I have a cue lathe and use it mostly for cleaning. I am nervous about putting a hand-held blade near my ferrule but that is what seems to be the way, does anyone know of a video that will show me how to do this? thanks Sam.
tip trimming
- Thread starter 15cherries
- Start date
Careful with it Sam, but I trip my tips with a razor knife when my cutter is dull, then a fine tooth file. My best tool is a cutter blade I took out of a slitting machine. It is a piece of hardened 1/8" steel about 12" long with a razor edge on one side. I set it flat on the shaft and angle it into the tip. BTW the backside of the cutter that touches the shaft is back rolled as not to hurt the shaft.
Leonard Bloodworth was nice enough to show me this method about 12 years ago at the SBE. I helped him with his setup and he paid me back by the best tip lesson of all time.....
funny story.....after Mr Bloodworth showed me, I got to trim one of his tips while he watched and told me what to do. It came out nice, then he takes the shaft from me, and hands it to Buddy Hall sitting there in his booth!:yikes: glad I didn't mess up! I think they got how i felt by the look on my face! Anyway, I was working in a machine shop back then so I was no newby to machines...I think Leonard got that?
good luck man....
G.
Leonard Bloodworth was nice enough to show me this method about 12 years ago at the SBE. I helped him with his setup and he paid me back by the best tip lesson of all time.....
funny story.....after Mr Bloodworth showed me, I got to trim one of his tips while he watched and told me what to do. It came out nice, then he takes the shaft from me, and hands it to Buddy Hall sitting there in his booth!:yikes: glad I didn't mess up! I think they got how i felt by the look on my face! Anyway, I was working in a machine shop back then so I was no newby to machines...I think Leonard got that?
good luck man....
G.
Here's Tiger's method of a tip install and trim/shape.
Lots of other examples on the page below also.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysNZItIv_UU
Which cue lathe are you using, I'm interested in one.
Thanks for the above tip Gerry.
Lots of other examples on the page below also.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysNZItIv_UU
Which cue lathe are you using, I'm interested in one.
Thanks for the above tip Gerry.
Last edited:
TheThaiger
Banned
I'm still looking for a cheap tool that'll take off the glue/excess tip left on the top of the ferrule.
roadwarrior
Registered
simply put a tape around the ferrule before you install the tip to avoid excess glue on the top of u'r ferrule.
TheThaiger
Banned
No, I mean getting the crap off the top of the ferrule AFTER you've removed the tip. Something to completely level the ferrule.
Here's my method for doing tips by hand.
Cut off the old tip with a razor blade as close as possible, but leave some leather.
Use a flexible shaving razor blade to remove the rest of the leather slowly. The edge is thin enough to get under and chip off glue.
I make the ferrule flush by coloring the back of sandpaper with a graphite pencil to make it slick and put it on a glass surface. I hold the shaft tip side down against the sandpaper with the joint side resting on my shoulder. I slowly pull the sandpaper out from under the tip holding it steady, turn the shaft and repeat until the resistance is smooth signifying even cut across the surface. I use 800 grit for both the tip and ferrule.
Wipe the tip with a dry microfiber towel and the ferrule with a microfiber and alcohol.
Wrap tape around the ferrule as close to the edge as possible, and glue on the tip. I use Loctite gel and apply medium finger pressure for about 30 seconds. Remove tape and excess glue.
Wrap the ferrule with tape again to avoid scratches.
I hold the shaft upside down on my cutting board and use a chisel, holding the bevel against the taped ferrule and cutting flush down. The length of the bevel makes it easy to line up perfectly and thickness of the blade keeps it from flexing and makes the cut very straight. Take plenty of time doing this to get the tip as round as possible before sanding.
Remove tape and re-tape the ferrule.
For sanding I start with 220 grit and place it on the cutting board. I place the joint end of the shaft on a stack of magazines and papers and adjust until the taped ferrule is flush with the board. Slowly move the tip back and forth avoiding the taped ferrule as much as possible.Move up to 800 when it's round, and then move up to 1500 or 2000 to polish it nicely.
Remove the tape and re-tape the ferrule.
I use an edge of my shaving strop to lightly burnish the tip.
Using this method produces results as this, all though these have been played with for a few months.
Cut off the old tip with a razor blade as close as possible, but leave some leather.
Use a flexible shaving razor blade to remove the rest of the leather slowly. The edge is thin enough to get under and chip off glue.
I make the ferrule flush by coloring the back of sandpaper with a graphite pencil to make it slick and put it on a glass surface. I hold the shaft tip side down against the sandpaper with the joint side resting on my shoulder. I slowly pull the sandpaper out from under the tip holding it steady, turn the shaft and repeat until the resistance is smooth signifying even cut across the surface. I use 800 grit for both the tip and ferrule.
