3D printed pool cue
- Thread starter iusedtoberich
- Start date
Yeah, I honestly have no idea how it will play. I think it has a chance because the plastic is heavier than the wood, so I think I can make it weigh and balance the same when all is said and done. My biggest concern is the strength of the skinniest joint, which will be the 314 joint. For that one, I might use a pool cue joint of metal or phenolic inside a corresponding female thread of the printed piece there.
I think most travel cues are split at about 20” and 3 pieces, so the joint diameter is larger than my split at 16”. The worst case is if the Predator shaft splits. If the 3d print splits, I can just print another one for 50 cents.
how far from the hollow area of the 314 are you splitting the shaft? i imagine that being quite important
P1S is good, we have a bunch of X1Cs at work for prototyping. never any problems, no tinkering.
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3D printing is the future
OK, that's butt ugly, no pun intended 
Now, having said that, given that the one of the best attributes of a jump cue is light weight, it seems to me that a 3-D printed jump butt might be a pretty useful thing.
Now, having said that, given that the one of the best attributes of a jump cue is light weight, it seems to me that a 3-D printed jump butt might be a pretty useful thing.
Flashback... I once owned a waterfront bar in Belize that I called Bambu.
pj
chgo
Nice (adventurous) project.....Heard good things about those Bambu....I am just your standard Fusion 360 - Cura - Creality guy....One printer set up for hard plastic...One set up for TPU........ASN may be something to explore if the PLA does not hold up to your liking...ASN is used frequently for Car and Motorcycle NLA reproductions....(you probably already know that).....You also may consider modeling in a weight bolt so you can move the weight around for forward-rear balance....
The thread part will be the toughest challenge...I can print a 3/8-10 joint but have to tweak it a hair to adjust for my printers tolerances........every printer/slicer seems to print them just a bit different.....Fusion 360 has the threading aspects...but also gives the ability (imbedded in the application) to pull in components from McMaster Carr (STEP files).....They have all the nuts and bolts and threaded rod components.
Something else you can do if you have not thought of this is do a print capture of a threaded insert.
I played around with a hit insert idea between the but and shaft with different infills to try and produce different hits...I even tried a TPU inserts....Nothing worth writing home about yet.....
I also did a butt extension (PLA) but my cue does not have a threaded butt cap....A press fit did not work so well....and the PLA was much lighter than I expected.
Look forward to seeing your progress!!!
The thread part will be the toughest challenge...I can print a 3/8-10 joint but have to tweak it a hair to adjust for my printers tolerances........every printer/slicer seems to print them just a bit different.....Fusion 360 has the threading aspects...but also gives the ability (imbedded in the application) to pull in components from McMaster Carr (STEP files).....They have all the nuts and bolts and threaded rod components.
Something else you can do if you have not thought of this is do a print capture of a threaded insert.
I played around with a hit insert idea between the but and shaft with different infills to try and produce different hits...I even tried a TPU inserts....Nothing worth writing home about yet.....
I also did a butt extension (PLA) but my cue does not have a threaded butt cap....A press fit did not work so well....and the PLA was much lighter than I expected.
Look forward to seeing your progress!!!
No issues with the hollow area. It's only about 5" deep. Here is a 314-1 I broke 20 years ago, then bandsawed to see inside. I still kept it all these years, ha ha. I think I made a CAD model of the inside of it at the time, but IDK where I put that.
I put it on a 60 deg V-block, its .003" TIR, not counting the start/stop ridge. Of course, when each section is about 8" long, who knows what it will do, and how straight it will be.
I have the butt dims modeled accurately now, measured against my real cue. Each plane will be a split. The shaft portion is not the correct diameters yet.
This is the real size of piece 6 and 7.
This is what I came up with to eliminate the need for support. I'm printing the top piece now (cut short) as a test to see how it comes out. The very top of it needs to stay flat, or any error will accumulate each layer.
PLA because it's cheap, easy, and stiff. If I have issues, I can try something else afterwards. I've only ever printed that and PETG on my personal printer. I don't want to do ABS because of the fumes, and I don't want to try the carbon reinforced filaments yet, as I think I need to change my nozzle for that, and they cost a lot more.
Infill I want to do 100%. I thought concentric would be perfect for this shape, but I tried that on a test piece a few days ago, and it kept crashing the head into the material about .5" up. I don't know why. When I changed it to "rectilinear", it works fine at 100%. So I'll leave it there for now.
I did that this weekend. Flew for a dr appt, and played off the wall. I did ok in the tournament. Then afterwards, I got into action with a local. I couldn't spin the ball, it cost me. I ended up borrowing the owner's cue, which was a Meucci CF shaft. It was close to the predator, and I played way better with it. I really like Predator shafts, but I've been playing them since the 90s, and its so hard to play with anything else now.
The test print worked well. The inside top of the female thread built smoothly without support.
The top has a bit of a dish to it. The center is at zero. The edges on the next picture are .003" high.
Outer edges are .003" high, consistent around the whole perimeter. Good enough I think. On the plus side, that will mean the outer edges will touch first when the joint is tightened, which is what my goal was. I could potentially make a sanding jig to try to get it flatter. But I think it will be good enough as-is.
I have the real piece 6 and 7 on the printer now. It will take 5.5 hrs, at 100% infill. Tomorrow I will screw them together and see how it feels. Then break it with my hands, to see what it takes to break it. Hopefully it requires a knee
I should probably order some more filament, I guess the whole cue will take about a 1kg roll.
That is some dialed in stepper motors and extruder for those tolerances!!!View attachment 730794
The test print worked well. The inside top of the female thread built smoothly without support.
View attachment 730795
The top has a bit of a dish to it. The center is at zero. The edges on the next picture are .003" high.
View attachment 730796
Outer edges are .003" high, consistent around the whole perimeter. Good enough I think. On the plus side, that will mean the outer edges will touch first when the joint is tightened, which is what my goal was. I could potentially make a sanding jig to try to get it flatter. But I think it will be good enough as-is.
View attachment 730797
I have the real piece 6 and 7 on the printer now. It will take 5.5 hrs, at 100% infill. Tomorrow I will screw them together and see how it feels. Then break it with my hands, to see what it takes to break it. Hopefully it requires a knee
Based on the orientation of the print....If I was to bet....My bet would be it will break flush where the threads meet the butt....been down that road with threaded prints........to add some strength to threads.......don't thread all the way to the bottom leave a few MM of unthreaded rod and add a small fillet between the threaded rod and the face....(add your corresponding space and fillet to the inside of the female threads) ...It will still thread all the way face to face.
i think bambuslicer will automatically change to rectilinear for 100%. anyway, ABS or PA-CF would probably be my choice. impact resistance being the biggest factor.
Lepine
Member
Another idea is to make a cane and put the shaft in the butt. I travel through airports in many countries. A cane is allowed onboard a plane. It needs to be X-rayed but since no weapon is inside the butt or shaft it will pass. Then you have a two piece cue. Make the butt out of heavy metal to make up for the weight. Also, no airport in USA or Europe requires proof of disability. No cane is required to be airline approved. If I walk with a baseball bat as my cane if should not be disallowed. I have been disabled for 5 years and gone though about 12 airports so something to research. I've used a variety of devices as canes.
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Nice, I just need a drill and some Bazooka gum and I can make my own 314 shaft!