Joint fit of aftermarket carbon fiber shaft.

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sneaky_pete

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Just bought a radial pin Rhino CF shaft and very happy with it overall but the joint doesn't fit totally flush on all butt surfaces, not horrible but totally noticeable, both on a Black Pearl (Al Batista) and a Mac Cues custom, both are Phillipean custom cues. The butt/shaft joint fit with the stock maple shaft is good but with the Rhino you can feel a bit of overhang on one half and flush or slightly negative on one side. Some may be the shaft and some the butts, hard for me to tell with just calipers, might me concentricity issues with one or both components.

So is this common for using an aftermarket shaft on a butt it wasn't fit for? I'm a bit OCD with stuff like this, my Black Pearl has sterling silver rings that are ever so slightly proud since the silver sanded harder than the wood, probably .002" raised. The butt is more than this but probably .006"-.010" off in spots but hard to measure.

Do people get CF shafts custom fit/sanded to the butt before the butt is clear coated to ensure a good flush fit? Al Batista is building me a new burl/ebony cue and wondering if I should get another Rhino cue sent to him to sand flush before the cue is clear coated so I have both a maple and CF shaft that fits perfect.
 
I'm guessing that if you put any cue into a machine that would check butt to tip straightness, none would come in 100%. MFGgers that do extra shafts usually require both halves so they can spin fit the stuff. McDermalds for sure requires it for their own cues. I only have mass produced stuff and a little eccentricity is the norm. Again guessing, I don't think there's anything that can be done short of re-cutting the joint.
 
I recently got a Rhino in radial too and it fits well to a few butts, all custom American cues. Possibly the pins the Filipino makers use is slightly different? I think there are some variations of that pin.
 
I got my GF a Rhino shaft for Christmas. She's got a McDermott cue but she's been using my Meucci CF for a couple weeks, so now she has her own. That cue has a 3/8x10 pin, and I ordered that size from Rhino. She couldn't get it together the first time so she gave it to me, and I kind of muscled it a bit on that first time screwing them together. Not overly tight, but tighter than I'd expect it to be. When I unscrewed it, a curl of plastic came out of the shaft, and it's been perfect ever since. The butt to shaft match is pretty good, I don't notice anything.

That said, I can relate to the OCD part, and once you notice something that you perceive as an issue, it becomes glaringly obvious every time. I've seen guys use butts and shafts that are piloted and non-piloted, such that there is a small gap visible at the joint, and they were fine with it. That would drive me crazy.

I think that if you continue playing with that shaft, the slight overhang will be something you just acclimate to, and possibly even slide your hand down to feel and mentally confirm that it's yours when you play. Kind of build it into your process.
 
Zerksies said:
It is one of the cheaper brands of CF shafts. I wouldn't expect perfection.
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ALL aftermarket shafts have those issues. None fit exactly flush on all cues. There is NO 'standard joint diameter'. Its 'roughly' .840" but with variations from a little under to a little over so NO shaft is going to fit all clues flush. Sometimes you get lucky and have a dead-flush fit but that's kinda rare. This has nothing to do with the price of the shaft, happens with all of them.
 
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It makes no difference in the cues ability to pocket balls if there is a difference in diameter in the butt and shaft joint area.
To expect an after market shaft to match perfectly is like winning the lottery.

It happens but not very often. Don’t let the small stuff get between your ears, if you do you’ll have bigger problems.

Hustlers are always looking to get in your head for that very reason.
 
Quesports said:
It makes no difference in the cues ability to pocket balls if there is a difference in diameter in the butt and shaft joint area.
To expect an after market shaft to match perfectly is like winning the lottery.

It happens but not very often. Don’t let the small stuff get between your ears, if you do you’ll have bigger problems.

Hustlers are always looking to get in your head for that very reason.
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Agree 100%. Some people are ultra-anal about little shit like this.
 
garczar said:
ALL aftermarket shafts have those issues. None fit exactly flush on all cues. There is NO 'standard joint diameter'. Its 'roughly' .840" but with variations from a little under to a little over so NO shaft is going to fit all clues flush. Sometimes you get lucky and have a dead-flush fit but that's kinda rare. This has nothing to do with the price of the shaft, happens with all of them.
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This is the correct answer ^

Joint diameters varies from maker to maker so there is no way an aftermarket shaft will fit everything. Now, as aftermarket shafts have become more popular I think more and more builders are converging on the standard sizes those shafts are built to (.840 in most cases) but it’s far from a universal standard.

I’m running a Revo on my Runde cue. The Revo is around that .840 diameter and the Runde is more like .830. There is a very slight overhang of the shaft at the joint. Bothered me a bit at first but I’m over it now and it works great and plays great.
 
I had Ed Petersen (EAP Cues) make me a CF shaft. He measured it explicitly for the Adam butt I use. I know he had to take an extra step to ensure exact fit. I assume that’s done by slightly shortening the shaft length (it’s tapered, after all) to get the right fitment, but that’s a guess on my part.

The shaft isn’t EXACTLY fitted on a different Adam butt I own although it’s really close.
 
Well, my first Rhino shaft ended up being a couple thousandths larger diameter than the Schon cue joint I was putting it on but you wouldn't notice without looking for it. As I have a cue lathe, I easily cleaned it up to match. As was said, your odds of a perfect fit with any after market shaft and random cue butt are slim to none.
Anyway, my wife stole that shaft from me, so I ordered another. We've shown that shaft to a few members on our two pool leagues, and three that I know of were so impressed that they also ordered one. One member got his a couple days ago and was shooting league with it last night. He thinks it's a fantastic shaft. I should get a commission.
 
I've asked Al what he'll charge to just get a new Rhino to fit to my new cue. I know it's not a playability thing but just want a cue totally smooth if possible, it's just a tactile thing.
 
garczar said:
is tactile the new cover word for 'AR'?? ;)
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My rhino radial carom shaft isn't perfect on the rhino pool butt, but the rhino POOL shaft that came with it is perfect.

I also have a few shafts for my pool cue and the only two that fit perfectly are the two originals
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My Rhino break shaft was a perfect match to my Tiger Ice Breaker butt. Non matching diameter is one of the reasons I had the ringwork added to my Cynergy. That, and I'm anal about things aesthetically matching.

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I had a tiny amount (I mean tiny) of overlap of my Rhino shaft mated to my Helmstetter butt, almost not noticeable unless you put your fingernail against it. I put the shaft on my make shift lathe and took that little bit off. It really wasn't necessary but I did it anyway. For the price these Rhino shafts are damned hard to beat!
 
If I'm not mistaken, Rhino's advertisement says their shaft joint size is 21.5. Measure the butt size of your cues and only put it on the ones that measure 21.5. Will make absolutely no difference in how you play but when people check how it nice the shaft and butt fit together you can't help but feel proud, lol. Just kidding of course, because, I too, like the joint to fit as smoothly as possible.
 
Doug said:
If I'm not mistaken, Rhino's advertisement says their shaft joint size is 21.5. Measure the butt size of your cues and only put it on the ones that measure 21.5. Will make absolutely no difference in how you play but when people check how it nice the shaft and butt fit together you can't help but feel proud, lol. Just kidding of course, because, I too, like the joint to fit as smoothly as possible.
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Unless you're using same brand shaft/butt good luck finding exact flush match-up.
 
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