? About cue lathe parts

K

Ky Boy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I am asking this question as I have realized that buying a used lathe is nearly as expensive as buying a new one. Not being able to really afford either I have some questions about parts and the different styles of lathes.

1. What is it called that the shaft/ferrule/tip protrudes from on a cue lathe?
2. Is there any way to modify a wood lathe to accept the type of "head" (for lack of a better term) used on cue lathes?
3. How would this be done and how much do you think it would cost?

Thanks for all your help in advance!
Gary
 
cue lathe

Plenty of recommendations for cue lathes on this site. Porper, Cuesmith and Unique are the most popular. I own a Porper which I can build and repair on...they are about $4000 new. My repair work has paid for it a couple times over. My friend has a Cuesmith from Chris Hightower and he has had very good success with it also. I hear Bludworth makes good machinery but have never seen any of his equipment in person. Spend a little money, get a good cue lathe or don't get involved at all.
 
you have gotten to the heart of the issue

KY BOY said:
I am asking this question as I have realized that buying a used lathe is nearly as expensive as buying a new one. Not being able to really afford either I have some questions about parts and the different styles of lathes.

1. What is it called that the shaft/ferrule/tip protrudes from on a cue lathe?
2. Is there any way to modify a wood lathe to accept the type of "head" (for lack of a better term) used on cue lathes?
3. How would this be done and how much do you think it would cost?

Thanks for all your help in advance!
Gary
Click to expand...

The spindle(the part that spins the shaft or butt) is the heart of any lathe. The catch is that wood lathes, the mini lathes and the older metal lathes all usually have too small of a center hole in their spindle to let a cue butt pass through which is usually a must unless you only work on two piece sticks and have at least a forty inch bed.

My opinion is that the purpose made cue lathes and metal lathes with a large enough center bore in the spindle are the only two practical options for cue making. This isn't to say that they can't be made other ways, they can and have been made with a drill press and I have even heard of totally hand made sticks, but to make them in a practical manner I think this would be the two options.

I bought a purpose built cue lathe but I very much regret not simply buying a metal lathe for my own use. The metal lathe isn't portable but it is superior in other ways in my opinion. I have to admit that I have already operated and maintained metal lathes for years so I am very familiar with what is out there to modify them and I have fabricated custom mod's for machinery so I don't see that as a big deal.

My cue lathe had a rough trip here, apparently spending at least part of the trip upside down. It didn't seem to sustain major damage so I repaired a bent flange on a motor and put it in use. I have had many problems with set up and accuracy leading to my dissatisfaction with the lathe but all may be traceable to the shipping with hindsight. I have built a new base to mount the lathe on and am in the middle of reassembly now. It won't be quite as portable but I believe it will function better. Hopefully I will know within the next week.

Hu
 
cue lathe
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Plenty of recommendations for cue lathes on this site. Porper, Cuesmith and Unique are the most popular. I own a Porper which I can build and repair on...they are about $4000 new. My repair work has paid for it a couple times over. My friend has a Cuesmith from Chris Hightower and he has had very good success with it also. I hear Bludworth makes good machinery but have never seen any of his equipment in person. Spend a little money, get a good cue lathe or don't get involved at all.

At the moment I am not really looking to start building cues. I do alot of retipping in my area and with the arbor/drill setup it takes more time to do a tip from start to finish than I like. Not only that but using sandpaper to flush the tip with the ferrule eats away at the ferrule thus decreasing its size. Over time this can become a considerable amount. And as always I appreciate your information.
Thanks, Gary

The spindle(the part that spins the shaft or butt) is the heart of any lathe. The catch is that wood lathes, the mini lathes and the older metal lathes all usually have too small of a center hole in their spindle to let a cue butt pass through which is usually a must unless you only work on two piece sticks and have at least a forty inch bed.

My opinion is that the purpose made cue lathes and metal lathes with a large enough center bore in the spindle are the only two practical options for cue making. This isn't to say that they can't be made other ways, they can and have been made with a drill press and I have even heard of totally hand made sticks, but to make them in a practical manner I think this would be the two options.

