Can I Run a 3/8-10 Tap Down a Radial Joint?

Mike Templeton

Mike Templeton

Confidence........
Silver Member
I have been doing cue work about 15 years, and I have a CueSmith (Chris Hitower) lathe and a 3/8-10 tap.

I have a LD shaft that I really like with a Radial Pin thread. It's a Tiger shaft with a phenolic insert and Radial thread. My favorite weight butt has a 3/8-10 pin. The holes seem to be the same size. So... Can I run a 3/8-10 tap down the Tiger shaft to make it fit my 3/8-10 butt?

I didnt know if tapping wood would be different than tapping phenolic, since wood might swell back out some. I know I shouldn't, and I don't have a cheap Radial shaft to try it on. But I was curious if any other cue makers had tried this.

Thanks,
Mike
 
You technically would be able to do it & it would have 10 thread. But the radial thread will still be there so your chances of cross threading are huge. You'd be best off just drilling out the insert & plugging it with either more phenolic or wood, and the drilling/tapping a new joint altogether. It's not a tough job.
 
3/8-10 tap

Mike Templeton said:
I have been doing cue work about 15 years, and I have a CueSmith (Chris Hitower) lathe and a 3/8-10 tap.

I have a LD shaft that I really like with a Radial Pin thread. It's a Tiger shaft with a phenolic insert and Radial thread. My favorite weight butt has a 3/8-10 pin. The holes seem to be the same size. So... Can I run a 3/8-10 tap down the Tiger shaft to make it fit my 3/8-10 butt?

I didnt know if tapping wood would be different than tapping phenolic, since wood might swell back out some. I know I shouldn't, and I don't have a cheap Radial shaft to try it on. But I was curious if any other cue makers had tried this.

Thanks,
Mike
Click to expand...


Try it on a scrap piece of dowel.
 
I think it would work. Worst case is if it cross threads later on you can plug it and re-tap it.
 
I had a radial shaft that was rethreaded 3/8x10. It worked fine, but you had to pay attention when joining up. Sometimes the right threads would mate, and sometimes not. I didn't like having to pay close attention and had the shaft phenolic plugged and retapped radial. It will work, though.
 
Double threading a hole is NEVER a good idea.
Re-plug the hole with phenolic and tap it correctly
or pay someone to do it for you.
 
KJ Cues said:
Double threading a hole is NEVER a good idea.
Re-plug the hole with phenolic and tap it correctly
or pay someone to do it for you.
Click to expand...

I like this advice. It's not that big of a job to drill the hole out, plug it with wood or phenolic material, face it off, drill it out the correct size to tap it for your 3/8x10 threads. I don't think it's a good idea to tap different threads over existing threads. I'd recommend KJ Cues if you don't feel comfortable doing it yourself. He's done a few shafts for me in the past and the work was excellent......

James
 
I have a ob1 that was a 3/8x10 and I tapped over the 3/8x10 with the radial tap.I done this about 1 1/2 years ago and have had no problems.It is my regular playing shaft and I play 4-6 times a week(not league)I have swapped it back and forth with my radial cue and a 3/8x10 cue with no problems.Never had it try to cross thread.
If you are only going to use a radial pin cue then I would say plug it and retap.This is just my experience with double tapping a 3/8x10
 
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