Cue Monster

Michael Webb

Michael Webb

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Went to the expo and saw some great products but I was totally impressed by the Cue monster at Unique products. What a great machine. Quiet and very efficient. The gentlemen at this booth are at the top of their game. Professional and very knowledged. And it is always my pleasure to see Mark Bear whenever possible.
 
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A friend of mine (lives about 5 minutes away) just got his about a week or so ago.
I got the video early last year to get a good look at it. And i also got a good look at it in action at the '03 expo.
It looks like a great machine that can do just about anything that you could want a CNC to do. It inlays and tapers anything you want.

BUT, the only thing that i do not like is that every time you go from tapering to inlay, you have to reset the gear for the 4th axis. And watching him do it on the video looked very time consuming, and added some element (or chance) of human error, to a machine that is supposed to remove it (well, most of it.)
Maybe they have changed that design since i have seen it.
I've wondered if you could write a taper program using the 4th axis; instead of the belt drive variable speed motor.

Aside from that one thing, i don't see why anybody would get one. For a CNC machine that is basically a mill and a lathe, it's pretty cost effective (around 8 large if i remember correctly.)

And one way to get rid of that "little problem" would be to just get a loan and get a cuemonster and their twin taper CNC :D .
 
And from what my buddy has told me, the people at Unique Products are some of the best to work with.
If/when i'm in the market for a CNC, i would probably go with them.
 
BiG_JoN said:
A friend of mine (lives about 5 minutes away) just got his about a week or so ago.
I got the video early last year to get a good look at it. And i also got a good look at it in action at the '03 expo.
It looks like a great machine that can do just about anything that you could want a CNC to do. It inlays and tapers anything you want.

BUT, the only thing that i do not like is that every time you go from tapering to inlay, you have to reset the gear for the 4th axis. And watching him do it on the video looked very time consuming, and added some element (or chance) of human error, to a machine that is supposed to remove it (well, most of it.)
Maybe they have changed that design since i have seen it.
I've wondered if you could write a taper program using the 4th axis; instead of the belt drive variable speed motor.

Aside from that one thing, i don't see why anybody would get one. For a CNC machine that is basically a mill and a lathe, it's pretty cost effective (around 8 large if i remember correctly.)

And one way to get rid of that "little problem" would be to just get a loan and get a cuemonster and their twin taper CNC :D .
Click to expand...

I didn't see the change over part. Some great thoughts Jon. Thanks
 
Wish I could have been there, Sounds Like your sold on the monster, is it time to add another piece of equipment to your shop?
I have not met Mark in person, but have dealt with him once, and comunicated through email. He seemed like a nice, honest gentleman to me, so I'm sure he is a pleasure to be around.
 
BiG_JoN said:
And from what my buddy has told me, the people at Unique Products are some of the best to work with.
If/when i'm in the market for a CNC, i would probably go with them.
Click to expand...

I believe it costs a little below $3G's... Check out DZ cues router set-up. I wanna have one of those. Currently designing one with a huge table for multi-task CNC work... but my pockets won't let me :(
 
Michael Webb said:
I didn't see the change over part. Some great thoughts Jon. Thanks
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Mike,

Your best bet would be to email Bryan Swank at Unique and request the video.
You will get a detailed look from; opening the boxes, to putting it together, to setting it up, how the DOS based program works, and get to watch it taper a dowel and then inlay it with 4 diamonds, and then taper it again to clean it up.
 
hadjcues said:
I believe it costs a little below $3G's... Check out DZ cues router set-up. I wanna have one of those. Currently designing one with a huge table for multi-task CNC work... but my pockets won't let me :(
Click to expand...
3 G's?

Hadj, are you on crack :D :p .
IIRC, the only CNC you can get at that price would be a Taig/Microproto/Sherline Desktop CNC Mill.
That only has a 12 LOC on the X Axis.

