Best bang for the buck Lathe

C

croscoe

Retired
Silver Member
Looking for input on the purchase of a repair lathe.


Tips, cleaning, ferrule, maybe pin change.

Cuesmith ?

Cue Companion ?

Mid America?

Thoughts on what I should include with it.

I have cues with radial, 3/8 10 modified, uni lock pins, and older cues 5/16 -14 I think.

PM ..ok as I know a lot of people do not wish to down play someones product. All will be keep mum.

Thanks
 
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Well work bench in the cellar (unfinished) where I shoot..

Lots Kim ?

Used to shoot a lot of archery and did all my own arrows, strings (jig), bow press. So that bench will become the lathe rest area....

Only looking to do my own work,,,,Hate waiting on others !

Thanks
 
croscoe said:
Well work bench in the cellar (unfinished) where I shoot..

Lots Kim ?

Used to shoot a lot of archery and did all my own arrows, strings (jig), bow press. So that bench will become the lathe rest area....

Only looking to do my own work,,,,Hate waiting on others !

Thanks
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I see. If it's just personal use, a small repair lathe is fine, but since you wrote joint pin install, I tought you might be planning bigger stuff, and that's why I asked about space.
If I where to start over again, I would look for something like this on the on the web, it's a quite common lathe and I'm sure you could find one used for a very good price.
http://www.grizzly.com/products/12-x-36-Gear-Head-Cam-Lock-Spindle-Gap-Bed-Lathe/G4003
Working on a real metal lathe compared to the taig based cue lathes is like comparing apples and oranges.
And not to mention, should you start to do work for others, it's got about all you need, no need to upgrade, buy specialty parts etc.
The only thing you would need is a rear chuck or another type of setup for holding longer work pieces.
If you can try both types of lathes before you decide.
Try something simple, like parting a G10 rod, it will illustrate the difference right away.
 
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Mid or CueSmith. I have a Mid Large Bore. Use it for myself...tips, cleaning....did a few ferrules for guys that broke theirs. I definitely recommend it.

However Cue Smith is great choice. Would not hesitate to buy/own one. Looks like a nice package. Hightower's rep speaks for itself.
 
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I recommend cue companion for small repairs. Very easy to use little cheaper than the Hightower. But if u plan on eventually getting deeper into it such as butt capp and joint replacement etc... I would go with Hightower midsized it runs bit more accurate for those jobs.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk
 
HoldemRw said:
I recommend cue companion for small repairs. Very easy to use little cheaper than the Hightower. But if u plan on eventually getting deeper into it such as butt capp and joint replacement etc... I would go with Hightower midsized it runs bit more accurate for those jobs.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk
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I had a cue companion 3 package at my pool hall and made way over 150,000.00 in 10 years and the only maintence was three rubber O Ring belts for less than 30.00 total.

The knurled chucks allows you to put your hand and fingers within MMs of chuck at 1500 rpm with no chance of and accident or get hurt. The deal breaker!

This is a no brainer.

JMO,

Rick
 
scdiveteam said:
I had a cue companion 3 package at my pool hall and made way over 150,000.00 in 10 years and the only maintence was three rubber O Ring belts for less than 30.00 total.

The knurled chucks allows you to put your hand and fingers within MMs of chuck at 1500 rpm with no chance of and accident or get hurt. The deal breaker!

This is a no brainer.

JMO,

Rick
Click to expand...

Very clever those knurled chucks, I seem to remeber seeing a picture of your metal lathe with one of those chucks as a rear chuck.
Would you mind PM me a descripton how you did that Rick?
 
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