Refinish a CF shaft

J

JasonATX

Well-known member
Hi folks,

I've got a Predator Revo that's basically worn smooth. I can put a ceramic coating on it and it's not too bad, but I was considering sending it back to Predator for their Recharge service. Basically, the shaft looks like the before in the video.

Alternatively, I have access to large enough lathes to do it myself and I might do that as it's a backup shaft anyway. Can anyone confirm or speculate what they do to resurface the shaft? It looks like they sand it tip to joint, but I'm not sure.

Past that, I have a first gen Cuetec Propel where the shaft was smooth from the factory. Would a similar sanding process help here, or should I leave it alone?

Any ideas welcome, thank you!
 
send it to predator for their revo recharge service....it's only $80 plus shipping. Sanding the shaft will ruin it.
 
I would like to know where you have gotten that information from. I have never gotten fully behind a CF shaft, just don't want to re learn a shafts playability. But wood or carbon should be glass smooth to glide along your hand/fingers. To want it slightly rough doesn't make sense. Please don't take any of this the wrong way, I'm not trying to start anything I just want the conversation side of this and want to pick your brain for information and thoughts.
 
jokers_wild96 said:
I would like to know where you have gotten that information from. I have never gotten fully behind a CF shaft, just don't want to re learn a shafts playability. But wood or carbon should be glass smooth to glide along your hand/fingers. To want it slightly rough doesn't make sense. Please don't take any of this the wrong way, I'm not trying to start anything I just want the conversation side of this and want to pick your brain for information and thoughts.
Click to expand...
The smoother carbon or fiberglass is, the "stickier" it becomes. You basically have to use a glove at that point.

This Predator Recharge video shows the difference.
 
So after the quick watch this is my take. It looks like it just wasn't cleaned very well or needs a good cleaning (in the vid, not what you have going on). I don't think any other cf brand needs to do this. And if that is not the case and it just wears out like that then what is predator using that can't hold up to the human hand sliding along it but every other brand can. And as a cue maker/repair to go from the "dirty" to "recharged" it just looks like it was wet sanded a bit. It doesn't look like its been sealed or waxed or anything like that afterwards. So that's just my thoughts. I mean after I make a new cf shaft for someone I will wet sand it with like 1000 or higher to give it that clean smooth surface. I don't remember if I put any Renaissance wax polish on after. Surprisingly there is not a big demand in my area for cf shafts even offering them at hundreds below your name brand ones.
 
jokers_wild96 said:
I would like to know where you have gotten that information from. I have never gotten fully behind a CF shaft, just don't want to re learn a shafts playability. But wood or carbon should be glass smooth to glide along your hand/fingers. To want it slightly rough doesn't make sense. Please don't take any of this the wrong way, I'm not trying to start anything I just want the conversation side of this and want to pick your brain for information and thoughts.
Click to expand...

It's a well known phenomenon that very smooth, non-porous have high stiction forces. It is why we don't finish the maple shaft the entire length. The effect is compounded due to the oils in a person's skin, and (likely) the Van der Waal effect.
 
Same thing with race boats. They would sand the back edge of the wetted surface with 400-600 sandpaper in a length wise only direction to break the surface tension. On my big woodturning lathe I clean up the bed and banjo with 220-320 and only sand lengthways. Banjo slides like it is on ball bearings, plus seems to stay in better shape longer than if you used a finer grit for a polished finish.
 
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