Help removing joint pin

iusedtoberich

iusedtoberich

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I have a customer who bought a cheap cue on ebay with a crooked joint screw. He wants me to fix it. I know once I take the screw out, it will be a simple matter of indicating the cue so it runs true, boring out the opening, gluing in a plug, and retapping the threads. I can handle that without any problems.

The problem is removing the joint screw. I practiced on a broken McDermot I had. I heated up the screw with a propane torch. The torch has a "gun" attachment so it has a more focused flame than the regular "paint burning" attachment. I was able to unscrew the pin after heating it sufficiently.

Then I tried it on the customers cue and I couldn't unscrew it. The screw got plenty hot, but it would not budge. I didn't grip it super tight as I didn't want to damage it incase I couldn't remove it. Where as on the practice cue I used a pair of vise grips.

Is there a better techinque?

Thanks,

Nick
 
Heating it is the only way I know of. I grip the pin in my bench vise and rotate the cue to unscrew it after it is very hot.
Chris
 
Be careful of the finish. I had one like this and it was a real pain also. Luckily I didn't damage the finish but others have had real nightmares. I also use the bench vice to take the pin out. It gives you more leverage.
 
New problem

Thanks for the help guys. I ended up heating it again with the pin placed in a vise, instead of a pair of pliers. The extra holding power was what I needed to break it loose. I have a custom cue of my own that needs joint work. I will try the Thomas Wayne method with that one, as it has a cocobolo joint. I probably won't get to that cue for a while though, as its been sitting with a bent pin for years :)

Now, I have a new problem with the cue I'm repairing. After I took the pin out, I bored out the hole to .445. I had to go this large because the joint pin was a 7/16-14, not the normal 5/16 or 3/8 diameter. I bored the hole with a flat bottom and made a maple plug to fit. I was about to glue it in when I tapped the butt on my bench and heard a bad buzz.

I traced the buzz to the SS joint collar. I was able to twist it slightly, about a degree or so. So I decided to remove it and re-glue it. I wrapped leather around it and spun the lathe in reverse. After a while, the glue bond broke and I was able to freely spin the SS joint collar.

Here is the problem: I can't remove the collar! It spins all the way around with no problem. But it won't move at all (maybe only .010) along the length of the cue. I take it it can't be threaded, or it would have unscrewed itself. Something is holding it back. What is left of the inside of the bore (the maple) is not spinning. Only the SS collar is.

Attached is a picture of the inside of the joint. The arrow shows the end of the wood and the beginning of the metal shoulder. When the collar is spun, the wood stays stationary there, and the metal spins.

Any ideas? This job has turned out to be a pain, but it is a good learning experience.

Thanks,

Nick
 

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Maybe the tenon wasn't threaded but was scored heavily and deep. When the glue bond broke did you try to take it out right away or let it cool down? If so the glue could have hardened again and bulked up one scored area of the tenon.

You could heat the SS joint with a soldering gun or iron. That would be more than enough to break the glue bond. You could do that too with the pin and not damage the cue.
 
iusedtoberich said:
I have a customer who bought a cheap cue on ebay with a crooked joint screw. He wants me to fix it. I know once I take the screw out, it will be a simple matter of indicating the cue so it runs true, boring out the opening, gluing in a plug, and retapping the threads. I can handle that without any problems.

The problem is removing the joint screw. I practiced on a broken McDermot I had. I heated up the screw with a propane torch. The torch has a "gun" attachment so it has a more focused flame than the regular "paint burning" attachment. I was able to unscrew the pin after heating it sufficiently.

Then I tried it on the customers cue and I couldn't unscrew it. The screw got plenty hot, but it would not budge. I didn't grip it super tight as I didn't want to damage it incase I couldn't remove it. Where as on the practice cue I used a pair of vise grips.

Is there a better techinque?

Thanks,

Nick
Click to expand...


To be brutally honest, why bother. Some of the stuff you are asked to do on these cheap cues is not worth your time. People ask for shafts for cues with off center screws or refinishing on junk cues with decals and so on. What were you planing to charge them? You don't want to be spending two hours messing with a junk cue not even worth the cost of the repair. Some guys may feel embarrassed to say they don't want to do the job, as if they don't know how to do. That is not the case, given enough time you can fix almost anything but it just may not be worth it. It is something to think about before accepting a headache. The longer you do this the more you will find yourself saying no thanks. Just my opinion.
 
Macguy, you make a very good point. I first suggested to the guy that he try to return the cue, but he liked it and wanted it fixed. I also let the guy know I didn't have a lot of experience with joint repair on the butts of cues, but that I was fairly sure I could do it. I'm also at the point where I have more time than customers, so I look at this job as a learning experience, not as a money maker.

I was able to remove the SS collar. It was like hadjcues had suggested, except the inside of the SS collar was deeply grooved instead of the tenon. I removed the collar by boring the inside of the hole I made previously until there was nothing left holding the collar on. I plugged the hole with maple and the glue is now curing. Hopefully it will be smooth sailing from here on out.

Nick
 
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