becomming a cue maker

StormHotRod300

StormHotRod300

BigSexy
Silver Member
Ok, I am sure this has been brought up many times, but here i go.


If money isnt a issue and someone has apprenticed under a cue maker for 6months to a year, and then wants to branch out and make his own cues, how much is he looking at money wise for start up? And what kinda machinery will he hafta purchase too?

I also hear about guys who have multi-cue making machines that can turn out several cues butts and shafts at the same time too. And what kind of options is there for buying a Lathe that turns out one cue at a time or several?
 
There are several threads on this forum also, you just have to look back far enough to find some.

To be honest, the answer is very different depending on what you want to spend, and also what capability you want to have. Will you buy new machinery, will you get lucky and be close to someone selling his shop? Someone from Arizona has posted a lathe, tooling, and wood for $3,000.

One machine lathe/cue making lathe with bare minimum of tooling and "starter kit" of wood: $4,000+

Want to have no lack of capability, including cnc 4 axis inlay, a good supply of wood to start seasoning, a 2nd machine for repair to keep the main lathe from being tied up, some tooling and attachments, a couple decent wood working machines, dust collector, $20,000+

Just ball park figures.
Kelly
 
Firstly, if you have a machine that does 7 butts at a time you're just a production cuemaker...I plan to build no more than 15 ~ 20 cues a year....go with Cuesmiths...stay away from Porpers...the first thing I'm finding is stock up on materials...woods esp. Get a good supply of exotics and handle shaft wood and start turning them down...that's the stage I'm at right now...
Also getting all the butt, joint and ferrule materials...joint pins, different colors of irish linen...I have built one cue so far that I am using as a personal cue, it's leopardwood with two floating curly maple points and flatfaced 3/8 ~ 10 pin and it plays great and solid....I'm going on a shoestring budget so far...just getting a little here and there, I did just win some nice ivory of ebay....:D
So far I've spent around a $1000.00 all together...mostly on building equipment and making custom jigs and such....
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Becoming a Cuemaker ?

StormHotRod300 said:
Ok, I am sure this has been brought up many times, but here i go.


If money isnt a issue and someone has apprenticed under a cue maker for 6months to a year, and then wants to branch out and make his own cues, how much is he looking at money wise for start up? And what kinda machinery will he hafta purchase too?

I also hear about guys who have multi-cue making machines that can turn out several cues butts and shafts at the same time too. And what kind of options is there for buying a Lathe that turns out one cue at a time or several?
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If you have all the money you want and you have apprenticed under a cuemaker for 6 - 12 months then you need to apprencice under another cuemaker so you will know the answers to the most basic questions.

The equipment you need depends on whether you want to be a full-time cuemaker or just play at making cues.

Regardless of which you decide a Porper Model B lathe will be of much help to you.
 
Arnot Wadsworth said:
If you have all the money you want and you have apprenticed under a cuemaker for 6 - 12 months then you need to apprencice under another cuemaker so you will know the answers to the most basic questions.
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I had that exact thought myself, but assumed that part was completely hypothetical...
Kelly
 
showboat said:
Firstly, if you have a machine that does 7 butts at a time you're just a production cuemaker....
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I don't know where the number 7 came from...the original poster said "several", and 7 does seem like overkill, but I don't completely agree with your statement....it just depends on what is done with the machine.

I know a cuemaker who makes around 40 cues a year all by order, and he has a minimum 300 shafts in the works at all times. I have heard of some makers taking 12 passes from start to finish on shafts. Multiply 300 by 12. Then consider fronts, handle stock, etc etc etc. Forty cues a year isn't that much, but it might be 80 shafts, when you add replacement shafts, or shafts he sells outright, shafts that get culled, having 300 shafts to make a pass on isn't far fetched.

If a cuemaker has more room and money than time, and he wants to greatly speed up his process, and when he is going to make a small pass on 210 shafts that are all mid stage, they are all getting the same exact pass made, that is 30 load operations and passes versus 210 one at a time. What he does with that stock decides whether he is a custom maker versus production cue maker, not how efficient he does it.

ofcourse this is just my opinion...
Kelly
 
Kelly_Guy said:
I don't know where the number 7 came from...the original poster said "several", and 7 does seem like overkill, but I don't completely agree with your statement....it just depends on what is done with the machine.

I know a cuemaker who makes around 40 cues a year all by order, and he has a minimum 300 shafts in the works at all times. I have heard of some makers taking 12 passes from start to finish on shafts. Multiply 300 by 12. Then consider fronts, handle stock, etc etc etc. Forty cues a year isn't that much, but it might be 80 shafts, when you add replacement shafts, or shafts he sells outright, shafts that get culled, having 300 shafts to make a pass on isn't far fetched.

If a cuemaker has more room and money than time, and he wants to greatly speed up his process, and when he is going to make a small pass on 210 shafts that are all mid stage, they are all getting the same exact pass made, that is 30 load operations and passes versus 210 one at a time. What he does with that stock decides whether he is a custom maker versus production cue maker, not how efficient he does it.

ofcourse this is just my opinion...
Kelly
Click to expand...
Great explanation. That's exactly how I go about with my woods. I like
the "collect and select" method that's why I buy boards and unprocessed instead of dowels or squares and I'm sure there're a few here too that do such, Chris Hightower comes to mind. Somebody who makes house cues buy my culled anyway.
 
Kelly_Guy said:
I don't know where the number 7 came from...the original poster said "several", and 7 does seem like overkill, but I don't completely agree with your statement....it just depends on what is done with the machine.

