Help please.

[dave fingers]

Forgive me for the rookie question. I can't seem to find the answer in any of my dvd's or books. If I'm off setting the tailstock to taper my butt blanks what makes the points uneven when I turn it down? I figured I must have had it offset incorrect, is this right? Do most of you cuemakers taper your butts that way or do you use a taper bar system?
Thanks for the help and please bear with me while I'm learning.

 

[cueman]

I prefer to taper with taper bar. If your points are dead even and there is no wobble before you start tapering, it could be possible your center drilled hole in the joint end is too small or too large and allowing your cue to walk around on the live center. Or it could be drilled with a 82 degree center drill instead of a 60 degree which would cause the live center point to grab on one side and not the other.

 

[JoeyInCali]

Offset tailstock is only good in making cones in my opinion.
Not when turning blanks with points.
They have too much runoff.

 

[Arnot Wadsworth]

Forgive me for the rookie question. I can't seem to find the answer in any of my dvd's or books. If I'm off setting the tailstock to taper my butt blanks what makes the points uneven when I turn it down? I figured I must have had it offset incorrect, is this right? Do most of you cuemakers taper your butts that way or do you use a taper bar system?
Thanks for the help and please bear with me while I'm learning.

The center holes can be off center.

The handle portion of the butt was not perfectly aligned with the forarm when they were joined which throws all the error to the center of the cue which makes it cutt off more on one side than the other - Thus uneven points.

When the point's pockets were cut they were not cut to the same length.

Whether you taper with an off set tail stock or taper bar
makes no difference.

Good cuemaking,

 

[dave fingers]

Thanks everyone for their help. I bought the blank already put together from another reputable maker so I assume it was put together correctly. I was just turning it down from the huge oversize state it was in. I'm thinking now that I may have had one of my center hole offcenter as Arnot said. I appreciate the help, this section of the forum is a wealth of information.
Dave

 

[Michael Webb]

Thanks everyone for their help. I bought the blank already put together from another reputable maker so I assume it was put together correctly. I was just turning it down from the huge oversize state it was in. I'm thinking now that I may have had one of my center hole offcenter as Arnot said. I appreciate the help, this section of the forum is a wealth of information.
Dave

You should invest in a dial indicator with a magnetic base, then if you buy blanks from someone you can zero it to follow what they have supplied you. Even when you build your own, you should use an indicator.

 

[BarenbruggeCues]

All the answers are not in DVDs & books. More often than not, one has to develop their own techniques and do some troubleshooting.

Isn't this what separates the masses? Piles of wasted wood and countless nights burning both ends till the rootbeer comes home! IMO there is no better teacher. It's not bad to make mistakes.......only if you make them more than twice.

 

[ratcues]

If you are still oversized, you can move the center drilled hole to fix the uneven points.

 

[BarenbruggeCues]

I bought the blank already put together from another reputable maker so I assume it was put together correctly.

Dave.......you are correct in assuming you will get some help here. There is a wealth of information from some very knowledgable people that a lot of us could of used when we started also. But one mistake you don't want make is to assume anything when assembling your cues. Make dead sure or you may waste a lot of time and money.
Good luck.....

 

[Poulos Cues]

This is true... but if the cue has a tenon and bolt in the middle...one must be careful not to cut too much material from one side or it may move the tenon and bolt to one side making the cue "radially" unbalanced. This is why we use an over-sized handle. Before making an entire OD cut, check the prong to make sure it is running true before turning. If not, you can tap the handle portion over so that the cutter is touching all the way around, then just take the material/ wobble from the handle and re-center the hole in the handle. Let is rest, put it between centers and check it again---repeat if necessary, that is if your handle is still over-sized.

IMO of course.

Chris

 

[RSB-Refugee]

This is true... but if the cue has a tenon and bolt in the middle...one must be careful not to cut too much material from one side or it may move the tenon and bolt to one side making the cue "radially" unbalanced.

Yep, it could be dead straight and someone would roll it on a table and say, 'it's warped'.

Tracy