I bought a purpose built cue lathe but I very much regret not simply buying a metal lathe for my own use. The metal lathe isn't portable but it is superior in other ways in my opinion. I have to admit that I have already operated and maintained metal lathes for years so I am very familiar with what is out there to modify them and I have fabricated custom mod's for machinery so I don't see that as a big deal.

My cue lathe had a rough trip here, apparently spending at least part of the trip upside down. It didn't seem to sustain major damage so I repaired a bent flange on a motor and put it in use. I have had many problems with set up and accuracy leading to my dissatisfaction with the lathe but all may be traceable to the shipping with hindsight. I have built a new base to mount the lathe on and am in the middle of reassembly now. It won't be quite as portable but I believe it will function better. Hopefully I will know within the next week.

Hu

This is exactly the information I am looking for. I need a setup comparable to this although probably on a smaller scale. Please keep me up to date with how this comes out. I really would like a good setup. However, I may have champagne taste on a beer budget!!

Thanks
Gary
 
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After previewing my last post it is hard to interpret. Something I also need to know is terminology to ask for when when talking to someone about a lathe. What do I need to know when asking for the correct spindle in relation to cue work?

The biggest reason I would like a setup different than the arbors that fit into a drill is doing layered tips are very touchy. When flushing them to the ferrule with sandpaper I find it is easy to heat the tips up due to the friction involved. This can cause the tips to seperate and not last as long.
With the arbor setup it can take 20 minutes to an hour to do a retip. I need to cut this time down and labor involved to make a profit at $10 each.
So, a lathe can help me out here and possibly in the future if I ever decide to make a cue for myself.
 
Do a search for mini lathe setups alot of great picture on how to convert small lathes for retips if your on a budget under $600. If you can afford a larger lathe then go 13"x40" like a Grizzly or Enco $2000-3000 you will need a 1-3\8" through hole for doing cue building and have alot of collets made for it. With a biger lathe you can gear up and not have to rebuy a new lathe when you learn to build cues.

If you go to Chris's website cuesmith.com you can order most of your collets i believe out of teflon softer so it wont dent the wood also joe porper have some but i believe there delrin alittle harder but work fine I have 2 sets for set ups and if one breaks I have a back up.

Bludworth his building a new lathe but it wont be ready for a while he's to busy with shaft machines and cnc machine lots of orders line up.

Best of luck with your choices

Craig
 
'spindle bore' is the spec you are looking for. as mentioned previously 1 3/8" or larger is what you want. also i would not recommend going with a machine whose 'distance between centers' is less than 39". hope this helps.

mark smith
mark smith custom cues / beezers billiards
russellville arkansas
(479)970-0056
 
I still think Chris Hightowers $1395 internet special is a great way to go if you want to focus on cue repair. I get $30 for Moori's and up to $20 to recondition a shaft. If you do any repair on any scale at all, it should pay for itself within a year.
 
Considering

bob_bushka said:
I still think Chris Hightowers $1395 internet special is a great way to go if you want to focus on cue repair. I get $30 for Moori's and up to $20 to recondition a shaft. If you do any repair on any scale at all, it should pay for itself within a year.
Click to expand...


I am considering this transaction. But I must ask where in the world would one purchase a motor to go on the type of lathes that are being sold by cuemaker's? And also where would one find a cross slide/top post?

In essence, all the parts that these cue lathe builders are using to build their lathes must be available to the public somewhere. Or am I dreaming?
 
dreaming

KY BOY said:
I am considering this transaction. But I must ask where in the world would one purchase a motor to go on the type of lathes that are being sold by cuemaker's? And also where would one find a cross slide/top post?

In essence, all the parts that these cue lathe builders are using to build their lathes must be available to the public somewhere. Or am I dreaming?
Click to expand...

Some of the parts are available. Some are made under noncompetition contracts that prevent the maker from making and selling the parts to anyone else however. If you have to have only a few parts designed, drawn, and custom machined you will quickly be up to the price of a lathe with all of the bugs already worked out of it.

Hu
 
Thanks

ShootingArts said:
Some of the parts are available. Some are made under noncompetition contracts that prevent the maker from making and selling the parts to anyone else however. If you have to have only a few parts designed, drawn, and custom machined you will quickly be up to the price of a lathe with all of the bugs already worked out of it.

