CNC Mill

For all you do it yourself cnc people...

http://www.avatartools.com/

Check this place out for stepper motors and controllers.

I used my Taig mill out of the box, bought an extra vise to hold my jig.
You can see the pictures on my Shop Tour...

www.customcuemaker.com

Had to buy BobCAD to turn my AutoCAD drawings into g-code...works easily and really tight tolerances. Those folks will hound you until you buy iut but their software is easy to use.

Break bits now and then since it's only a 10K spindle but for the most part if I keep the travel speed down I get good life out of them.
May upgrade the spindle one day but the factory supplied one is very accurate.
Mike
 
That's great to hear...I talked to Blud a while ago on the phone...really funny guy.
Can you post a photo of his machine...would love to see it.
Mike

sneakout said:
I just returned last night from Blud’s place (Bludworth Cues) after being there for a week. I am relatively new at this hobby of building cues. I exchanged messages with Blud here on AZ Billiards and then went out to see his CNC machine over a month ago. I looked at a few CNC machines and then decided on his CNC machine. Dollar for dollar I thought his machine was much better than the Align-rite CNC mill built on a $600 wood lathe.

The other valuable part of the deal with Blud was that I got hands on training with the purchase of the machine. I was totally impressed with his and Donald’s (his son) willingness to teach me whatever I wanted to learn. They did not seem to hold back "trade secrets”. They opened their shop to me and took me completely thru their cue building process and of course the ops on the CNC machine I bought. I learned tons of tricks that will surely help me avoid headaches.

There was more….. They put me up in their cabin for the week (except on the weekend when it was rented then they gave me a bedroom in their house).

Over-all I would rate the experience as excellent. Before you buy a CNC I would check out what they have to offer.
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Cnc Mill/saw/lathe Combo

sneakout said:
I just returned last night from Blud’s place (Bludworth Cues) after being there for a week. I am relatively new at this hobby of building cues. I exchanged messages with Blud here on AZ Billiards and then went out to see his CNC machine over a month ago. I looked at a few CNC machines and then decided on his CNC machine. Dollar for dollar I thought his machine was much better than the Align-rite CNC mill built on a $600 wood lathe.

The other valuable part of the deal with Blud was that I got hands on training with the purchase of the machine. I was totally impressed with his and Donald’s (his son) willingness to teach me whatever I wanted to learn. They did not seem to hold back "trade secrets”. They opened their shop to me and took me completely thru their cue building process and of course the ops on the CNC machine I bought. I learned tons of tricks that will surely help me avoid headaches.

There was more….. They put me up in their cabin for the week (except on the weekend when it was rented then they gave me a bedroom in their house).

Over-all I would rate the experience as excellent. Before you buy a CNC I would check out what they have to offer.
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Hello Steve,
Me and my family had a great time teaching you and Jay how to do "whatever" in a cue shop. You both were great to teach. Both of you guys ask the right questions and paid attention. Easy folks to help.

Your two headed mill, combo saw/lathe is boxed up and ready to ship.
I've lost your phone number, so do you want me to send you the two spindles to your dad's home, or ship them with the mill package???? Please let me know? Leave an address for shipping and be sure to call me. Thanks for that.
Shippng weight is around 1450 lbs.
Again, thanks for your business, come see us when you can, our home is your home..
blud
 
I use the Taig 4 Axis mill and Bob cad 17. If someone wants one brand new with 4th axis with 3 jaw chuck, Bob Cad 17 software, 35,000 RPM cutting head, bed, tailstock, and parts table, the total cost is $4500 plus shipping of around $100. You are on your own learning how to use it as I am not far enough along to teach anyone how to use it. Do not call me asking to buy parts to convert your Taig mill. I will only do it as a package deal. I will ahve them drop ship you the mill and I will send you all software and hardware needed to work on cues. See my shop tour at www.hightowercues.com
to see how mine is set up. They charge almost $3400 for the mill without any of the extras I am including. If you just want one of their mills and you put the rest on it I will order one for you also at the same price they will charge you. I just complete a $5500 cue with mine. Look at the last several cue gallery pages and all were done with the Taig Mill.
Chris
www.cuesmith.com
www.internationalcuemakers.com
 
