Tail stock offsetting

ratcues said:
I think some of the hostility towards you comes from you asking for everything and not spending any time learning and experimenting. You have stated in the past that it is easier to ask than it is to make the mistakes, which I suppose is true.

But here's the problem and my advice; you are not becoming a good cue maker because of it. Cue makers hone their craft by making the mistakes...lots of them. The lesson learned from one mistake is more valuable than asking ten questions on AZ. Don't just learn 'how,' learn 'why.' As an example, 9 cues in 4 months is not something to be proud of. Most cue makers takes many months to over a year to complete ONE cue. If you built 4 in the short amount of time that you have been dabbling, I will guarantee those cues are not up to par. You are running before you learned to walk.

Now, I know it sounds like I'm busting your balls but I'm trying to give you sound advice to make you better. Take it for what it's worth...
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Ryan- Outstanding post, as usual.

CNC's are cool though. Ya just stand there and feed in the wood and out pops the cues. Then ya just have to post on AZ and ask which end the cues come out.

Kind of makes me sick to think that the big pile of ruined wood I have accumulated in the last ten years or so was for nothing. All I had to do was come on here and ask how to build a cue.

Racers like to say that there is just one way to win but a thousand ways to loose. All are in agreement that one needs to learn both to succeed.

Robin Snyder
 
ratcues said:
I think some of the hostility towards you comes from you asking for everything and not spending any time learning and experimenting. You have stated in the past that it is easier to ask than it is to make the mistakes, which I suppose is true.

But here's the problem and my advice; you are not becoming a good cue maker because of it. Cue makers hone their craft by making the mistakes...lots of them. The lesson learned from one mistake is more valuable than asking ten questions on AZ. Don't just learn 'how,' learn 'why.' As an example, 9 cues in 4 months is not something to be proud of. Most cue makers takes many months to over a year to complete ONE cue. If you built 4 in the short amount of time that you have been dabbling, I will guarantee those cues are not up to par. You are running before you learned to walk.

Now, I know it sounds like I'm busting your balls but I'm trying to give you sound advice to make you better. Take it for what it's worth...
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Well said!!!
 
I never sayd i did not make mistakes.

Trust me guys i make plenty of mistakes and experiment quite a lot but if i can ask other people what they did and the mistakes they made and learn from their mistakes why should i not do it. Why should i repeat a mistake some one else did just to say that i paid my dues. I cringe when i break even a small black phenolic joint ring.

The 9 cues i built are not perfect. the pins have small run outs, the finish is OK at best but they are not for sale, shoot very good and i am very proud of every single one of them. Not many people my age can say they built a cue at my age especially with the little stuff i have. If i would have 50k tomorrow and build a state of the art shop full of cnc, g codes and uv spray booths i would crank decent cues in no time. I am a very quick learner , very handy with tools and computers and most importantly i have a lot of confidence in myself. I cant be a perfectionist with the equipment i have but i try.

People have to understand i don't do this to make money its just a hobby and i take it as it is. Ryan is a pro because his livelihood depends on it, other have tons of money to trow at it.


Building a 2 axis cnc "should" not be that hard.

The hardest part i foresee will be attaching the stepper motors to the carriage.

there are packages on eBay that include the controllers and 2 motors for about 130$

I will use a 48 inch bed with a carriage with a derlin gib. a full rack

use a tag head stock with a tail stock and go from there.


I figured the costs should be under 400$.

the mark v software is free and then the hard part begins. writing the g code or paying somebody to do it for me for certain taper i like.
 
Shoot me and call me an ahole or whatever.
This is what happens when someone gets spoon-fed too much.
Like, giving away a simple formula for an offset on something that cuts on lathe mode. :D Instead of telling him to use an indicator and start thinking and measuring after cuts. Me's guilty in spoon-feeding too.
While Jim Buss has an apprentice working hard to learn the craft, someone else who visited the shop has turned a few cues in a few weeks.
Either he's a genius or has very low standards for making those cues that fast.
All that without knowing .200 offset gets you +.400 at the bottom?

If I had an apprentice, he wouldn't be making cues after 4 months.
He'd be vacuuming , making scrap and learning wood.
When I apprenticed, my mentor had a former apprentice. His former apprentice was designing his logo after a few weeks in the shop. So he kicked him out.
 
