DIY Cue Maintenance

BadKarma

BadKarma

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
How many of you Masters do your own cue maintenance?

What I mean is tip changes, ferrules, the easy stuff.

I want to do my own tip changes and such, the easy stuff. What tools and such do you recommend? Are there any online step by step guides or books?

Thanks

Karma
 
I have Joe Porpers mini lathe and i do all my own maintenance, i really like the lathe its very user friendly. i wouldnt let anyone else touch my cues.
 
or1pkt said:
I have Joe Porpers mini lathe and i do all my own maintenance, i really like the lathe its very user friendly. i wouldnt let anyone else touch my cues.
Click to expand...

The lathe looks sweet, but just a tad out of my price range. But I do like the looks of some of the other tools on his site. Are they any good? Is there another place to look?
 
BadKarma said:
What I mean is tip changes, ferrules, the easy stuff.
Click to expand...
You can do tips pretty easy without a lathe, but I don't think you could do a ferrule. Other than a tip, the only other "easy" thing would be cleaning the cue...

-td
 
the porper big shaver is pretty useful for trimming the tip even with the sides of the ferrule, it can leave marks on the softer ferules, work slow..be careful. Aside from that, holding the shaft with the tip down on a cutting board, use a sharp knife or razor blade to carefully trim the tip as flush as you can get it, then mask off the ferrule and sand the tip. Again work slowly and be careful and you can do a pretty good job. If, however there is a cue maker near by, retipping isn't very expensive and they do a professional job. good luck
 
I was looking real hard at the Big Shaver, seems to do quite a bit of the work. And I may have overreached a bit saying ferrules.

In replacing a tip, what are the steps and tools needed to accomplish this? Will the Big Shaver do the prep for the new tip? What glue is needed and what is the best clamp?

The reason I'm asking is, I have not shot any for a long time and am not sure what tip will be my fav, so I anticipate doing several changes to find what I like. And I am not aware of a cue builder/smith anywhere near here. If anyone knows of one in the Branson/Springfield area, I'd appreciate a heads up.

Thanks y'all.

Karma
 
BadKarma said:
I was looking real hard at the Big Shaver, seems to do quite a bit of the work. And I may have overreached a bit saying ferrules.

In replacing a tip, what are the steps and tools needed to accomplish this? Will the Big Shaver do the prep for the new tip? What glue is needed and what is the best clamp?

The reason I'm asking is, I have not shot any for a long time and am not sure what tip will be my fav, so I anticipate doing several changes to find what I like. And I am not aware of a cue builder/smith anywhere near here. If anyone knows of one in the Branson/Springfield area, I'd appreciate a heads up.

Thanks y'all.

Karma
Click to expand...

just go all out and get yourself a mini lathe! here's alittle more affordable ones.
http://www.littlemachineshop.com/Info/minilathe_compare.php

also, theres some good referance to machine usage here:
http://www.cuecomponents.com/cuebuon.html

and here's a retipping video someone posted in some other thread here about 6-8 months ago or so. i forget who, maybe someone else remembers. but since i cann't remember who's it is or who's doing or where else it can be located, i'll throw it up on my server for you.

http://s90374379.onlinehome.us/cues/replacing_tip.zip

you'll also need the divx codec to play it.

http://www.divx.com/
 
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Thanks socks, but a lathe is just too much for me right now, although you have gotten me thinking about later on down the road. (thanks, I really needed that :( ) And the video revealed things I had not even thought of, like keeping the ferrule tip square when preping for the new tip.

This may take some more thought.
 
Yes you can do a lot for yourself but forget the "easy" part- Socks hit the nail on the head in his excellent post be careful! If you don't enjoy doing stuff like that - better off to pay the 20 bucks
good luck
 
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