Does anyone know offhand what that butt cap material was on Mali cues? It's an offwhite ivory colored material with no graining. For the life of me I can't remember what it's called.
Butt cap on a Mali cue
- Thread starter Vince_Former_BB
- Start date
ABS
I believe it was a polyester type material. I have some ivory and black left from the guy that bought their stuff when they closed.
Thanks guys. Would you consider selling me a 2" piece? A friend of mine has the cue. Some genius epoxied the weight bolt in the butt and I'm going to have to machine off the butt cap to get at the thing to remove it. Can't get direct heat to the bolt without destroying the butt cap.
The buttcaps are premade, they melt super easily
Have you thought about drilling into the weight bolt, then insert an easy out and maybe heat that if you had too. I've done some weight bolt removal in Mali cues. The easy out helped a lot with extra leverage. The bolts I removed were up to 6 inches long and had rust locking them in.
Another option after drilling a center hole. Use a left handed drill bit, that might heat the bolt up eneogh to free it.
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I may try that EZ out. Thanks.
If it works, then you don't need the material?
I was thinking about it last night. I will need the material if you can spare one. I'll cut that old one off and get access to that bolt and cook it out slowly.
You can heat the easy-out with a propane torch, when the color of the metal, on the easy-out gets darker( black or charred) it's ready to be wrenched out of there
Good luck, give us a report. If the cap material gets differentiated it's all around and easily replaceable
Someone had tried to remove this bolt in the past and torched the inside of the cap so I'll remove the cap, then heat the bolt once it's exposed and go from there. The previous attempt was a serious jury rig kind of try..........bull in a china shop method. I tend to be more calculating with my machine work.
the idea of using the easy out keeps the heat away from the rest of the cue, epoxies break down in high heat sometimes, so be careful where you direct your heat,
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https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09262QC6G/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I finally pulled the trigger on one of these - handy also for non cue use
I finally pulled the trigger on one of these - handy also for non cue use
A couple of thoughts.
First, the largest coil on that model is 30mm / 1,18" which is a little small for most butt caps.
Second, induction heaters work very quickly, so don't leave it on for very long.
This is to remove the bolt, butt cap is plastic and not removed with heat. Not sure how quickly this will work, it is less efficient on some stainless and other metals - lots of videos you can watch to see how quickly? it works. the kit I ordered has small coils because I want it mainly for joint pins. Here's a kit of replacement coils that will fit practically any application you can imagine, including bending your own coil shape. Understand I've not used this before, nor am I recommending it, but I've got some joint pins to replace and this seemed appropriate. I'll report back on the results.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08XLRF2Q4/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A3BIS2KX0GYGM&psc=1
I see what you're saying, GB, my bad. You're saying put the coil around the butt cap to heat the pin inside. Don't know this for sure, but I have a feeling that distance inverse squared laws apply, and you'd want the coil to be closer to the metal being heated. All the videos I've watched show the coil in close proximity to the the metal being heated.
I have used one before, from an auto repair shop....it heats QUICKLY. Remember, if the cue has ANY metal rings, they will heat up too if you slip the coil over them. I have a small 12volt one that I slip just the pin into....it's about 3-4 minutes to build up but safer than a torch
The one cue I used a large one on, was a Mali.... and it will work slipping it over the buttcap of the cue. I would try to focus more on the threading area as that is usually where the epoxy is. Those units will work thru the wood
Careful with that torch my friend. You might try a soldering iron of point if contact heat source so the wood and wrap, inlay, finish, any of that doesn't melt if become disfigured from the excess heat. Hard to pinpoint w a torch in confined spaces like that without inadvertently heating the entire area.
*or point of contact.
Apologies. Auto corr went nuts.