I know a cuemaker who makes around 40 cues a year all by order, and he has a minimum 300 shafts in the works at all times. I have heard of some makers taking 12 passes from start to finish on shafts. Multiply 300 by 12. Then consider fronts, handle stock, etc etc etc. Forty cues a year isn't that much, but it might be 80 shafts, when you add replacement shafts, or shafts he sells outright, shafts that get culled, having 300 shafts to make a pass on isn't far fetched.

If a cuemaker has more room and money than time, and he wants to greatly speed up his process, and when he is going to make a small pass on 210 shafts that are all mid stage, they are all getting the same exact pass made, that is 30 load operations and passes versus 210 one at a time. What he does with that stock decides whether he is a custom maker versus production cue maker, not how efficient he does it.

ofcourse this is just my opinion...
Kelly
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IMO over the course of a year, using your numbers that is still an overkill with equipment...
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showboat said:
IMO over the course of a year, using your numbers that is still an overkill with equipment...
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It might very well be overkill :p , I have no interest in disagreeing with you there, but the 7 at once was your number...my point was the use of such equipment didn't automatically make someone a production cue maker...

Kelly
 
Well atleast i got a rough idea of what i would need, If and when this ever happens, i figure i would plan on spending about 10,000$ - 15,000$ max

That would include machinery, and machine parts and wood and parts for cue's.
 
Getting Started at Cuemaking

StormHotRod300 said:
Well atleast i got a rough idea of what i would need, If and when this ever happens, i figure i would plan on spending about 10,000$ - 15,000$ max

That would include machinery, and machine parts and wood and parts for cue's.
Click to expand...

You can play for $15,000.00. Just an example - I have over $14,000.00 in my shaft machine alone. It tapers two shafts at the same time or two butts at the same time or one shaft and one butt at the same time or one of either.

When I first started building cues I estimated that I would need $7000.00 to get started nicely. I WAS WRONG. After about 2 years my wife came into my shop and asked: "Is there ever going to come a time that UPS is not going to come to the door with $200.00 worth of stuff EVERY DAY?. I replied with a smile: "Not in your life time".

Then I went on to CNC, a Bludworth Shaft Machine, over $100.000.00 in wood, shaft and ivory inventory, better tooling and it never stops .

Serious cuemaking is not for the faint-hearted but it is lots of fun.:)
 
JoeyInCali said:
If money isnt a issue
Wouldn't that be nice?
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M O N E Y is available to Small business from the good old SBA, but you got to think BIG. I once tried to barrow 25K from the SBA. ($25,000.00)

Was Turned Down FLAT as they lady said we like Loan of 100K- to a MILLION, I was think SMALL...:mad:
 
StormHotRod300 said:
Well atleast i got a rough idea of what i would need, If and when this ever happens, i figure i would plan on spending about 10,000$ - 15,000$ max

That would include machinery, and machine parts and wood and parts for cue's.
Click to expand...

You said money is not an issue, then it would be much more then that. You want multiple machines set up for dedicated purposes and a good stock of wood. Unless you are shopping garage sales and flea markets and want to spend years trying to find machinery you would easily spend $100,000 plus.

You also have to consider where you are going to put all this stuff, whether you buy, rent or build a building, that will be a big expense. Now if you are talking about just enough equipment to build one cue now in your carport then, no, it will not be all that much.

It is hard to work without quite a few machines you have to keep changing setups and stop what you are doing if someone want a repair or something. People wonder why cue makers have so much equipment, it is just for that reason otherwise they can spin their wheels all day not getting anything done.
 
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cuesmith is a great start!

Well..... let's see. I bought my cuesmith deluxe from Chris a little over 8 years ago. I have certainly never regretted that move. I suggest starting out slow and making sure cuemaking is right for you first before you tie up a fortune. Which ever lathe you buy, there will be a period of "getting to know it" and getting comfortable using it. Doing lots of just repair work is a great way to do this. As you get a little braver, do more complex repairs. Then before you know it, you'll start on that first cue, just to see how it goes. Then, if it goes good, you'll become obsessed!!! This has been my experience anyway. Good luck but most of all KEEP IT FUN!!!:D
 
macguy said:
You said money is not an issue, then it would be much more then that. You want multiple machines set up for dedicated purposes and a good stock of wood. Unless you are shopping garage sales and flea markets and want to spend years trying to find machinery you would easily spend $100,000 plus.

You also have to consider where you are going to put all this stuff, whether you buy, rent or build a building, that will be a big expense. Now if you are talking about just enough equipment to build one cue now in your carport then, no, it will not be all that much.

It is hard to work without quite a few machines you have to keep changing setups and stop what you are doing if someone want a repair or something. People wonder why cue makers have so much equipment, it is just for that reason otherwise they can spin their wheels all day not getting anything done.
Click to expand...
It will always cost you more than you think! You change things, upgrade, fix and replace machines and tooling. My dust collector alone (the most important piece of equipment next to the spray booth set up in my shop) was $10,000 when it was all done.
Jack
www.johnmaddencues.com
 
Jack Madden said:
It will always cost you more than you think! You change things, upgrade, fix and replace machines and tooling. My dust collector alone (the most important piece of equipment next to the spray booth set up in my shop) was $10,000 when it was all done.
Jack
www.johnmaddencues.com
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I saw a website a while back that had some pictures of your shop but I could not find it again. It had nice pictures of the landscape around your shop. It really looked like a nice place to work. Do you know the website I am refering to?
 
macguy said:
I saw a website a while back that had some pictures of your shop but I could not find it again. It had nice pictures of the landscape around your shop. It really looked like a nice place to work. Do you know the website I am refering to?
Click to expand...

It's Roy Malott's site - INDYQ.com. I think he did a nice job selecting the pictures to prsent on his site that really show the shop.

Jack
www.johnmaddencues.com
 
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