Cue tip too big?

belmicah said:
Yours only addresses the tip sidewall. While some like to stay away from touching the shaft (for fear of losing width or something stupid like that) I advise doing this every 40 or 50 hours at the table.

This is why my shaft is always like new, without dings, and plays like the day I bought it.

Whatever floats your boat buddy. Some people view shafts as a replaceable, disposable part of their equipment, like tips; sand them down to "clean," after a couple of years replace.

I play with a 12.75 mm shaft. I can tell the difference between 12.75 and 12.65. I want my shafts to remain at 12.75. If you don't notice any difference, good for you. I won't call you stupid for believing that though.

-Roger
 
belmicah said:
My suggested method however will ensure that the tip and ferrule are exactly flush, and that the entire shaft is cleaned, smooth, and without knicks, scratches, or dings.

Well reading this it seems to me that you're just a bit lazy.

The method I described (which is not MY method, btw) can and will get the tip perfectly flush with the ferrule, w/o actually removing any ferrule material. That is important to many, many people, but apparently not to you.

And if I want to clean my shaft, I clean my shaft. Sanding is not cleaning.

-Roger
 
I do not think using very rough sand paper to sand up and down along the tip would produce a tip with good playability. I do not like to sand the tip upward.

You can buy a tool made by Williard and it is only like $400. It is not a lathe but it is good enough with some practise.

If you want to do a very nice job in a shorter period of time without worrying about cutting your ferrule and so on, you can buy a cheap lathe for like $800 and do your own tip, ferrule, shaft cleaning...

Or you can pay your local guy $10 to $20.

Some players prefer to have their tips done by a certain cue repair person, most of it is because of the glue that person uses, in my opinion.

Richard
 
buddha162 said:
Okay. To start the process, get yourself a razor blade, preferably a titanium one. If using a regular blade, press the tip into a cutting surface, so the shaft is standing upright, vertically. With great care, cut the overhang from the tip, all the way around. Pay attention to not angle the blade, but concentrate on cutting straight down.

If using a titanium blade, you can do the same thing or, if you have steady hands, simply lay the blade flat against the ferrule (you should be sitting down, holding the shaft horizontally) and swipe the blade away from the shaft to cut away the excess leather. Get a good feel to how much pressure is needed to cut through your particular tip.

Now that you've trimmed away most of the excess leather, it's time to make it perfect. The goal here is to remove leather ONLY, and not nick, scratch, or f-up in any way that pristine white ferrule.

You will need a range of sandpaper, from 300-800, a magazine, scotch tape, and some sort of stopper for the tip.

On a flat surface, lay your shaft down with the joint end supported by a magazine. Tape up your ferrule with a piece of scotch tape, right to the edge of the tip. This is added insurance. Draw a dot on the tape; this will guide you around the sanding process.

Place your tip on the piece of rough sandpaper, with only the tip resting on the edge of the sandpaper. Move the stopper (I use a cd case) until it is pressed against the top of the tip. At this point you can either carefully turn the sandpaper/stopper unit over and tape it, or just press down firmly on the stopper.

There should only be a strip of sanding surface exposed, the width of your tip height.

Now, with the dot you drew on the tape facing upwards, slowly grind the tip back and forth on the sandpaper, with gentle pressure towards the stopper. Start with 2-3 passes, then rotate the tip a fraction of an inch, and keep sanding thusly until you see the dot pointing upwards again.

**make sure the stopper has not moved, you don't want to scratch the ferrule!**

Inspect the tip, and see how much more you have to sand. Also, look for raised bumps in the sidewall and take care of those first. If the first pass took off a lot of leather, move onto the finer grade sandpaper. If not, repeat with coarser paper.

When the tip is trimmed to your satisfaction, burnish the sidewall. I use a rough piece of leather and spit. Shape the tip to the desired radius, and you should be good to go.

Here's a pic of the sandpaper trimming gadget that I just snapped off now. All of this I gleaned from this very site, I forgot who described the sandpaper jig but the titanium blade was suggested by JoeyinCali, and that was a great help.

Good luck,
Roger

*That, btw, is the new T O O L album...the greatest band in the universe!*
There's a similar process by Bob Jewett. He'll probably chime in shortly.
 
Once again, if you wish to replace your own tips, at least invest in some sort of hand trimming device to do it safely and properly. Razor blades and sandpaper is both dangerous and haphazard. :( I would not recommend a novice trying that. My pencil sharpener looking devise works just great.
 

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Not that it means too much, but I used to retip about 100 cues a day. The method I described worked great, but not as good as it would be on a lathe of course.

I also like my shafts to be thinner than most people, but I will probably only lose 1/4 mm this year. Not noticeable.

I have a hard time believing anyone can tell the difference between 12.75 and 12.65mm. But, most everyone WILL notice a ding or scratch that is similar depth.
 
