Feeds/speeds for various cuemaking materials?

[Tommy-D]

> Briz and myself briefly discussed feeds/speeds for cuemaking woods,and I told him that the other cuemakers/more experienced repair people would have more info than me. I realize that other than cutting tenons,that most cue work does not involve the use of single-point tooling,which is all I have used to this point. I have read in here that when using a saw machine for cutting shafts,a slow (100 RPM) spinning shaft,a high RPM blade (30,000 RPM has been mentioned here I think) and a slow enough feed rate to make a 30 inch cut take 6-7 minutes gives the best result. Does this hold true for all woods,or just maple? Do cuemakers even use the feed for cutting a 1" tenon? Is the machining of wood a personal preference,a matter of fine-tuning to whatever machine you use,or is there a specific set of rules for these procedures? What about phenolics,and softer metals like trim rings? All input from experienced hands will be greatly appreciated,Tommy D.

 

[TellsItLikeItIs]

Tommy, I believe the most important "Rule" to remember in cue making, is that
there are no "Rules". Techniques that work for one species of wood may not work well for another. This might include turning, drilling, tapping, finishing, etc, etc. I think it fair to say the same of some plastics & phenolics as well. Metal trim rings? I no longer use them, but when I did I made no special compensation for them. Just after the final turn, dress them up with a bastard file on go to the next step.

In turning shafts, I believe the most common mistake is that some just try to make it all happen too quickly. RPM as an example; A piece of shaft wood turning at a high RPM, can and often does, act the same as a wheel that is out of balance on your car. Centrifugal force begins to act and the shaft wood can "wobble" (for lack of a better word). When this happens, more material is being taken from one side than the other (with obvious results). Feed rate as another example; Too fast a feed rate and the cutter will push the material away from the cutting edge. The "memory" of the wood wants to push it back toward the cutter, again the cutter tries to push it away, so on & so on. In this scenario the wood is actually oscillating. Same thing can happen when taking too deep a cut as well. I have never used anything
but Maple for shafts, but would think any wood 30" long would react much the same.

I don't know about others, but I use the feed for every cut I possibly can, to include tenons. I also use live tooling for every cut I can. Anyone that claims they can hand crank the feed and get as consistent a cut as they can by allowing the machine to feed, is just fooling themselves.