached to it, he held the shaft in his hands. With the shaft turning in one hand he would take a razor blade and trim the tip and or ferrel. A simple V block may be handy simply because a house cue is 58" long.
 
Dirtbmw20 said:
Do you use the magic eraser dry or wet ??
Click to expand...

Wet

I sometimes have a piece in my bag, when people ask how I keep my cue shaft so nice. I take a piece and wet it with an ice cube then proceed to make a nasty house cue ferrel look nearly new. It won't remove the groves left from grinding but it cleans it up nice.
 
The best billard item I bought in life was the Unique repair lathe. I did cues by hand for decades....5 house cue repairs at a time wasn't too bad...10 cues was starting to be a real pain. Now I don't mind doing 25 to 50 cues at a time. I charge only 5 dollars for house cues and do the ferrules for almost nothing, as it makes the job easier next time and gets me tons of repeat business.
 
House Cues - Replacing tips

I have not done any house cues.


Before I use the Rapid Sander, I cut most of the tip off and use a Dremel tool to remove most of the remaining tip.

With the Rapid Sander, I use a playing card for a shim to keep from marking the cue with the steel. When I sand, I rotate the cue 40 degrees +/- every so often. The more I sand, I start to apply lighter pressure and the less turns of the sand paper. Challenge with a house cue I would think would be the taper.

I use Tweeten 10-minute cement to glue tips. I remove some of the new tip gluing surface with some light sandpaper. I apply glue to both the cue and new tip.

I use a rubber band with to hold the tip in place. I make sure to let the glue get tacky before putting the tip on the cue.

While they advertise 10 minutes, I always let the tip glue overnight with the rubber band holding pressure.

I start to shape the top of the tip with a dremel tool.

The Big Shaver removes some of higher risk of messing up the ferrule. It works like a jewel.


I would lastly suggest anything you can do repetively will make this easier.

While a cue lathe would be nice, they built the Great Sphinx with out one.

(Or did they ???)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Sphinx_of_Giza


Hope the customers enjoy the new tips.
 
Rockin' Robin said:
The best billard item I bought in life was the Unique repair lathe. I did cues by hand for decades....5 house cue repairs at a time wasn't too bad...10 cues was starting to be a real pain. Now I don't mind doing 25 to 50 cues at a time. I charge only 5 dollars for house cues and do the ferrules for almost nothing, as it makes the job easier next time and gets me tons of repeat business.
Click to expand...

I can agree with an investment and the proper tools but If I'm not going to turn it into a monthly business a twenty dollar bill will buy all the equipment I need to do 80 house cues and make a buck as well. Nor do I need a $500 lath to take care of the cues I use.

If he like he could use the profit as others have said to buy a lath, providing he needs / wants one.
 
For about $400 buy a harbor freight machinist lathe and then you can do the tips and ferrules. You will need to build a simple holder for the back end of the cue, but trust me, doing 80+ bar cues any other way, your going to puke all over your self after 20 of them. When I do my watering hole's cues, I use the milkduds "dudley" tips from muellers, 14mm.If a ferrule is needed, again, it's muellers with their Topek ferrules, really cheap and quite effective for a bar repair. I use 5 minute epoxy on those, wait 20 minutes and then go! I use the locktite gel for the tips, wait 10 minutes and go, and have not lost a tip while using it. I also pre-prep the amount of tips and prime them before use. It will take time, but considering you should be charging $5 atleast per tip, tip and ferrule $7.....do the math....I can do about 30 per day(on a weekend while doing other tasks of building), and that includes sanding the first 20" of the shaft after doing the tips.
PM me, and I'll help as best I can.
Dave
 
Last edited:
Your first mistake would be buying the Porper Big Shaver when a couple of the other Porper tools will do the job much nicer for a fraction of the cost.
 
Lets do the math.

80 cues x $7 = $560

Cost
$400 lath
$70 2 boxes of tips
$20 glue
$10 sandpaper
----------------
$500 total
Thats $500 on the VERY conservative side.
And $60 bucks in your pocket.

At $5.00 a tip your a $100 out of your own pocket to do the job.

If my neighbor decided to replace the base board in his dining room I wouldn't recommend that he purchase a molder, 12" chop box and a finish nailer compressor combo.

The up side might be in another 10 years your friend will have another 80 cues that need re-tipping, and you'll still have the equipment. The couple of guys I know that have service laths only occasionally use it to replace tips for people with no DIYS skills JMO.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top