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You guys really have to start reading the posts a little better

Seriously people please read and understand the posts better.

- not doing this for a living
- not looking for perfection given the equipment and time commitment.
- I am not a perfectionist because i don't sell my stuff and a .015 run our is not going to bother me in a pin.

Why cant there be a gray area. why does it have to be only either your have to be a pro and turn perfection or not even consider attempting.

Where i grew up we were thought is not a shame to not know its a shame not to ask. All you keep telling me is to figure it out on my own. Why do we have schools then. Why did i go to college and blow 70k on teachers when i can just stay home and figure it out on my own.

There is no pride in teaching anymore between cue makers i see, every one thinks that they reinvented the wheel and posses magical secrets that if reveled to the new up and coming generation they will lose business.

I am proud currently that a i can share my limited knowledge with whoever asks me and i never just say go and buy the hightower books if i can just describe the process because that makes me a teacher and where i come from teachers are very highly regarded and full of prestige.
 
There is no pride in teaching anymore between cue makers i see, every one thinks that they reinvented the wheel and posses magical secrets that if reveled to the new up and coming generation they will lose business.
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There is no pride in making mistakes and learning anymore.
The magical secrets were learned the hard way. Making scraps.
Why do you get a free pass ?

I am proud currently that a i can share my limited knowledge with whoever asks me and i never just say go and buy the hightower books if i can just describe the process because that makes me a teacher and where i come from teachers are very highly regarded and full of prestige.
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The knowledge you have is just passed on to you. You didn't find it out by yourself .
Sure, you can share it . It's of no value to you.
Teachers get paid.
Buy a Hightower book is given to those who keep asking basic questions.

if you happen to make it someday, you'll understand.
not doing this for a living
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Some here do.
And you can't guarantee you won't someday. The guy who spoon feeds you now, might be the hand you bite someday.
 
The difficulty I have, is that some very good advise has been given and seems to be ignored or miss understood.
The other difficulty I have is the OP question is basic geometry that 14 year olds learn, yet appears to have a much higher level of education. It leaves me confused as he has not learned anything from the arrows supposedly being produced.
I am sure that a simple scaled drawing could have solved the problem, or now days, a cad drawing. Either way, I would have thought the method or values to make what he wanted would have been obvious.
One of the few tips I will offer that is not obvious and is not wide spread in industry but is used is precision machine shops is the use of ball centers instead of the usual tapered center . This is for the headstock and tailstock. All the places I have worked at that used them , made their own sets.
But there has been some good reading though.
I will be interested in your $400 cnc set up, even if it gets to 1k, it will still be done cheap. If you do complete the project at some time please post either progress or the final project.
Neil
 
There is no pride in teaching anymore between cue makers i see, every one thinks that they reinvented the wheel and posses magical secrets that if reveled to the new up and coming generation they will lose business.

that's a load of bullshit and insulting to the good people here
you have no pride in learning

why dont you just come right and say that all you want is the easy way out
you dont want to learn anything on your own
do you even fukking try? or just run here first ?
and expect , in fact demand answers

did someone have to teach you to wipe your ass or did you figure that out on your own out of necessity?

as pdcue has so elequently stated numerous times on here,
it's not the "the teach me how to build a cue in a week " forum
 
BHQ said:
There is no pride in teaching anymore between cue makers i see, every one thinks that they reinvented the wheel and posses magical secrets that if reveled to the new up and coming generation they will lose business.

that's a load of bullshit and insulting to the good people here
you have no pride in learning

why dont you just come right and say that all you want is the easy way out
you dont want to learn anything on your own
do you even fukking try? or just run here first ?
and expect , in fact demand answers

did someone have to teach you to wipe your ass or did you figure that out on your own out of necessity?

as pdcue has so elequently stated numerous times on here,
it's not the "the teach me how to build a cue in a week " forum
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I heard you had scoop cat's poop to learn butterflies.:grin:
 
JoeyInCali said:
I heard you had scoop cat's poop to learn butterflies.:grin:
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no, no poop scooping at dieckmans
just lots of work and effort on the long bflys


the ones i do now are SELF-TAUGHT
no spoonfeeding
PRIDE
EFFORT

a seemingly lost concept
 
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When you're a young in and Mom tells you that the burner on the stove is hot, chances are, you're still going to find out the hard way.

