Let's say your a young cuesmith with a dream...

mmedford said:

And you were looking for your first cue lathe. Money is a slight drawback but you found someone to be your financer. In order to cover your debt; you're forced to work the streets changing tips and doing cleanings for whichever john comes your way.
-Mark

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I sincerely hope that you have a good reason for implying that C-Tecs
are prostitutes and that the owners of the cues we service are 'johns'.
You're certainly welcome to go thru life as a street-walker,
just don't take our honorable trade with you.

deleted - 7/25/2020

KJ Cues said:

I sincerely hope that you have a good reason for implying that C-Tecs
are prostitutes and that the owners of the cues we service are 'johns'.
You're certainly welcome to go thru life as a street-walker,
just don't take our honorable trade with you.

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Maybe he could put his dream lathe on wheels when he works the streets to pay off his loan debt.

Or maybe he could get a little monkey with a funny hat and a tin cup to collect the money.

You can't have a dream come true if you don't have a dream to start with!

LOL,

Rick

mmedford said:

Thanks for the reply... I sent an email over to midamericapool.

But back to the other half of my question; to the experience ones...knowing what you know now. What would you do differently?

-Mark

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I would have invested the 30k in Apple stock and be a multimillionaire instead of being broke.

pescadoman said:

I would have invested the 30k in Apple stock and be a multimillionaire instead of being broke.

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This^^
Good advice

is this where a dream turns into a night mare???????

Kim

My advice would be to see if a local school has a machinist program and take it. I would think they will let you use their equipment while your in the program. This will let you learn what equipment you really want in your shop.

Sent from my XT901 using Tapatalk

I took a machine shop course and graduated,so I spent a lot of time on full-sized lathes,and to be honest it would take a couple tips to be comfortable installing a tip on one.

There is a HUGE difference between a Hightower chuck for example,and a D1-4 3-jaw,so you gotta start making collets immediately,then fit the back of the spindle for another chuck,etc.

Huge difference in torque too.

Same goes for sanding a shaft on one. I'm sure we've all had sandpaper or a rag snatched out of our hands on typical sanding lathes. That same thing on a full-sized lathe could be catastrophic in my mind.

Now,as far as cutting screws,tapers,and making parts I'm all over it .

If someone was going to bankroll me like you describe,the 40" version of the Grizzly 4003G is what I'd be looking at awful hard,even without a readout.

If the funds were there,the 40" machine with readout and full CNC capability from Micro-Kinetics is AWFUL strong.

If the funds were unlimited,I gotta go with Haas.

And that's just the lathe,the mill is a whole other conversation.

I still do tips on my old Enco mini,and have a small headstock Deluxe plus an old Chinese wood lathe I use for general sanding. Tommy D.

just dont answer.

Jesus, why degrade the guy. So fing sick of seeing " look it up ". If you dont want to answer dont answer. I would get a Hightower Deluxe. Its my work horse and you can do anything on it. Trust me, once you start doing tips and ferrule your next step is to want to make a cue. For a small investment it will more than pay for itself.

deleted - 7/25/2020

I started in November last year, The biggest thing I have learned is simply leave your wallet on the table. You will save time handing you money to folks. I had a dream before I started, then no dreaming any more. You have to sleep to dream.
Steve

seahorse1877 said:

Jesus, why degrade the guy. So fing sick of seeing " look it up ". If you dont want to answer dont answer. I would get a Hightower Deluxe. Its my work horse and you can do anything on it. Trust me, once you start doing tips and ferrule your next step is to want to make a cue. For a small investment it will more than pay for itself.

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Suggesting his use the search function is the best way to help the guy...really. In the event he can't find answers that way, then certainly ask away.

Not really sure why you would consider giving him the tools(search function on this forum) to find nearly unlimited resources regarding cuemaking degrading.

Maybe you aren't old enough to remember the days when finding information was actually pretty damn difficult.

Just a note to the original poster.

Yes, the search function is a great tool to get information. But how you use that information and what you take from it is up to you.

About the information here. Keep in mind that there is a lot of information out there. Some of it will come from established, seasoned cuemakers who are choosing to share valuable information. Much of it will come from lesser experienced cuemakers who are sharing what they know from their own experiences. And some, unfortunately, may even be miss-information intended to steer you to the wrong path. Also keep in mind that even though there is a ton of information out there, it's only a tiny amount compared to what's not shared. Look at it like this. When you watch a military show on cable and they show crazy stuff that seems like cutting edge technology. It's really just the old stuff that they don't mind letting the public know about. The true state of the art technology is kept very closely guarded and is not shared with the public on television. It's no different with cuemakers. The veterans just aren't going to share all their secrets. After all, It's how some of us feed our families, and not just a hobby.

So my advice is to use the searches, read everything you can, and establish your own opinions. Decide how you want to do it, and experiment. Create your own experiences based on your own experiments. In other words, build Your Cue. In the end it is what will make you an Individual in the sea of the masses.


Royce Bunnell
www.obcues.com

If I had it to do over again, I would build my kiln and finishing lathe first. Knowing how much time and effort goes into cue making, I don't know if I would do it again. I am having fun so the lathe stays. It is a Hightower and his customer support is excellent.