can cue repair lathes be upgraded to cue building lathes?

slimsam2k

slimsam2k

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
hello dear cue makers and lathe experts

I'm a novice but enthusiastic pool fan and I would like to try my luck in cue repairs for now as a hobby but I might go into cue building still as a hobby in the future.

my question is, if I buy a cue repair lathe now can I upgrade it to build cues or convert one piece into two piece cues in the future? I don't want to do anything too fancy with the cues, just maybe taper them and install joints and wraps, and thats if I get into cue building.

thanks alot guys for all your advice in advance

Abdul
 
Go big early man. You might as well get a nice cuebuilding lathe right from the start rather than try to upgrade later. Just my opinion of course. Im a total noob, but ive already learned a lot of stuff not to do, lol.

Joe
 
Yes snipershot tried to do that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cue building is very expensive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The more and better tools you have make it alot easier.
Its still hard with $15000.00 invested.
Thats my story!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
thanks alot guys but I'm just into it as a hobby
going big from the beginning might be too serious for me
the cue building I intend to do is very simple and basic
thanks alot fro all your opinions and comments guys

any more ideas out there?
 
If you are going to tournaments to do cue repair, then a portable repair lathe is what you need, but if all repairs come home, then go ahead and get a full size cue lathe.

Good luck and have fun :smile:
Kennan
 
slimsam2k said:
thanks alot guys but I'm just into it as a hobby
going big from the beginning might be too serious for me
the cue building I intend to do is very simple and basic
thanks alot fro all your opinions and comments guys

any more ideas out there?
Click to expand...

Thats what i thought too, now here i am with three lathes and a ton of tooling, lol. Even simple cues need to be precise, and ive got a bunch of simple sneakys that will look good in a burn barrel because they are all screwed up, lol. Again, just my opinion.

Joe
 
if you dont have the room for a metal lathe then i would suggest buying hightowers deluxe lathe it works great for repairs and you can build cues when your ready.

http://www.cuesmith.com/index.php?menu1=menu_lathes&page=cue_lathe_deluxe

also it makes alot of repairs easier than the smaller lathes on the market for instance repairing joints or butt plates, joint pns and so forth

but by all means watch craigslist as a metal lathe is a great investment and can be had fairly cheap.
 
Trent said:
if you dont have the room for a metal lathe then i would suggest buying hightowers deluxe lathe it works great for repairs and you can build cues when your ready.

http://www.cuesmith.com/index.php?menu1=menu_lathes&page=cue_lathe_deluxe

also it makes alot of repairs easier than the smaller lathes on the market for instance repairing joints or butt plates, joint pns and so forth

but by all means watch craigslist as a metal lathe is a great investment and can be had fairly cheap.
Click to expand...

thanks alot trent for the advise
thats one big piece of machinery that chris hightower offers
its gonna cost a fortune to ship over here
you mentioned a metal lathe, space is not a problem
i have large garage over here
what kind of metal lathe are you talking about?
 
well like a 12x36 would be good any import lathe could work ive seen two lately on craigs list one for 600 and the other for 1000 in the last week.

just make sure you atleast have these things
1 3/8 through hole on the spindle
36" between centers
look at the lathe bed make sure its not all jacked up
try and find onr that isnt 3 phase if you can

for the most part all newer stayle lathes you can take off the base and mount onto a cabinet or work bench of your choice, i thought about doing this, but heck i cant even bring myself to run a shop vac let alone rearrange the shop.
 
slimsam2k said:
my question is, if I buy a cue repair lathe now can I upgrade it to build cues or convert one piece into two piece cues in the future? I don't want to do anything too fancy with the cues, just maybe taper them and install joints and wraps, and thats if I get into cue building.
Abdul
Click to expand...
Yes it can!
If I can do it anyone else can
 
slimsam2k said:
hello dear cue makers and lathe experts

I'm a novice but enthusiastic pool fan and I would like to try my luck in cue repairs for now as a hobby but I might go into cue building still as a hobby in the future.

my question is, if I buy a cue repair lathe now can I upgrade it to build cues or convert one piece into two piece cues in the future? I don't want to do anything too fancy with the cues, just maybe taper them and install joints and wraps, and thats if I get into cue building.

thanks alot guys for all your advice in advance

Abdul
Click to expand...

Some lathes are easy to upgrade and others are near impossible to upgrade to cue building. If you get my Basic Deluxe Cue Smith or the Mid Size Cue Smith lathe for example either machine can easily be upgraded for cue building. On the other hand if you get one of my Micro units it would require a totally different bed and a lot more to up grade them.
 
slimsam2k said:
thanks alot trent for the advise
thats one big piece of machinery that chris hightower offers
its gonna cost a fortune to ship over here
you mentioned a metal lathe, space is not a problem
i have large garage over here
what kind of metal lathe are you talking about?
Click to expand...

If you think the cuemaker lathes are big machines, prepare for
a shock when you see a full sized metalworking lathe.

Besides, British Empire, don't you blokes make cues using nothing
more than a hand plane?:)

Dale
 
pdcue said:
If you think the cuemaker lathes are big machines, prepare for
a shock when you see a full sized metalworking lathe.

Besides, British Empire, don't you blokes make cues using nothing
more than a hand plane?:)

Dale
Click to expand...



looooooooooooool

I know that metal lathes can reach up to tons but at least I can buy it from here and it will be easier to ship than overseas, BTW I live in the UK but I'm not british thats why I cant build cues with nothing more than a hand plane mate :-P
 
slimsam2k said:
looooooooooooool

I know that metal lathes can reach up to tons but at least I can buy it from here and it will be easier to ship than overseas, BTW I live in the UK but I'm not british thats why I cant build cues with nothing more than a hand plane mate :-P
Click to expand...

Here is a site located in the jolly old U of K that has diagrams, history,
and enoygh info to keep a guy busy for a lifetime.

http://www.lathes.co.uk/

If used non-CNC is as cheap over there, as over here, you could prolly
get a metalworking lathe for less than shipping from US.

Dale(who is looking for a hand plane)
 
thanks alot dale
appreciate the help

pdcue said:
Here is a site located in the jolly old U of K that has diagrams, history,
and enoygh info to keep a guy busy for a lifetime.

http://www.lathes.co.uk/

If used non-CNC is as cheap over there, as over here, you could prolly
get a metalworking lathe for less than shipping from US.

Dale(who is looking for a hand plane)
Click to expand...
 
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