I started putting my own tips on when a local cue repair person screwed up a Schon shaft for me. When I got my cue back I thought I could feel a very slight reduction in the size of the shaft within a half-inch or so of the ferrule. I put a micrometer on it and found that the ferrule and a small portion of the shaft had been reduced by about .010". Needless to say, I was very unhappy about this, and, although I didn't know anything about putting tips on at the time, I was fairly certain that I wasn't going to f*ck up the entire shaft like this "professional" did. Just make sure you use a reputable repair person if you choose to go that route.

As far as the size of the tip goes, there have been times when I intentionally bought 14mm tips because I was using Super Glue Gel, and it can be hard to center a 13mm LePro on a 13mm shaft without gluing your fingers to everything in the process. Honestly, I don't know how many times I've had to sand my own skin off of my ferrule because I wasn't quick enough getting the tip centered :eek: When I shape tips, I first cut off the excess with a razor blade (with the shaft upside down), and then I use one of those pencil sharpener thingys to make the sides nice and smooth. I've always tried to avoid using sandpaper on the sides of the tip, and will only occassionally use very fine sp (like 1000-1200 grit) to clean the ferrule. Also, if I do sand anything, I always hit it with the burnisher afterward. It even seems to make the ferrule look smooth and shiny again.
 
belmicah said:
Not that it means too much, but I used to retip about 100 cues a day. The method I described worked great, but not as good as it would be on a lathe of course.

Well, it just means that you used to butcher-up 100 cues a day. I hope those were house cues, and not someone's baby.

You could, and many do, perform a similar hack job with a lathe. It's all about doing things the right way, w/o taking shortcuts.

Dents should be steamed out, then *carefully* sanded smooth with high grade paper; NOT fixed by reducing the overall diameter of the shaft. Tips can and should be trimmed *perfectly* flush with the ferrule, without touching anything else.

-Roger (sorry for being so harsh, but shaft-butchery is a pet peeve of mine...)
 
buddha162 said:
Well, it just means that you used to butcher-up 100 cues a day. I hope those were house cues, and not someone's baby.

You could, and many do, perform a similar hack job with a lathe. It's all about doing things the right way, w/o taking shortcuts.

Dents should be steamed out, then *carefully* sanded smooth with high grade paper; NOT fixed by reducing the overall diameter of the shaft. Tips can and should be trimmed *perfectly* flush with the ferrule, without touching anything else.

-Roger (sorry for being so harsh, but shaft-butchery is a pet peeve of mine...)

I would like to compare the condition of my "butchered" shaft with the shaft from your "baby." Anyways, did you mention anything about burnishing your tip? Also, isn't it a little bit hard to sand something that is <1cm by using a "cd case stopper" or whatever. How do you clean your ferrule? How do you smooth out your shaft?

To answer your question, yes they were house cues, and no I wouldn't use that method for "somebody's baby." I would rather use a lathe.

I never had an unhappy customer, and I would laugh if somebody got out the Vernier Calipers on me and complained about 0.010 mm.

To me, there is nothing wrong with losing a little weight.

You were right about steam though. I have also heard the ghetto way of spit and a cigarette:D
 
belmicah said:
l would laugh if somebody got out the Vernier Calipers on me and complained about 0.010 mm.
I would too, however I believe that the measurement in question is 0.1, which is noticeable to people who are particular about their shafts...

Doh! Forget I said that, as I just read the post you were referring to.... I'm retarded.
 
1pRoscoe said:
I would too, however I believe that the measurement in question is 0.1, which is noticeable to people who are particular about their shafts...

Doh! Forget I said that, as I just read the post you were referring to.... I'm retarded.

You are actually right, when I reread the guys post, he said 12.75 to 12.65, which I WOULD be worried about. But my shaft is sanded smoothly 5 or 6 times a year and I have probably lost about that width.
 
I don't use any of the methods described in this thread. Many years ago though I tried some things close to some mentioned. When your new to this and don't have a specific procedure you can expect to make a mistake. Those mistakes can be costly as in loosing shaft/ferrule diameter. Even new repair guys are prone to making mistakes. That was noted earlier when someone lost .010 (of an inch) I've had similar happen to me so they lost my business.

Some may think loosing .010 (of an inch) is not a big deal. If you loose that much every year, in 4 years your 13mm shaft is now 12mm. No big deal right, yea right. If you have to buy an expensive shaft/s you'll think twice before using sand paper on them. Sand paper and shafts should be about 10 miles apart, give or take a mile. LOL I sure some (think) their not reducing shaft size but a check with dial indicators will easily tell a different story. Like some I can feel small differences in shaft diameters.

The shafts (4) on my main playing cue started life at (2)@13mm and (2)@13.25mm. That was about 15 years ago. They are a little smaller now, but less than 1/4 of a mm. It has to be a crime if you loose even a .001 (of an inch) which would include polishing a ferrule. Need I mention the small tip and fat shaft syndrome?

This is a pet peeve of mine so I had to reply to this old post. For those that respect your equipment, good for you. For those that think its not a big deal, you just keep on thinking that. Do others a favor though keep it to yourself and don't go into the repair business.:D

Rod
 
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