advice on shaft work equipment

G

gino

Registered
Hi all.

Looking for help on equipment to get started doing shaft work. I replace tips and do a little shaft work by hand for friends and league members but would like to step up the quality of my hobby with some proper equipment. Any advice on what to look for to set up a mini workstation in my house? tips on everything from types of small lathes to brands and grit of sandpaper or links to "how Tos" would be appreciated! I'm a beginner but would love to make it a serious hobby.

So to sum it up - what would a startup shaft repair/maintenance kit look like?
 
I don't have a link but I've seen on e-bay a kit to use a drill as a lathe.
I think it went for $80 or $90.
 
Mid America lathe

I've used the Mid America Lathe every day for several years now. Had to replace the small motor once, but you should consider upgrading to the larger motor if your going to be doing things as more than a hobby... Great for the price.. Todd's a good seller as well..
 
gino said:
Hi all.

Looking for help on equipment to get started doing shaft work. I replace tips and do a little shaft work by hand for friends and league members but would like to step up the quality of my hobby with some proper equipment. Any advice on what to look for to set up a mini workstation in my house? tips on everything from types of small lathes to brands and grit of sandpaper or links to "how Tos" would be appreciated! I'm a beginner but would love to make it a serious hobby.

So to sum it up - what would a startup shaft repair/maintenance kit look like?
Click to expand...
Take a look at this web site
http://www.mini-lathe.com/

A mini lathe is a real lathe. A lot of the lathes that are sold to work on cues are just contrived contraptions that are very limited. With a few modifications you can do quality work with a mini lathe as well as learn real lathe operations.. They are reasonable priced and you can often find them on craigslist for a good price.

Once you start doing cue work you will want more equipment and can buy it over time as you get good deals on things. You will find though you will not be trading off equipment, you will find continued use for all your lathes. You will set up lathes for dedicated jobs so you don't have to keep changing set up's.
Getting back to the link I posted. Check it out there is a lot of information there.
 
The mini or the midamericapool would both be excellent choices. The midamerica lathes are easily upgradeable because believe me, there is no way you'll stop at a simple repair lathe once you get started. You might look at the midamerica lathe that is a step up from that one you're looking at and that one has a ton of potential.
As far as the drill lathe, as long as it's not that american cowboy P.O.S. you might be ok. But eventually you'll want to get into something like the midamerica, so that would be a much better place to start.
 
conetip said:
Some very sound advice from macguy.
If you just want only a repair thingy and like to tinker a bit, this seems a good deal to me.
http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=334367

Neil
Click to expand...

Agreed, this looks like a great deal. If the price of this seems high. Give up now. Cue repair leads to cue building. Cue building is expensive. It's an addiction that will cost a least ten grand to get going. That's not counting the amount you will need to keep your wife happy. While you are in the shop.

You have been warned!

Larry
 
I use what macguy put up. Different brand but same machine. I did have to build an extension off the back side of the chuck side to keep a shaft running smooth. If you leave all that shaft out the through hole of the lathe while replacing a tip it tends to wobble while rotating. (Not the tip but the shaft)
 
macguy said:
Take a look at this web site
http://www.mini-lathe.com/

A mini lathe is a real lathe. A lot of the lathes that are sold to work on cues are just contrived contraptions that are very limited. With a few modifications you can do quality work with a mini lathe as well as learn real lathe operations.. They are reasonable priced and you can often find them on craigslist for a good price.

Once you start doing cue work you will want more equipment and can buy it over time as you get good deals on things. You will find though you will not be trading off equipment, you will find continued use for all your lathes. You will set up lathes for dedicated jobs so you don't have to keep changing set up's.
Getting back to the link I posted. Check it out there is a lot of information there.
Click to expand...

I absolutely agree about not selling off old stuff. Tony at Jackson cue has at least 20 lathes, I counted once but I forget the exact number. I have never regretted buying a piece of equipment that exceeded what it was originally intended to do.
 
Thats a nice little unit that Neil posted a link to. with a little know how, you can build one like that yourself.

Todd is a great guy to deal with and would most likely put one together like that for you if he doesn't have something like that himself.
I can't speak for Todd on what he will and won't do, all I know is that he was very helpful with myself in setting up a lathe purchased from Jimmy L, the same person selling that lathe. Todd supplied me with the motor control box, reverse switch and wiring diagram with it. And a bunch of other goodies to go with it.

That one has the little sewing machine motor with it to do wraps.

If the head stock has a large enuff thru hole, you can do tips and ferrules with the steady rest behind and if the thru hole isn't big enuff, you would use a maintenance arbor and a steady in front.

You could do tips, ferrules, tennon install, repair or install pins and inserts, sand, re finish, pretty much anything except build a cue.

A friend has one almost identical. He built a taper bar for it.

Something like that is perfect for the beginner and also a lathe that will keep on working for you even if you decide to upgrade in the future.

Keep in mind that tooling for the mini lathe can be relatively inexpensive but you will start hurdling toward the abyss shortly there after buying maintenance arbors, drill bits, and all other doo dads and thing a ma jigs to perform the work properly. That is why we always say, "welcome to the Dark Side".
 
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