oh i dont mind or anything i just thought it was kind of odd.
Like, were you itchin to talk about how much you liked your pin, so you searched for a thread about pins and found one from twelve years ago?
i mean, if so, thats exactly the type of pool nerd i am. i just cant imagine being that excited about a pin, personally. It makes me happy to think that others may be.
take care man!
I currently have three conversion cues all with Radial. New to radial. Before these I’ve mainly used 3/8:10 and 5/16:14, both which I love.
The radial pins hit good, honestly I can’t quite tell the difference in hit, but they do come slightly loose. Two days ago, I broke with one and the cue started rattling after, during shots. Thought I’d cracked something. Turns out the joint came loose and needed to be tightened.
I’m friends with the guys over at Tiger. I go over there (too often) and usually end up in long conversations with their cue maker. This is the guy who brought the stacked leather wrap to the billiard world. He does all wraps for Tiger and many other cue brands and cue makers outsource directly to him for wraps. He’s old school. Cuts the channels by hand with a chisel. Takes just a few seconds. Amazing to watch. He also built most of the machines they use in the shop himself, by hand. He’s the designer of their tips and is also the guy who designed and engineered their unique pin.
He explained the original uses, and issues with the various pins used in cues. Radial, for example, the threads of that type of pin are not designed for or ideal for holding two separate pieces of material together. The threading can begin to fail over time and impacts to it, structurally cause loosening over time.
The pin/threading that their pin is based on is an existing type, meant to hold machine parts of some kind together, firmly, without fail. They made some modifications to it, adding a slight taper to the threads and so forth. It’s designed to actually tighten, as opposed to loosen. The diameter of their pins are the same as radial but the threading is superior from an engineering standpoint. They can actually tap a shaft already tapped for radial, so that it works with either radial or their own pin at the same time.
I’m looking at having my pins all changed out. Found this thread and read the comments which are really good. Wanted to see if there were any thoughts on Tiger’s pin. Didn’t think to check the dates.