how do I turn down a steel joint?

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snipershot

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I bought a bunch of steel joints and I measured them the other day and they are all about .870. How do I turn them down? Do I wait until I thread it on the cue and turn it, or do I use an arbor of some kind and turn em down before I install it? I can't turn one until I get my south bend lathe set up next weekend, but id like to have an idea of what to do. Also, id like to thank everyone for helping me and putting up with all my newbie questions, lol.

Joe
 
Hi,

It might be a good idea to put one or two on an old house cue and practice before committing to a cue you are building.

Rick
 
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Thanks fellas. Im for sure gonna practice doing a few before i try to make a cue with one.

Joe
 
Use your power feed, and you'll have to figure out the depth of cut that you can use to get a good finish. Finish it up by hand with files, keep the heat down so you don't degrade your epoxy. The advice to practice on a scrap piece first is good, it takes some practice to get the hang of it. Good luck.
 
radge69 said:
Use your power feed, and you'll have to figure out the depth of cut that you can use to get a good finish. Finish it up by hand with files, keep the heat down so you don't degrade your epoxy. The advice to practice on a scrap piece first is good, it takes some practice to get the hang of it. Good luck.
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A little trick for keeping it cool is to wet a wash rag and hold it on the back side of the joint when tapering the front side. I learned this when I could not slow my lathe down as slow as needed to keep it cool.
 
cueman said:
A little trick for keeping it cool is to wet a wash rag and hold it on the back side of the joint when tapering the front side. I learned this when I could not slow my lathe down as slow as needed to keep it cool.
Click to expand...

"It's an old indian trick, but I think it will work"
 
If the starting diameter is .870,even if you are taking it to .835-.840,you only need to take a .010 cut PER SIDE.

You'll be better off dialing in .005,because your machine is almost always a 2 to 1 ratio,meaning it takes double whatever you dial in. Many full sized lathes are 1 to 1,so if you dial in .001.it takes half that off each side. I'm also not 100% sure yours will take a .010 deep cut on SS unless you have a GOOD carbide cutter. Take small bites and sneak up on it.

If you take more than that,rest assured you will scrap that blank,because the filing,sanding,and buffing will need at least .010 worth of material to complete.

I've never done a single SS joint,simply because I don't have a big enough machine to do them.

However,I've done enough cosmetic polishing on stuff to tell you with complete certainty that unless that blank was cut on a CNC,with perfect feed rate,and the right cutter,then ground and polished,that cutting it close to size with your machine will still need a minimum of .010 extra to polish it back out. Tommy D.
 
Tommy-D said:
If the starting diameter is .870,even if you are taking it to .835-.840,you only need to take a .010 cut PER SIDE.

You'll be better off dialing in .005,because your machine is almost always a 2 to 1 ratio,meaning it takes double whatever you dial in. Many full sized lathes are 1 to 1,so if you dial in .001.it takes half that off each side. I'm also not 100% sure yours will take a .010 deep cut on SS unless you have a GOOD carbide cutter. Take small bites and sneak up on it.

If you take more than that,rest assured you will scrap that blank,because the filing,sanding,and buffing will need at least .010 worth of material to complete.

I've never done a single SS joint,simply because I don't have a big enough machine to do them.

However,I've done enough cosmetic polishing on stuff to tell you with complete certainty that unless that blank was cut on a CNC,with perfect feed rate,and the right cutter,then ground and polished,that cutting it close to size with your machine will still need a minimum of .010 extra to polish it back out. Tommy D.
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The lathe I'm buying is a south bend 13x40, so I'm sure it will have enough juice to get it done, lol. I will take your advice and take it slow and leave room for filing and polishing. I've learned that already on the 4 sneakys I've made. My first two were pretty bad because I didn't leave enough stock left to final sand and polish and as a result I ended up with a joint diameter about .015 - .020 smaller than I wanted. Thanks for the advice man, ill use it!

Joe
 
cueman said:
A little trick for keeping it cool is to wet a wash rag and hold it on the back side of the joint when tapering the front side. I learned this when I could not slow my lathe down as slow as needed to keep it cool.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip! I'm sure it will come in handy!

Joe
 
I use live tooling to thread my tendons, bore the back of the joint for a register (the joints are not very true when you get them), glue it on the cue and turn it down with the taper bar. Increase the speed, decrease the feed and take light cuts. Stainless will expand rapidly when cut due to heat. Make sure you leave it .010-.015" over final size after cutting and let it cool for an hour and then measure it again, it will have shrunk about .004-.005" from what it was. This is probably where you problem with small size joint came from. I leave mine about .005" over finished size after cooling to allow for filing and sanding. I sand thru 800 before finish and wet sand to 3000 before buffing. I bore the joint after turning and before installing the pin. That is if you are using a compression fit pilot.

Kenny Murrell
 
Kenny said:
I use live tooling to thread my tendons, bore the back of the joint for a register (the joints are not very true when you get them), glue it on the cue and turn it down with the taper bar. Increase the speed, decrease the feed and take light cuts. Stainless will expand rapidly when cut due to heat. Make sure you leave it .010-.015" over final size after cutting and let it cool for an hour and then measure it again, it will have shrunk about .004-.005" from what it was. This is probably where you problem with small size joint came from. I leave mine about .005" over finished size after cooling to allow for filing and sanding. I sand thru 800 before finish and wet sand to 3000 before buffing. I bore the joint after turning and before installing the pin. That is if you are using a compression fit pilot.

Kenny Murrell
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tips! I haven't tried a steel joint yet. The problems with not leaving enough stock were on juma joints and joint collars. I have since started leaving more on the joint so I can finish at the size I want.

Joe
 
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