If you wanted a CNC to just do inlays, that would be the ticket, you would just need to make a table or "bench center" type thing so you could put the assembled cue in there and inlay the whole thing and keep it inline, and just slide it over and lock it down.

Keep an eye on ebay, some of them go for less than 2 G's.
 
BiG_JoN said:
3 G's?

Hadj, are you on crack :D :p .
IIRC, the only CNC you can get at that price would be a Taig/Microproto/Sherline Desktop CNC Mill.
That only has a 12 LOC on the X Axis.

If you wanted a CNC to just do inlays, that would be the ticket, you would just need to make a table or "bench center" type thing so you could put the assembled cue in there and inlay the whole thing and keep it inline, and just slide it over and lock it down.

Keep an eye on ebay, some of them go for less than 2 G's.
Click to expand...

LOL

Yeah, I have some thick A- :rolleyes: 36inch thomsons, but by the time you build the carraige, and the mounts, there will not be enough lenth for tapering, so back on the hunt for longer rails. maybe I'll use them to build a inlay unit.
 
BiG_JoN said:
3 G's?

Hadj, are you on crack :D :p .
IIRC, the only CNC you can get at that price would be a Taig/Microproto/Sherline Desktop CNC Mill.
That only has a 12 LOC on the X Axis.

If you wanted a CNC to just do inlays, that would be the ticket, you would just need to make a table or "bench center" type thing so you could put the assembled cue in there and inlay the whole thing and keep it inline, and just slide it over and lock it down.

Keep an eye on ebay, some of them go for less than 2 G's.
Click to expand...

I think I was referring to the taper shaper they have on their site... it could also do inlays and taper (ofcourse) for a little under $3,000 if I'm not mistaken :confused: Nothing more than that I guess...

What else could the CueMonster do? Is it a Cue-Lathe-CNC type thing?

hadj
 
Thanks Mike, always good to see you too. I thought I felt my ears burning. I need to call you to discuss something so there's your warning.

Cue Crazy, thanks for the kind words as well.

The Cue Monster is a great machine and the change over to the 4th axis really isn't bad at all. Brian is very slow and maticulous about his explanations so nothing is left out but once you get the hang of it your looking at only a few minutes time. A tapering program wouldn't work using the axis motor or at least the one that comes with the machine because it simply isn't fast enough. There may be one out there that is, I don't know. All things considered I couldn't be happier with the machine, it's like having a few extra people around.

Mark Bear
 
Fullsplice said:
Thanks Mike, always good to see you too. I thought I felt my ears burning. I need to call you to discuss something so there's your warning.

Cue Crazy, thanks for the kind words as well.

The Cue Monster is a great machine and the change over to the 4th axis really isn't bad at all. Brian is very slow and maticulous about his explanations so nothing is left out but once you get the hang of it your looking at only a few minutes time. A tapering program wouldn't work using the axis motor or at least the one that comes with the machine because it simply isn't fast enough. There may be one out there that is, I don't know. All things considered I couldn't be happier with the machine, it's like having a few extra people around.

Mark Bear
Click to expand...


Are there any pictures of a web site on the machine?
 
k-carson said:
does it have " pre - loaded " inlays programed into it

and if so to what extent thanks kevin
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They come with BobCad software,
BobCad

I dont know if the software has any example drawings, but I would not count on it.

Tracy
 
k-carson said:
does it have " pre - loaded " inlays programed into it

and if so to what extent thanks kevin
Click to expand...

You'll have to draw your inlays with the CAD/CAM program.
They are not all that hard to use them once you get used to them.
 
It comes with a shaft taper and a simple diamond inlay. That's what it came with a few years ago when I got mine. Don't know if it's been changed or not.
 
k-carson said:
does it have " pre - loaded " inlays programed into it

and if so to what extent thanks kevin
Click to expand...

ROTFLMAO... :D

Do you want someone to cut it for you to?

Maybe taper the shafts, put the tips on?

Do you need someone to wrap it also?

Joe (--- Just buy your blanks from Prather at this stage....
 
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