Sneakout, How does the Blud cnc compare price wise to the Align rite? With any purchase this big one of the biggest factors is having customer support, that doesn't seem to be a problem with anything that you buy from Blud. Anyone with the experience of Blud that posts on an open forum and helps others without expecting anything in return has my respect. When you get a chance please post pics of the unit that your bought and your experiences with it.
 
cnc machine

dunkelcustomcue said:
Sneakout, How does the Blud cnc compare price wise to the Align rite? With any purchase this big one of the biggest factors is having customer support, that doesn't seem to be a problem with anything that you buy from Blud. Anyone with the experience of Blud that posts on an open forum and helps others without expecting anything in return has my respect. When you get a chance please post pics of the unit that your bought and your experiences with it.
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Mr. dunkel,
My machine is very heavy and strong. [ I don't build or believe in tinker toys ], It weighs in at about 1,450.00, built of square .250 wall tubing and 1/2" X 4" flat bar for the leveling base, on the top base and the levelers for the floor.

It's got two NSK, electric 50,000rpm's spindles with ceramic bearings, and two vacum stations, along with a CNC lathe operation to boot, to do profiling on butts, shafts and handles. It's a 4 axes CNC system.
The lathe operation is off to one side of the mast head that holds the Z axes, and turns at 3,650 rpm. Of course the feed rate can be set to whatever speed you wish.The tail stocks are three double ended air cylinders that hold about 55 lbs on the butt while the female pockets are being cut. The lathe tail stock holds about 6 to 8 lbs while turn cutting [profiling] butts and shafts, @ about 96 rmps.
The travel is 32" X 12" x Z of 4".W or A is of course 360...

It's one hell of a machine. It sells in the low to mid 20's [depending on what we put on it], ready to rock and roll. Delivery time is about 30 days.

A little true story, had a guy come down a couple yrs, back to have a look see. He ask how good was the tolorances. I had the machine cutting two pockets [two cues at the same time of the same design], so while it was cutting the pockets, I took a car floor jack and picked one end up about 6" off the floor while it was running. When it finished, cutting the female pockets, I changed programs and also put the floor jack under the other end and jacked it up 6" and cut the male parts. This blew the guy away. The parts and pockets were a PERFECT fit. Come to find out he was on a fishing expedition. Never even
bought a match.

Sorry but I do not know how to import a picture to Az. Send me an e-mail to.

poolcues@hctc.net and I'll send you a couple pictures. You can call me @ 830-232-5991
blud
 
Blud, I wouldn't expect anything but a bullet proof machine to come out of your shop! Thanks for the detail on the machine. What software do you use?
 
dunkelcustomcue said:
Blud, I wouldn't expect anything but a bullet proof machine to come out of your shop! Thanks for the detail on the machine. What software do you use?
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We at one time used bob-cad, now we use gibbs. No problems with it at all. I bought it several years ago. My good friend Joey Gold turned me on to it about 10 yrs ago.Cost me 6k. Well worth it. now it sells for around 10 to 12k. Don't need that type of up grade. We stay plenty busy with new orders anyway. Lucky, I guess.
Let me know if I can help. If you would like to come visit our place, let me know?
blud
 
madison bob

CamposCues said:
Hi,
I'm starting to look at setting up a mill for doing inlays. I don't have the money to go all out on a Cuemonster or Align-rite...I wish I did. Anyway, I just thought I'd see if there is anyone out there who is thinking of moving up to one of the high dollar CNCs and is thinking of selling their old CNC machine for a reasonable price. If anyone is, PM me with specifics.
Thanks,
Chris
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hi how are you? i wanted to say there is a machine that,s alway,s on ebay that is made by black lab company that is setup for sign making it start,s at $1700.00 and is a gantry style machine the x only as 17 inch,s of travel but you can put a sliding bed in it were you inlay the forearm then slide the bed down and now inlay the bottom of the cue it look,s to be very nicely build with good screw,s and so on it can go as high as $4500.00 with controller and software and indexer but i think it would be a nice starter machine and could be added to as money allow,s . i have one of the first alignrite,s it,s a bridgeport design and i had alot of problem,s with the screw,s and other thing,s and i had to learn to work on it myself because once you buy one of these thing,s and if thing,s don,t work right you can,t just box it up everytime and send it back alignrite did give me the part,s but i had to do the work and once i got in to it i realized i could have build one myself alot cheaper and more the size a cue builder needs with part,s from ebay. and that,s what i did when i decided to build myself a cnc lathe it cost me very little when compared to a alignrite machine but it,s only a 2 axis well 3 with the indexer. but take a look at this machine just punch in cnc and start looking you will run in to it it,s on there all the time and it,s well worth the cash. i don,t want to upset anyone but who need,s a 1400lb machine to inlay a cue? That,s for boring a chevy engine block look your pulling around all this extra weight wearing on the bearing,s screw,s and slides and if something goes wrong hire a crane to load it and pay a fortune to ship it back are wait till someone can fly in and fix it for you and i hope they put some floor jack,s and a engine puller in there suit case,s cause there going to need them to just remove the part,s that need to be fixed.I think a nice build solid machine made to do the job that can move smoothly and precisely without destroying itself. i quess it would be nice to own one to make a machine to inlay cue,s with it,s surely heavy enough for that. MADISON BOB
 
