Do you pre-press your tips?

sk8ordie

sk8ordie

HTTR!
Silver Member
I have been installing tips for a very long time with mixed results after break-in (mainly layered tips). I always burnish my tips with either spit, wax, sealer, and even a liquid Joe sells at cue component. My problem is that some tips are perfect after long play and some tips I get back for a trim and burnish again because they broke in on the sides. I know some tips break in better than others but I was wondering if pressing your tips before install takes away the problem completely because I feel like it's bad work on my end when they break in and the sides get nasty.
I have tried pressing tips a long time ago with the info I had and I even tried to make milk duds at one time but it seems they always came out too hard and I gave up. All I have is a vice and two aluminum flat plates. I do know that they have tip pressing mechanisms for sale and was just wondering how you guys go about doing yours and the pressure. I have been searching again and I was trying to see if there was any new info from what I have found. Thank you for any and all help, Ron

PS. Most tips that give me a problem are layered and I do burnish them under low speeds not to heat them up.
 
I think your trying to fix a problem beyond your controll.
A soft tip might mushroom a little from play, especially if the tip is used for breaking and such.
Pressing a Soft tip, to make it hard, kinda defeats the purpose, don`t you think?
 
Kim Bye said:
I think your trying to fix a problem beyond your controll.
A soft tip might mushroom a little from play, especially if the tip is used for breaking and such.
Pressing a Soft tip, to make it hard, kinda defeats the purpose, don`t you think?
Click to expand...

Tap, Tap, Tap. Brian.
 
Kim Bye said:
I think your trying to fix a problem beyond your controll.
A soft tip might mushroom a little from play, especially if the tip is used for breaking and such.
Pressing a Soft tip, to make it hard, kinda defeats the purpose, don`t you think?
Click to expand...

You would think that pressing defeats the purpose. But my experience has proven to me that the soft tip will get harder when you play with it. So pressing it up front as long as you don't overdo it just gets it to the hardness it is going to wind up at after pounding balls for a month or so.
 
cueman said:
You would think that pressing defeats the purpose. But my experience has proven to me that the soft tip will get harder when you play with it. So pressing it up front as long as you don't overdo it just gets it to the hardness it is going to wind up at after pounding balls for a month or so.
Click to expand...

I press everything unless asked not to. I use the Picone press and a simple vice. I tighten up the vice until I feel the tip and press have bottomed out. Then I tighten up the vice about an 1 to 1 1/2 inches. Folks that talk about wanting a really soft hit get the speech. I tell them what my practice is, why, and leave it up to them. Interesting as always to find out what others do and why. The reason I do it goes back to me buying my first lathe. It was a little ride to get my tips done and then you always had to get them trimmed again in a week or so. I started doing repairs eventually, but it all started over mushrooming flat tips. :thumbup:
 
Kim Bye said:
I think your trying to fix a problem beyond your controll.
A soft tip might mushroom a little from play, especially if the tip is used for breaking and such.
Pressing a Soft tip, to make it hard, kinda defeats the purpose, don`t you think?
Click to expand...

I am not trying to press a soft tip to make it hard I am trying to press a soft, medium or hard just enough to simulate the break-in process so the side walls never have to be trimmed up again hopefully. My original post I was stating that when I first tried to press tips I was doing it too much making them hard. Now I am trying it again with hopefully better results. I understand what you're saying but it happens with any hardness. I'm not talking about just mushrooming, I'm also talking about where the sides flare out and it just doesn't look shiny, smooth and nice like the time I gave it to them. Some tips never need a touch up where as others might. I know people have been pressing there tips for a long time to eliminate the break in, I have even read on here people would lightly hit it with a hammer before install which I never would.
My problem when I started pressing them, they where becoming to hard as I was applying too much pressure because I didn't have a lot of knowledge and I would like to try it again and see if I have better results. I was kind of asking from the people who do press their tips if they use a vise or one of these mechanisms sold on the Internet and what kind of pressure they use so hopefully I can get a better result. Thanks for your help, Ron
 
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cueman said:
You would think that pressing defeats the purpose. But my experience has proven to me that the soft tip will get harder when you play with it. So pressing it up front as long as you don't overdo it just gets it to the hardness it is going to wind up at after pounding balls for a month or so.
Click to expand...

And this is exactly what I have to learn. When I first started doing it even though I felt like I wasn't putting any pressure on the tip I was still pressing it too much (big vise) . I have to learn how to press it to where it's going to become the same feel as when it's broken in on and install some hopefully the side walls of the tip stay burnished and nice. I know soft and super soft will forever need maintenance and I tell the customer that upfront. Lol, I've even tried the CA on the walls which looked great but broke in nasty.
 
Instead of pressing them, cut the tip down before you shape it. If you put a 1/4" thick tip on and just dome it, there is way too much tip left and it'll act like a cushion, and will have plenty of materiel that will flare out. I try to keep the side wall height on a layered tip to about .190 ish after shaping, and have found it less likely to mushroom. I also do a treatment to the side wall after burnishing with a liquid that helps to strengthen the edge of the tip. HTHs
Dave
 
Getting a feel for how hard to press the tip is an art like playing pool. Unfortunately you can't buy feel.
I suspect someone could put a torque wrench on a vise and experiment with different amounts of torque on different brands of tips until they got it down to a science, but how many of us will live long enough to do that?
 
Palmetto cue said:
Same here. Joey, do you mean it rocks back an forth when trying to glue it???
Click to expand...
My experience was they did not press evenly.
Done on a vise too.
I don't press tips layered tips.
After install, I just join the cue and bounce the tip on the pavement for a few minutes.
Then, I put the shaft back in the lathe and trim the mushroomed edge.
 
JoeyInCali said:
My experience was they did not press evenly.
Done on a vise too.
I don't press tips layered tips.
After install, I just join the cue and bounce the tip on the pavement for a few minutes.
Then, I put the shaft back in the lathe and trim the mushroomed edge.
Click to expand...

I suppose you pound it on the floor perfectly vertical so as not to get a wobble... ??

just press it ....... it's more accurate

Kim
 
I don't press any tips unless requested.

I do offer free retriming, burnishing and crowning for the life of a tip.

Each tip will break in and reach compression refusal over a period of time depending on the stroke of the player. The player must adjust over time like a golfer adjusting to changing green speeds.

The best situation is the player who uses hard tips. There is no break in period and the day they have a new tip installed they don't have to worry about controlling the cue ball on a 4" draw shot compared to a 10" draw shot for position. Consistency!

If someone wants a soft tip pressed, why not just get a triangle. Soft tips do get hard over time. Efren plays with a soft tip. To keep a soft feel you have to change it often which is expensive. I don't think Efren has to pay for his tip work as he travels around the world. LOL

JMO,

Rick
 
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