Cue Machinery Builders

zx24

zx24

Cue Maker Apprentice
Silver Member
I'm curious about who has been in the cue building machinery business the longest. The ones i'm familiar with is Brianna, Unique, Hightower, Porper, this Todd guy with the professional cue lathe and last but not least this toolbox lathe guy.
Also, as i look at Unique's and Porpers equipment, I dont see anyone selling knockoffs. Do they have patents or what? Why are there so many lathes that look like hightower machinery? Who is copying who?
 
zx24 said:
I'm curious about who has been in the cue building machinery business the longest. The ones i'm familiar with is Brianna, Unique, Hightower, Porper, this Todd guy with the professional cue lathe and last but not least this toolbox lathe guy.
Also, as i look at Unique's and Porpers equipment, I dont see anyone selling knockoffs. Do they have patents or what? Why are there so many lathes that look like hightower machinery? Who is copying who?
Click to expand...

www.taigtools.com/mlathe.html

follow the bouncing link and you will understand why so many
lathes look similar to cueman.

Dale
 
zx24 said:
I'm curious about who has been in the cue building machinery business the longest. The ones i'm familiar with is Brianna, Unique, Hightower, Porper, this Todd guy with the professional cue lathe and last but not least this toolbox lathe guy.
Also, as i look at Unique's and Porpers equipment, I dont see anyone selling knockoffs. Do they have patents or what? Why are there so many lathes that look like hightower machinery? Who is copying who?
Click to expand...

Bludworth was first.
I was second.
Porper was third.
Unique was fourth.
Several have come and gone since then and a few more are still at it also.
 
It seems to me that Porper and Unique Lathes would be more costly to duplicate. I have a Unique Taper Shaper and a Hightower deluxe and you can easily see the design differences in their platforms.
 
patrickjuhlin said:
It seems to me that Porper and Unique Lathes would be more costly to duplicate. I have a Unique Taper Shaper and a Hightower deluxe and you can easily see the design differences in their platforms.
Click to expand...

I'm sure they would be. (correct me if I'm wrong) But I believe the Hightower lathe is based off the Taig mini metal lathe, just highly modified and some custom parts.

Which makes sense, as I'm sure Chris is a one man show. So it wouldn't be cost effective to have to make the lathe completely from scratch. Like when I was in school I built computers, but I sure as hell didn't solder my own mother boards or anything like that, just bought the components that went together and shazamm you got a high end custom PC.

That said I bet it WAY easier to repair or find replacement parts for a hightower than any of the other cue lathes on the market. (Similar to computers IE: Apple switching from Power PC processors to Intel...made sense and was more cost effective per $)
 
Taig Parts

greyghost said:
I'm sure they would be. (correct me if I'm wrong) But I believe the Hightower lathe is based off the Taig mini metal lathe, just highly modified and some custom parts.

Which makes sense, as I'm sure Chris is a one man show. So it wouldn't be cost effective to have to make the lathe completely from scratch. Like when I was in school I built computers, but I sure as hell didn't solder my own mother boards or anything like that, just bought the components that went together and shazamm you got a high end custom PC.

That said I bet it WAY easier to repair or find replacement parts for a hightower than any of the other cue lathes on the market. (Similar to computers IE: Apple switching from Power PC processors to Intel...made sense and was more cost effective per $)
Click to expand...

I have been looking through all the taig parts. Man, there sure is a bunch of em too. I can see how anyone could buy those parts from Taig and throw together a cue lathe..The majority on here don't believe its copying anyones design by building these cue lathes since the parts are available to anyone.
But, for the life of me i cant find the big bore headstock at the Taig web site.
Maybe i missed it, can someone send me a link to the page that has the big bore headstock..
 
the big bore headstock does not exist unless from chris or lee....if you think you can order some taig parts and build a lathe then your in for a big suprise. Not that simple, but if you think you can then try. You will end up calling these guys and spending a $1k + to get there modified parts to do any kind of cue work. Your not the first genius who thought he could save a couple of grand and build it his self.
 
LGSM3, Sorry your not very informed, you can get them through another vender at a pretty good price. Also many other taig parts. I just bought 5 cross slides for $25. ea.
 