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Cnc

bob griffin said:
hi how are you? i wanted to say there is a machine that,s alway,s on ebay that is made by black lab company that is setup for sign making it start,s at $1700.00 and is a gantry style machine the x only as 17 inch,s of travel but you can put a sliding bed in it were you inlay the forearm then slide the bed down and now inlay the bottom of the cue it look,s to be very nicely build with good screw,s and so on it can go as high as $4500.00 with controller and software and indexer but i think it would be a nice starter machine and could be added to as money allow,s . i have one of the first alignrite,s it,s a bridgeport design and i had alot of problem,s with the screw,s and other thing,s and i had to learn to work on it myself because once you buy one of these thing,s and if thing,s don,t work right you can,t just box it up everytime and send it back alignrite did give me the part,s but i had to do the work and once i got in to it i realized i could have build one myself alot cheaper and more the size a cue builder needs with part,s from ebay. and that,s what i did when i decided to build myself a cnc lathe it cost me very little when compared to a alignrite machine but it,s only a 2 axis well 3 with the indexer. but take a look at this machine just punch in cnc and start looking you will run in to it it,s on there all the time and it,s well worth the cash. i don,t want to upset anyone but who need,s a 1400lb machine to inlay a cue? That,s for boring a chevy engine block look your pulling around all this extra weight wearing on the bearing,s screw,s and slides and if something goes wrong hire a crane to load it and pay a fortune to ship it back are wait till someone can fly in and fix it for you and i hope they put some floor jack,s and a engine puller in there suit case,s cause there going to need them to just remove the part,s that need to be fixed.I think a nice build solid machine made to do the job that can move smoothly and precisely without destroying itself. i quess it would be nice to own one to make a machine to inlay cue,s with it,s surely heavy enough for that. MADISON BOB
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Thanks Bob. I don't see one of his machines out there right now but I remember seeing one in the past. I'll keep an eye out. There is also a nice one made in Germany, I think it's called the HighZ or something. It has a 29 or 30 inch travel. I think they want like $3400. I see it on Ebay all the time. I just don't know how anxious I'd be to send that much money over seas.
 
Madison Bob

CamposCues said:
Thanks Bob. I don't see one of his machines out there right now but I remember seeing one in the past. I'll keep an eye out. There is also a nice one made in Germany, I think it's called the HighZ or something. It has a 29 or 30 inch travel. I think they want like $3400. I see it on Ebay all the time. I just don't know how anxious I'd be to send that much money over seas.
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if you have a link to this machine i would love to see it . you may have him put it on ebay that way you are protected as far as the cash goes. the one i was telling you about is well build and would have everything you need if you buy the hole package but as i said you would have to add the sliding bed. i have a good machine but i,am thinking about getting one of these for doing nothing but half splice points and for that i would,nt need to have the sliding bed also it would be good for cutting trim rings to. MADISON BOB
 
Cnc

bob griffin said:
if you have a link to this machine i would love to see it . you may have him put it on ebay that way you are protected as far as the cash goes. the one i was telling you about is well build and would have everything you need if you buy the hole package but as i said you would have to add the sliding bed. i have a good machine but i,am thinking about getting one of these for doing nothing but half splice points and for that i would,nt need to have the sliding bed also it would be good for cutting trim rings to. MADISON BOB
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They just listed one right after my last post. It looks like a well built machine but I'm no expert. I know those Kress routers are suppose to be really good. Here is the link. Let me know what you think? Thanks.
http://cgi.ebay.com/CNC-ROUTER-MILL...540319273QQcategoryZ57122QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
 
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