Well, maybe not that way but I learned my electrical lesson early with a pair of scissors and an outlet.

Someone can say, don't do it this way and you won't. Yet, you'll never know what will happen if you do it the other way.

Do it the other way all by yourself, and you will know first hand what went wrong. And to hopefully not duplicate it.

I was lucky as my Father was a good carpenter. I would stand in the garage, fetch tools and wood, be a second set of hands etc.

At 8 years, my Dad trusted me to use the table saw by myself. I used to cut kite ribs after school.

My Dad would come over for a visit and say something like, where'd you learn to do that. I would smile and say, from watching you. He'd just smile back.

But, to this day, I can still cut a board twice and it's still to short. Oh we'll, I have a pile of short boards that will come in handy some day.
 
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BHQ said:
no, no poop scooping at dieckmans
just lots of work and effort on the long bflys


the ones i do now are SELF-TAUGHT
no spoonfeeding
PRIDE
EFFORT

a seemingly lost concept
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I can't wait for the finish and leather wrap questions next.
 
Brent, send me Stevie. A late spring here and no squirrel buds yet.

I just had to have my Internet cable changed from the line to the house.
Apparently squirrels like to chew on them too. Little buggers.
 
Blue Hog ridr said:
Brent, send me Stevie. A late spring here and no squirrel buds yet.

I just had to have my Internet cable changed from the line to the house.
Apparently squirrels like to chew on them too. Little buggers.
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he's on my shitlist terry
but i still love him :p
 
No doubt about that Darcy. I'd boot Stevie's butt outta there and be Brent's shop squirrel to watch the Butterfly guy in action. I'd probably live in a tent and eat peanuts for a few weeks too.

And I know Brent is generous with the beer tho.

That's good Brent. I read about the hot tub episode and figured Stevie was a goner.
 
Nice very nice people

Good job folks. pile on the the new guy because he has not "paid his dues". and by that i mean i am not stupid enough to repeat what mistakes other have made but instead copy what worked for others in the past and start from there. It is becoming more and more evident that this field is populated by selfish people. NOT ALL but man.....


If the billiards world was thriving in the US i would understand this mentality, but considering it is all going to shit for the pool world and the pool halls are closing one after another soon none of you will sell any 1k+ cues not to mention zero interest by the young generation to learn this trade. How many young kids today fresh of college or high school will take the time to learn this shit on their own do you think? zero i tell you. This money pit called cue making is not a very attractive career except for the very few that have made it, and a mean very few or the crazy passionate nutz like me. I am curious how many cue builders rely on the money they make from cue building as their sole source of income, and i am not talking the ones that had a great career and do this as a passion now and have become great cue makers aka jim buss and others alike.

So for all of you to give me such a hard time about this field, you should all be ashamed of yourselves. Go ahead drive the new guy out because if you share what you know one day he "bite the hand that feed him", right.


I get ostracized because i don't want to learn on my own and i should make mistakes and learn from them?

I bet you guys would feel so good if i would took a expensive blank and f it up in the name of learning how to taper. Sorry but i don't roll like that. I minimize my chances of making a mistake because. I acquire knowledge until i feel confident enough to try it and succeed. Why try and fail when you can try and succeed.

Before i did the first stack leather wrap i got my ass chewed up here my the people that i considered teachers and had all the respect for but soon disappointment settled in when true characters started to surface. Lucky there were still some kind souls that helped me plus Steve Lomax that shared so much with me at the derby.
So yea the first stack i ever did came out perfect. Yea it took me twice as long as i can do it today but still. I did not take any risk of messing it up in the name of discovery and learning.

If by now you guys have not realized that i want to learn from you and that i respect and oggle at every single beautiful cue you guys make and try really hard to emulate that then maybe i should sell my lathe and chose another hobby.

Live and learn from others mistakes, you cant possibly live long enough to make them all yourself...

Don't just learn from your mistakes, teach others how to avoid doing them too....
 
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