Flat tip vs. Radius

1pocketguru

1pocketguru

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I had a conversation recently with a top very intelligent player. We discussed that many pros use a tip with a radius but then they purposely flatten the top down so it's just curved around the edge.
The reasoning was that when you use English you only use the edge anyway. And with center ball hits you have a bigger flatter surface making it easier....
I remember the old super slow motion videos from predator back in the 1990s showing that a dime radius was giving less deflection.
Anyone have any data on a really flat tip vs round? TIA!
 
1pocketguru said:
… when you use English you only use the edge anyway.
Click to expand...
With a rounded tip that only happens with maximum English - that’s the purpose of a rounded tip. With a flat-with-rounded-edge tip it happens with less English.
1pocketguru said:
I remember the old super slow motion videos from predator back in the 1990s showing that a dime radius was giving less deflection.
Click to expand...
Not true. The amount of deflection only depends on the amount of tip offset (and end mass).

pj
chgo
 
I did cue repair for about 10 years ending in 2009 and never had a customer ask me for this. I never heard of it before.
 
I like a flat tip on my break cue, but otherwise try to keep things at a nickel radius.

I understand the logic but I don’t think it’s good for a playing cue. Seems to be an approach for someone who shoots either center ball or with as much English as they can apply, doesn’t lend itself as well to subtle applications of English like a radiused tip would.

Works for me on a break cue because I typically do want a mostly center ball hit and the shoulders of the tip are there when I need them. And it’s not perfectly flat at all, just a lot flatter than nickel radius.
 
I used a flat tip for breaking for many years. The logic i was given was more contact with the ball and less unwanted spin on the ball. I don't know how much of that was true. To me, many times it felt weird breaking as i could feel the whole contact on the ball. I'm trying to more use a control break, pocket a ball and land the CB in the center of the table. Right now i am still using a flatter tip shape of a quarter.
 
Chili Palmer said:
My tips are much flatter than most people I see. I will continually miscue if I play with a cue with a dime radius.
Click to expand...
Texas Carom Club said:
Yeah I agree the miscue is all the more likely he rounder the shape I feel
Click to expand...
For the normal range of side spin I think it's actually the opposite. With a rounder tip you can offset the tip farther from center ball without hitting on its edge.

pj
chgo
 
Patrick Johnson said:
For the normal range of side spin I think it's actually the opposite. With a rounder tip you can offset the tip farther from center ball without hitting on its edge.

pj
chgo
Click to expand...

With a rounder tip, the further away from CB the higher the angle of contact between the tip and the CB. For reference (and only for reference), a flatter tip (50 cent piece?) may contact at 45 degrees while a smaller radius (dime) with the centerline of the cue being in the same place will contact at a higher angle therefore, a more likely chance of a miscue. Not being an ass, but that's simple geometry/physics/whateverthefitscalled.
 
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