Cuemakers please post your inlay pictures

[Mc2]

I'm not sure if this is a bad idea or not;

My plan is to home the machine and actually make the CAD as a drawing replicating my machines bed layout. The indexer/4th axis would then be placed at a fixed place where i actually draw my inlays placed at this point in the CAD drawing.Tailstock of the setup is the only thing moving... Now, if I mount my cues with a recut fixture I had a plan that this would make me able to recut inlays with the accuracy of the machine.
Not quite there yet but that was my plan at least..
The negative part is that I would be drawing the inlays in a CAD drawing which is hugh compared to the inlays, but I'll just zoom in on my "inlay area" and I hope to be fine...
Anyone tried it? Any obvious flaws which I havenot thought of....

Kent

Kent, I will answer your question. NO!!!!!. Ok, think about this, if you are off .100" you may notice this on your Cad linlay if you zoom in. Maybe not? If you are off .010" you for sure will not. Now I am a lazy as they come. I work all pockets and parts off of X0 and Y0. This make drawing a snap when translating, mirroring, and copies. Now I have made other programs to work with Mach 3 to even make my life easier. None of witch could happen if I made my Cad inlays like you suggested. Now, Royce makes alot of sence. I use home optical switches and this is in line with my lazy. Most of the machines out there for inlays run off of stepper motors. Now when stepper motors are shut off they will fall back to a detent on a motor. This is where I ask Royce questions as he has a very good understanding of them, hence I don't have to. Ok, so what that means is, if you shut your motors off and back on you will be off several thousanths from where your where. If you where to re-home your machine than you will be with in .0005" or less depending on your setup. This is a huge improvent. Now then, if I am using home switches and I have a center line and set my Y work coordinate to Zero and save my work coordinate, then I can always go back to Y zero anytime I want without fear of being off. If I know where Y0 is and where I want my part located along the cue it is easy to figure out where X0 should be. Sorry about the ramble.

On second thought, you should try it, then you will understand why you shouldn't.

Jim.:grin:

 

[RBC]

Royce,

You sounds like your way ahead of me on the CNC skills. I am going from Kindergarten to First grade at this time. I wish I had something with a tool changer, it would be awesome and I would approach everything in a different way. Right now I am just happy to do a pocket and an inlay contours that look good.

The switches sound really cool and I am sure they are deadly accurate. If you are CNC turning, it sounds like your production repeatability is tuned in to less that + or - .001.

Thanks for letting me know about those switches. Maybe some day I will have some sophisticated machines. Who knows, now a days some high end CNC Lathes are going for cheap at auction. I was at the Schuler Auction and they had a CNC Lathe that I know Ray bought used for over $ 50,000.00 and it went off for $ 3500,00. I did not have the shop space and never gave bidding on it a thought.:yikes:

Thanks for you comments, I appreciate learning more details about CNC.

Rick G

PS. I do all of my cues with solid maple cores and am totally committed to that discipline. I just viewed your website and I see we share that philosophy.

Rick,

Yes, with turning, we do require accuracy, but we only need to be real accurate in the Y direction (diameter/radius for our machines). We use a touch off approach to that now, and have for years, and it works for us. The X dimension isn't that critical. I installed switches on my first machine many years ago and didn't have good luck with them. The problem was the kind of switch. They were just not repeatable enough, so we developed our method of touching off, and it works. Now, I've been introduced to the optical switches by my neighbors. They are in the semi conductor machine field. They routinely inspect and pick up parts that are very tiny, and they do it pretty fast and have zero errors. They showed me the optical switches, and I will use them on my next machine. Sure, they are not a fix all for everything, but they do have some huge advantages. I know there are inlays that need to be lined up other ways, particularly when dealing with the rotary axis, but there are also many things they will help with. I have many jigs planned for repetitive things that they will be very valuable for.

Jim Babcock, MC2, has already put them on his machine and swears he will never go back. It's a little different learning to work with offsets, but he thinks its worth it.

Thanks for your input!

 

[RBC]

I edited my last post.

I'm adding home switches to CNC I'm building and they'll have many benefits. The problem with CNC machines is they don't allow for human error. That's where the operator needs to adjust for perfection and starting from a home base doesn't work for some inlays.

tap...tap...tap!

exactly!

 

[Graciocues]

Now you gotta build a cue to match those caps.

I'll talk somebody into that ring style and surprise them with the JP's.

Here's another inlay I'm working on. They're in a solid Ivory butt sleeve. I'd show all the inlays but I want Steve to be the first to see the cue. It took 5 layers to get to this point and they're not finished yet. It took 4-6 hours each and there are 8 around the cue.

Sorry for the tinny picture.

 

[Newton]

Kent, I will answer your question. NO!!!!!. Ok, think about this, if you are off .100" you may notice this on your Cad linlay if you zoom in. Maybe not? If you are off .010" you for sure will not. Now I am a lazy as they come. I work all pockets and parts off of X0 and Y0. This make drawing a snap when translating, mirroring, and copies. Now I have made other programs to work with Mach 3 to even make my life easier. None of witch could happen if I made my Cad inlays like you suggested. Now, Royce makes alot of sence. I use home optical switches and this is in line with my lazy. Most of the machines out there for inlays run off of stepper motors. Now when stepper motors are shut off they will fall back to a detent on a motor. This is where I ask Royce questions as he has a very good understanding of them, hence I don't have to. Ok, so what that means is, if you shut your motors off and back on you will be off several thousanths from where your where. If you where to re-home your machine than you will be with in .0005" or less depending on your setup. This is a huge improvent. Now then, if I am using home switches and I have a center line and set my Y work coordinate to Zero and save my work coordinate, then I can always go back to Y zero anytime I want without fear of being off. If I know where Y0 is and where I want my part located along the cue it is easy to figure out where X0 should be. Sorry about the ramble.

On second thought, you should try it, then you will understand why you shouldn't.

Jim.:grin:

No problem Jim

My machine uses some Omron switches and they seem to be pretty reliable, but I would do some tests on repeatability - if I only manage to get the freakin machine EDIT finnished ;-)
Of course, I forgot my CAD/CAM machine back 1200km from me so I have no posibility to make some layouts...
Thanks
K

 

[cueman]

Here are a couple of cues that we inlaid in 1994 with a Pantograph.

This cue was my first multi-thousand dollar cue sale:

The following cue was played with by a pro from Japan for a while.

 

[hangemhigh]

Love that bracelet, great looking cues.

 

[cueman]

Love that bracelet, great looking cues.

That is Sterling Silver Gallery Wire. It is a real pain to put in.

 

[hangemhigh]

That is Sterling Silver Gallery Wire. It is a real pain to put in.

I always called it bracelet. I know how much goes into making it work in a cue and Duck Calls.

 

[WilleeCue]

Here are a couple of cues that we inlaid in 1994 with a Pantograph.

This cue was my first multi-thousand dollar cue sale:

The following cue was played with by a pro from Japan for a while.

Very nice Chris ... you da master!

Love that laced silver wire ... got some here at the shop but never figured out how to get it in a cue ... yet.

 

[vasilios]

Brianna

you started this thread but quit pushing - how come?

bill

 

[hillscues]

How about old school Manuel pantograph thats how I roll . I cut the male part on a scroll saw sand and shape it , then cut a pocket on the pantograph. last but not least make the stylist for a nice fitting part . finally cut the parts a never ending process , but it feels good to produce fine art this old school way. check this one out I did the peacocks are all one paper thin at the bottom.

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