icbm
Registered
I started out looking for the how to's & what with questions probably in 09. At the time google and yahoo would only spit out Hightower, Porper or Unique machines. I instantly rejected Unique because it is incredibly cost prohibitive unless you are very serious and very very experienced cue makers. For me this a hobby. Not trying to make anywhere close to the $ to cover everything I've purchased over that entire time period. While everything else in precision cue specific machines and CNC has either plateaued or in some cases rolled back prices. My question:
Why in hell's name are Unique cue making ("Building" if you ever spoke to Denney Diekman God rest him) machines so @%$#@ng expensive new or used? MId-America, Mr. Hightower and self-made CNC or modified lathes or 2-5 axis cnc parts and CAD/CAM software are available through your first google search results and much much more affordable now. For folks that do not mind sourcing from China or Taiwan you can get a stand-alone made to order CNC Wood lathe that are pretty much completely automatic stand alone 800lbs factories that can include feeding and moving material in seconds and uses incredibly basic CAD for DXF or G-code software for far less than the "6090" type cnc with a 4th axis and ABSOLUTLEY much more affordable than anything Unique sells. (I do NOT recommend that unless you use it as a production shaft or dowel batches for cores if you sell materials) But for custom cues its so much overkill it's just about like using a shotgun to kill a shrew. Though they are extremely accurate down to a pretty easily achievable tolerances.
So what is the big draw for Unique machines?
Why in hell's name are Unique cue making ("Building" if you ever spoke to Denney Diekman God rest him) machines so @%$#@ng expensive new or used? MId-America, Mr. Hightower and self-made CNC or modified lathes or 2-5 axis cnc parts and CAD/CAM software are available through your first google search results and much much more affordable now. For folks that do not mind sourcing from China or Taiwan you can get a stand-alone made to order CNC Wood lathe that are pretty much completely automatic stand alone 800lbs factories that can include feeding and moving material in seconds and uses incredibly basic CAD for DXF or G-code software for far less than the "6090" type cnc with a 4th axis and ABSOLUTLEY much more affordable than anything Unique sells. (I do NOT recommend that unless you use it as a production shaft or dowel batches for cores if you sell materials) But for custom cues its so much overkill it's just about like using a shotgun to kill a shrew. Though they are extremely accurate down to a pretty easily achievable tolerances.
So what is the big draw for Unique machines?