Wipe the tip with a dry microfiber towel and the ferrule with a microfiber and alcohol.
Wrap tape around the ferrule as close to the edge as possible, and glue on the tip. I use Loctite gel and apply medium finger pressure for about 30 seconds. Remove tape and excess glue.
Wrap the ferrule with tape again to avoid scratches.
I hold the shaft upside down on my cutting board and use a chisel, holding the bevel against the taped ferrule and cutting flush down. The length of the bevel makes it easy to line up perfectly and thickness of the blade keeps it from flexing and makes the cut very straight. Take plenty of time doing this to get the tip as round as possible before sanding.
Remove tape and re-tape the ferrule.
For sanding I start with 220 grit and place it on the cutting board. I place the joint end of the shaft on a stack of magazines and papers and adjust until the taped ferrule is flush with the board. Slowly move the tip back and forth avoiding the taped ferrule as much as possible.Move up to 800 when it's round, and then move up to 1500 or 2000 to polish it nicely.
Remove the tape and re-tape the ferrule.
I use an edge of my shaving strop to lightly burnish the tip.
Using this method produces results as this, all though these have been played with for a few months.
Have you considered the Rapid Cue Top Sander?
http://www.seyberts.com/products/Cue_Top_Sander-61-24.html
I have one and they work great. Saves alot of time and cheap...
Stanley knife.
TheThaiger
Banned
TheThaiger
Banned
I have its generic, non-unionised asian equivalent. Not particularly impress, not least as it left a load of dents on the shaft.
I put a lot of tips on club cues, where the ferrules aren't flat and haven't been for years. I've tried files etc, but can't flatten them consistently. The best tool for that is the Porper Ultimate (I think) - the one that's a metal cube. I don't like the tool generally, but it has a shaft sized hole with a rough bit a the bottom, and you just 'fire light' with it and it grinds a bit off the ferrule until it's flat. Probably not recommended for high end cues, but for high volume ones, it works great. Trouble is, I don't want to spend £80 on it, just for one function.
http://www.ozonebilliards.com/twracuetopsa.html.
Tweeter rapid sander works if you don't have access to a lathe, just be careful not to dent your shaft
You should probably get the Willard Tip Machine. Grinds the flat end of the ferrule to perfection and shaves tips also. You do everything manually so you are more safe than an electric lathe, IMHO. Pricy ($600 or so), but if you are changing that many tips (for a fee I hope), you should get your money back.
If you have a lathe, then you are in great shape!
I trim my tips on my lathe (homemade, drill-motor type) by using sandpaper. First, I use 600 grit to remove the excess glue from the ferrule (it does not take any significant amount of the ferrule material off by doing this, just don't linger on it too long) so it will be smooth. Then, I put a piece of 1" wide blue painters tape around my ferrule at the thickness of one layer only. I re-install the shaft into my lathe and use 150 or 200 grit folded into a smallish, rigid square and sand parallel to the tips edge until I start to see that I am making/close to making contact with the tape. It helps to take some spit or a semi-wet rag and keep the edge of the tip moist when doing this, especially on the layered tips (when it appears that the tip is drying out from the sanding friction, wet it some more). I then remove the tape, do a quick touch with 400 grit (be quick and careful with the 400 grit, it will take off some wood/ferrule material), working my way up to 600, then 1000, lastly with 1500 grit before burnishing with a piece of clean leather (some go up to 2000 grit, but I haven't found any around here yet). I go ahead and sand up and down the entire shaft from the 600 grit on up to the 1500 grit (for cleaning/smoothing purposes) and then burnish the entire shaft with the leather. Been doing it this way for a long time now to MANY different shafts both for myself and my pool friends with not a single complaint nor damage to any shafts. In the end, my shafts/tips look as good as the ones pictured in Jason's post.
BTW, I too use the Tweeten Top Sander featured in several of the previous posts. It works great. I again put blue painters tape around the shaft where the clamp is going to make contact with the wood and do not overtighten the clamp so it won't dent. I put four or five marks around the painters tape to use for references as I like to rotate the Top Sander every 10-12 turns for a more consistent/level result.
Hope this helps.
Maniac (sorry for all the parentheses, oops, did it again
)
Last edited:
put a bit of cloth around the shaft to cushion it, before you tighten the sander down that will help prevent the dents. I've been using one of these for 20 years with no problems.
The obvious problem with this gadget is that you have to constantly keep moving the shaft closer to the wheel. What a pain in the a $ $.
Use the back of the blade.