Last edited:
LGSM3 said:
the big bore headstock does not exist unless from chris or lee....if you think you can order some taig parts and build a lathe then your in for a big suprise. Not that simple, but if you think you can then try. You will end up calling these guys and spending a $1k + to get there modified parts to do any kind of cue work. Your not the first genius who thought he could save a couple of grand and build it his self.
Click to expand...

All the parts needed to make a lathe CAN be bought and assembled by anyone having the abaility to do so.
Making a lathe that is modified for cue making is a bit harder as you have found out.
A large bore headstock (just one modification of many) is not available from Taig.
But with the small headstock you can do all the shaft maintenance, Tip, Ferrule, joint work, you need.

Lee sells a complete DC powered large bore headstock, ready to mount on the Taig bed, for less than $900.

So you see, someone far less than a genius CAN build a cue lathe from available parts and save the money from options he don't need or want.
If you just want it for shaft work you dont need a large headstock, a taper bar, DC motor, and such.

My personal opinion is that unless you are a skilled cue maker and know exactly what you need you are better off buying a turnkey system from Hightower, Unique, or Porper, as you will also get a video showing how to set it up and use it.
Also support for problems you may encounter is just a phone call away.
 
JimBob said:
LGSM3, Sorry your not very informed, you can get them through another vender at a pretty good price. Also many other taig parts. I just bought 5 cross slides for $25. ea.
Click to expand...

Does your parts supplier also have a large bore, 1-3/8" headstock with high precision bearings??? One That doesn't come from Lee (a copy with inflated tolerances), or leftovers from the Cue component debachery (another copy, but no tolerances at all), and has dual chucks already centered, if so, please share. My point of view, and others in this thread, is lathes for building a cue, not doing simple repairs. Repair end of things, yes you can use off the shelf items to build a lathe 18 different ways to Sunday, but Building a cue is different IMO.
One of the great things with Chris's lathes is the simple fact that they work well for the job they were built for, Out of the box, and are affordable Porper and Unique are too expensive for people like myself and other's like me, and don't do any better job than his. And the support from Chris is priceless. Someone has offered an 'Affordable" Cuebuilding lathe to come sometime in the next millenium, with all the normally needed acessories as an option, sometime down the road, and we all know how his 'customer' support is......just look at some of the current threads.
Just my .2 cents,
Dave
 
Last edited:
Dave38 said:
Does your parts supplier also have a large bore, 1-3/8" headstock with high precision bearings??? One That doesn't come from Lee (a copy with inflated tolerances), or leftovers from the Cue component debachery (another copy, but no tolerances at all), and has dual chucks already centered, if so, please share. My point of view, and others in this thread, is lathes for building a cue, not doing simple repairs. Repair end of things, yes you can use off the shelf items to build a lathe 18 different ways to Sunday, but Building a cue is different IMO.
One of the great things with Chris's lathes is the simple fact that they work well for the job they were built for, Out of the box, and are affordable Porper and Unique are too expensive for people like myself and other's like me, and don't do any better job than his. And the support from Chris is priceless. Someone has offered an 'Affordable" Cuebuilding lathe to come sometime in the next millenium, with all the normally needed acessories as an option, sometime down the road, and we all know how his 'customer' support is......just look at some of the current threads.
Just my .2 cents,
Dave
Click to expand...

Hi Dave, I am not knocking any of the lathe manufactures i use HT equipment my self and would recommend it (and have) to anyone. I was just letting people know that these guys are not the only ones that make these things, and if i can save anyone a few bucks i will try. And i give the ones on AZ the first chance to do business with but i will save money if i can. Example i was wanting to buy 5 cross slides and a few other things and was given a price of 60.00 ea. I bought them for 25.00 ea. what would you have done? Large head stocks also, but i haven't used one so i can't give any + or - on them. I just know they are available.

Thanks for your post.. JimBob
 
Last edited:
That is the last post from me on the subject, i hate this going back and forth on things, and i'm not going to participate in these types of post. I respect all the merchants on AZ and not trying to undermine what they are doing or trying to hurt their business. This is the last word on the subject. Sorry for the confusion. I like all the new things and the input that is on this forum. Hope their is on hard feelings. Keep the new products coming and the info that you guys provide. Thanks again.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top