Hu
Click to expand...

Thanks again SA. Your info seems invaluable.

Gary
 
Alot of it comes down to what you can afford, for what you want to do. I now have a Micro-Lux mini lathe for tips and ferrules. It's one of the better little lathes. cost around $700. I got it for $600 with alot of extras on EBay. I have an Atlas Th54 that I originally bought for $200 to do the tips and ferrules, and now am turning wood, and doing joint pins etc. to build cues. That one has paid for itself and other stuff too. I also have a new Jet mini wood lathe with indexing built into the head and a bed extention for sanding and refinishing shafts and butts, cost me $270 new from Woodcraft. One thing I like about having different lathes is I can do more than one thing at one time, plus I can make parts for alot of things, because they are metal lathes(except the Jet). Someday, I will have a deluxe cuesmith and a inlay machine from Chris, but for now, this fits the budget and does the job and the girlfriend doesn't complain too much about my expensive hobby. She actually helps get me business. Good luck shopping/hunting, that's half the fun of this hobby.
Dave
 
You can get away with a mini lathe for doing shafts only. Make sure that it has a 3/4 headstok bore. This is big enough for shafts. You can pick one up for around 450 and then you will need to get some plastic collets to protect the shaft.
 
I look at it this way. Therare many lathes on the market that are not specifically designed for "cues." On the surface, the cost may be less than the "big three." By the time you customize to do what it is you want to do, you would have been better off buy one the "cue lathes." Plus you have incredible resources with Hightower, Unique, and Proper that can guide you through just about anything. You cannot put a price on that.
 
KY BOY said:
I am considering this transaction. But I must ask where in the world would one purchase a motor to go on the type of lathes that are being sold by cuemaker's? And also where would one find a cross slide/top post?

In essence, all the parts that these cue lathe builders are using to build their lathes must be available to the public somewhere. Or am I dreaming?
Click to expand...

Sure, you can get parts. Problem is the longer bed necessary to do cue work on. Most of these beds and the larger pass thru headstock are pretty much assigned to Cuesmith and Unique by Taig. I know you are trying to save a few bucks but I still think if you haven't done much with lathes(and you wouldn't be asking theese questions if you did) is to save a buying mistake in the first place, call Chris Hightower and committ to a fully functional repair lathe that is ready to go.
 
I have metal lathes

and they work great and do very precise work, BUT, it was not easy or cheap to get to this point. It is cheaper to buy the lathe designed for cue work than to buy a metal lathe, then slowly make the jigs, collets, and adapt tooling to do cue work well. I think when all is done you have a more accurate tool if you get a larger metal lathe, but lets say you spend 1000 dollars for a used metal lathe, or even 500 for a small new one. You will spend 500 more for tooling to get you into the cuemaking business, and will still find yourself needing another 1000 worth of tools and materials to do the work efficiently. You will also invest a year of your time tweaking it all and devising a workflow to do cue work. Yeah if you can devote full time attention to it you can do it faster, but if you think cue work will replace a full time job, you are most likely going to be dissappointed. I am still planning to buy one of Chris' lathes if the opportunity ever comes up. He has it really fine tuned so you can be in cue repair business almost as soon as you uncrate it! For me it would be a portable lathe that I can take to local tournaments and ply my trade. My metal lathe may be super accurate, but portable it is not. Do yourself a favor and buy Chris' book if you want to do this work. Read it a few times and maybe some of your questions and doubts will be satisfied. Good luck!
 
My first lathe was a 7x10 mini lathe from Harbor frieght tools $399 on sale! I made a 5/8 roller bearing steady rest for the shaft cost about 15 for all the parts. made collets from pvc and bought a concave live center from Chris i think it was $30. So for well under $500.00 I had a lathe that could do tips, ferrules and clean shafts. I still use this lathe at tourneys. I also have a cue companion i use here at the pool room. I would say if your the handy type go with the mini lathe but it's just a matter of time you'll want to make extra shafts and do joint work and repair buttcaps and so on. So my advice is check into a cue lathe of some sort. All the ones mentioned in this post are great quality. And with these you get the benift of support of guys like Chris Hightower who have a great knowledge of all aspects of repair and cue building. Good Luck
BK
 
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