How to tell the "good" tips from the "bad" tips???
- Thread starter penguin
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penguin said:I often read about cue makers & cue repairmen throwing out entire boxes of tips because they are "bad". But, how do you tell the difference between the "good" tips and the "bad" tips (short of using some specialized equipment, like a durometer)..?
Well I just threw out nearly a whole box of LePro tips. Before attaching the tip to the end of the Q, you should 1st sand the flat back side to level it & to get rid of the coating that is applied at the factory. After sanding, a good tip will have a firm, solid & smooth back. These were so soft that they nearly desolved into a pile of brown dust. There was nothing SOLID about them, other than the box they came in. JUNK. On the other hand I recently threw out about 20 Elkmaster tips. When sanding the backs the sides looked like an accordion. I could grab them with 2 hands & litterally stretch them. JUNK...JER
good from bad
i throw out about one in four le pros, most of the other tips arnt that bad. i was told to press them in a vice. the ones that are bad dont press evenly. one side will press more and bulge out becuase the hardness of the tip is not consistent.
penguin said:I often read about cue makers & cue repairmen throwing out entire boxes of tips because they are "bad". But, how do you tell the difference between the "good" tips and the "bad" tips (short of using some specialized equipment, like a durometer)..?
i throw out about one in four le pros, most of the other tips arnt that bad. i was told to press them in a vice. the ones that are bad dont press evenly. one side will press more and bulge out becuase the hardness of the tip is not consistent.
With Triangle tips if you put them in water, the poor quality tips will float. The better tips will submerge or sink. Only leave the tips in the water long enough to test them. Wipe and then air dry.
Martin
Martin
penguin said:I often read about cue makers & cue repairmen throwing out entire boxes of tips because they are "bad". But, how do you tell the difference between the "good" tips and the "bad" tips (short of using some specialized equipment, like a durometer)..?
Cornerman said:
There are several ways to tell. Personally, I am about to get a durometer to test the tips (and ferrules for that matter) with. But Fred has one good way in that biting the tip will tell you a great deal about it. I will go one step further in explanation: I can bite the tip on the sides with firm pressure (somewhere between nibbling your girlfriend's ear, and crunching on a jaw breaker. Yeah, I know, just do your best). You should be able to tell the softer tips right off the bat as it will be too messed up to sand off or put on the shaft. The sanding idea is another good way, using a rougher sandpaper (I use 320 grit), and from experience you will be able to "grade" the tips from hard to waaaaaaay too soft. The last way is to glue the tip backwards on a small dowel, or placed backwards in a tip centering tool and just machine the back edging off of the tip. Again, with experience you will be able to grade the tip according to your preference. Good luck, and if you come up with anything new please feel free to share with everyone.
shakes said:
I use a durometer and it will find some of the bad ones but not all. Like others have said sanding the back tells you alot about the tip. I've had some fool me though.
Normally in the past I would buy into the color thing, because past experience with le-pros was that the darker tips were harder, and not as mushy, but I just finished up a couple of old boxes, and popped open a new one that I've had for sometime. I had something happen that's unusual, atleast from My experiences.
I usually press My le-pros anyhow to get an idea of the hardness if nothing else, so I don't always hard press them, and usually from the feel of tightening My vice, I can tell the difference In them, some are very mushy, and some are harder. Then when I sand as mentioned, indeed the harder are usually darker, with the softer being a lighter brown.
This time I popped 4 tips out of the top of the new box at random, and could hardly press them at all in the vice due to how hard they were, I then sanded them, and only 1 out of the 3 was darker, but they all seemed close in hardness. In fact when I installed them, and cut them down, It was obvious that they were harder. They easily burnished up nice and dark also.
On the other side, I have seen some in the past that were too hard, and a chunk in the corner of the tip actually chipped out during play. Usually those are really black in color.
Another thing that seems to help me, and I look for with the vice, is expansion, If I press one, I look for the amount of expansion in the tip, as I'm backing off the handle to take it out of the vice. I kind of use that as a gauge to what kind of tip I'm dealing with, and If it will suite the person. preferences seem to be between medium/hard-hard on lepro's, and I try to match them up with the right person when I can, but I do alot of house cues also, and on those I just use a mix. the sponge tips are the ones I toss.
I'm not a huge fan of soft tips on My personal cues, so altough I have had plenty of people that were happy with the ones I installed for them, I still feel that I have a weakness in gauging those.
I'd love to have a durometer, even if just for an extra tool to use in trying to gauge them alittle better.
Greg
I usually press My le-pros anyhow to get an idea of the hardness if nothing else, so I don't always hard press them, and usually from the feel of tightening My vice, I can tell the difference In them, some are very mushy, and some are harder. Then when I sand as mentioned, indeed the harder are usually darker, with the softer being a lighter brown.
This time I popped 4 tips out of the top of the new box at random, and could hardly press them at all in the vice due to how hard they were, I then sanded them, and only 1 out of the 3 was darker, but they all seemed close in hardness. In fact when I installed them, and cut them down, It was obvious that they were harder. They easily burnished up nice and dark also.
On the other side, I have seen some in the past that were too hard, and a chunk in the corner of the tip actually chipped out during play. Usually those are really black in color.
Another thing that seems to help me, and I look for with the vice, is expansion, If I press one, I look for the amount of expansion in the tip, as I'm backing off the handle to take it out of the vice. I kind of use that as a gauge to what kind of tip I'm dealing with, and If it will suite the person. preferences seem to be between medium/hard-hard on lepro's, and I try to match them up with the right person when I can, but I do alot of house cues also, and on those I just use a mix. the sponge tips are the ones I toss.
I'm not a huge fan of soft tips on My personal cues, so altough I have had plenty of people that were happy with the ones I installed for them, I still feel that I have a weakness in gauging those.
I'd love to have a durometer, even if just for an extra tool to use in trying to gauge them alittle better.
Greg
one of my good friends is a very reputable cue maker and while i was at his shop last year in nevada (and thats the only hint i'll give ya l.o.l.), he told me to bounce le pro's on a concrete floor and listen for the sound. obviously, this is after a visual inspection of the tips. i sand them, looking for color and hardness, then i drop them on the floor from about 18" off the ground and i listen . if they sound solid, i use them . if they tink, i throw them out! i know it sound crazy! but trust me it works. try it!anyways thats what works for me . good luck. big daddy.