cue lathe problems

So I agree that it sucks for people to continually get taken advantage of by these idiots. As far as the lathe goes...it sounds like this is your defining moment. You can either do the research and put in the work to fix the lathe and make it better than ever or just walk away all together. In my opinion, if you can't fix it, then your nowhere near competent enough to be building cues. Sorry if that sounds bad
 
LGSM3 said:
So I agree that it sucks for people to continually get taken advantage of by these idiots. As far as the lathe goes...it sounds like this is your defining moment. You can either do the research and put in the work to fix the lathe and make it better than ever or just walk away all together. In my opinion, if you can't fix it, then your nowhere near competent enough to be building cues. Sorry if that sounds bad
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Agreed

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LGSM3 said:
So I agree that it sucks for people to continually get taken advantage of by these idiots. As far as the lathe goes...it sounds like this is your defining moment. You can either do the research and put in the work to fix the lathe and make it better than ever or just walk away all together. In my opinion, if you can't fix it, then your nowhere near competent enough to be building cues. Sorry if that sounds bad
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I've tried many of the suggestions along the way to fixing this lathe. Some help, some do nothing to improve things. This is why I was asking for some advice. I was hoping for some new ideas where to go next. One thing I never thought about was the solid base. My bench is very solid and stable. It's been leveled and then the lathe was fine tuned from there. My shop is mainly for my construction and cabinet business. Because of this my bench is on casters and has to move occasionally. Learning what I have here, now I know that that needs to change to achieve the best results. I appreciate the constructive criticism.
 
Can u take a vid of issues or chuck something up show tailstock ,do u have gauge showing runout etc etc im sure we can help...

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Video or pictures would be great.
I'm positive that your problems can be solved.
 
I don't know where you live, if you were close to me in KY i would come and help you sort this out.
 
Thanks to everyone for their help. I spent the last day and a half working on my lathe and have done everything possible to make it right. The machinist level I'm using is accurate to .0005 in 10". I leveled the bed at the both ends both ways several times. I checked the headstock to make sure it was square to the bed. I checked the bed with the level several places between ends and the most it varied was .004. I bored the jaws of the headstock to make sure the center was true. I trued the tailstock to the headstock to dead center. I tried turning a couple of long pieces of maple to make sure everything was right and found I still had a big problem with the tailstock. When the tailstock is next to the headstock, I have the centers matched. When I moved the tailstock out 32", center was way off. After much trial and error, I found I had to move the tailstock center closer to me .069 to achieve the same diameter cut. This is the problem I can't figure out. I also found my steady rest was off .093 to one side. After shaving some of the dovetail base I was able to match the jaws to the headstock. Other than have to move the tailstock, I have got everything else working as it should.
 
I will assume this is his latest design in which the head/tailstock are mounted to the dovetail and the carriage rides on linear bearings? If so, sounds like you just need to pivot the backend of the dovetail bed so that the two axis are coplanar. Mounting a indicator on your carriage and sweeping the dovetail will likely show u where your problem is.
 
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I will look at that tomorrow. I was looking at that today but was unsure how to move it. The rods the carrier rides on are mounted to the sides on the dovetail. It looks like if I move the dovetail, the rods move the same amount so nothing would change.
 
pool junkie said:
I will look at that tomorrow. I was looking at that today but was unsure how to move it. The rods the carrier rides on are mounted to the sides on the dovetail. It looks like if I move the dovetail, the rods move the same amount so nothing would change.
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I'm betting it's just mounted to that 80/20

As deep as you are now, I would unbolt the bed and carriage rails and mount it to a giant 1" thick piece of mic 6.
 
The riser block that my 3 jaw steady rest is on measures about 2" tall plus the dovetails. Does anyone know where I could purchase another block? The only blocks I can find for a taig bed are 1" tall.
 
If you are happy that the level of the bed assembly is fairly good then the next thing to ascertain is the alignment of the head stock itself. I suggest getting a very long bar, with 1/2 of the bar in front of the chuck and 1/2 of the bar behind the chuck. Then run an indicator on that bar and see where the headstock actually is compared to the bed position. If it is toward or away from the operator , then it requires correction. As your one only has a single clamp position, you can either add 2 more clamp screw positions onto the clamp plate, ie one forward and one rearward, or add a small shim on the front edge or rear edge of the side that is fixed against the dovetail of the head stock.
Another option altogether different, is to true the fixed side of the headstock to the run of the centre line of the spindle assembly.
One more thing to look at is the bearings and spindle of the assembly actually setting in their true and correct position? Sometimes bearings can be slightly set out of position or skewed. Warming the housing and allowing the bearings to re centralise can help in this case.
Neil
 
YAHOO! After an extensive conversation with the Cueman this afternoon, I found out I was trying to move the wrong part. Cueman helped me understand that the linear rails were out of alignment with the dovetail bed. After some disassembly and some light modifying of the brackets and elongating the mounting holes, I was able to get the tailstock aligned with the headstock from one end to the other. I turned some maple squares down to make sure I had it fixed and ended with a difference of .001 from end to end using my digital caliper. Thanks to everyone for your patience and help.
 
pool junkie said:
YAHOO! After an extensive conversation with the Cueman this afternoon, I found out I was trying to move the wrong part. Cueman helped me understand that the linear rails were out of alignment with the dovetail bed. After some disassembly and some light modifying of the brackets and elongating the mounting holes, I was able to get the tailstock aligned with the headstock from one end to the other. I turned some maple squares down to make sure I had it fixed and ended with a difference of .001 from end to end using my digital caliper. Thanks to everyone for your patience and help.
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Great to hear. I only recommend Chris or Todd's machines to people. Both Men are the best you can ask for, IMO. You should send him a basket of fruit, or gift card for a restaurant in his area as a thank you. Chris or Todd are always Hands down the best guys out there, even when it's not their machine.
My take is usually, when someone comes along saying they will build the BEST cue lathe out there....they last about 6 months to a year and go belly up, and have a bunch of crappy machines out there with no support. Even last night I had one youngster explaining how he was going to make $1000s with a Sharpshooter lathe off ebay for $299......it was a funny conversation.... considering he has never done a tip before in his life.
Have a Merry Christmas,
Dave
 
Just for the sake of asking.......you didn't happen to mention AZB Forums at any time in your conversation did you ?
Please don't........Lol
 
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So nice to hear that you got some help. Chris is a great guy and I`m 100% certain that he will get back that time spent with you in future business deals :)
 
TomHay said:
Are you taking orders for custom cues?
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Hi Tom,

If your question is directed at me, I don't take custom orders. I build what I want.
I have a few cues in stock but most get sold soon after they're built.
Sey is a seller for me and I can't keep them supplied.
Alas, Sey's custom work has to come first. They're my mainstay income. That and SS. Lol

Thanx for asking, KJ
 
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