Is this decent lathe for shaft work?

[Bustah360]

I found this on ebay,

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PORTABLE-PO...900?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c28476154

and with such a low cost, I figured I'd ask the guys that know what the hell they're talking about lol. I'm living in manhattan with almost zero space for a full sized lathe. I'm really just looking for something small and strong enough to handle shaft conditioning, and tip replacement. Anything other than that, I'll just ship my cue off to Robertson (my cuemaker). I've seen the bashing ppl give the shaftmaster which was something I figured was ok, so now looking for alternatives at the same, if not, cheaper price range.

Hopefully you fellas can help me out. Thx!

 

[cuejo]

If small is what you are looking for, check out the travel tipper from unique.
That lathe will mark up shafts creating more work that you will need a different lathe in order to fix.

 

[Bustah360]

If small is what you are looking for, check out the travel tipper from unique.
That lathe will mark up shafts creating more work that you will need a different lathe in order to fix.

Unfortunately that's out of my price range and I couldn't condition my shaft with it either.

 

[cuejo]

My best advice would be to save up.
It's better to get the right equipment now than try to get rid of junk later.
You will do yourself no favors by trying to use a poor substitute.
Hightower has short bed lathes available too.
Todd Shultz also sells smaller repair lathes.
The bad thing is, once you have a piece of equipment you will start charging for your repairs.
If you use a junker lathe, it will damage shafts, and you will not have accumulated knowledge on how to repair them.
You will then have to pay someone else to fix your mistakes
Better to make due with nothing and get a good machine off the bat.
There are some deals to be had if you keep your eyes open.
Good luck.

 

[TomHay]

Heres my take. I have used lathes with the ribber spin discs. If you put them on tightly you risk marking the cue so I always taped that area. To loose and you will get ratteling which can scar the cue beyond steaming it out. Next from what I see you have no way of accuretly cutting down ferrules.

To me there is a large change in definition on something being cheap or being inexpensive. Your choice on what it is.

 

[Bustah360]

So I guess there's no way out of getting a small one for shaft work, without blowing at least a grand?

 

[TomHay]

So I guess there's no way out of getting a small one for shaft work, without blowing at least a grand?

No. You can invest a grand and end up happy or blow a lot less and bounce it around the room when you ruin a shaft.

 

[Bustah360]

Wow. Thats a huge bummer. Guess I'm stuck waiting for a used one then. I'm not trying to do anything professionally; just tired of hunting down and spending half a day to find ppl to replace a tip and clean shafts.

 

[shamadam]

Wow. Thats a huge bummer. Guess I'm stuck waiting for a used one then. I'm not trying to do anything professionally; just tired of hunting down and spending half a day to find ppl to replace a tip and clean shafts.

I'm in the same boat. Just wanna find something for tips and cleanings.
Ferrules and wraps would be nice, but that's way down the road for me.

 

[whammo57]

If you cough up the grand to get a good piece of equipment, you can do some repairs for the locals and pay for most of the cost of that equipment in less than a year.

A few tips, ferrules, shaft cleaning, and maybe some wraps..............

Kim

 

[snipershot]

Todd Schultz has a nice little lathe for around $700 that will do tips, ferrules, wraps, shaft cleaning, etc. Send him a pm. His AZ name is tsb&p I believe.

Joe

 

[63Kcode]

Warning!!! Cue repair leads to cue building. Cue building is addicting! You have been warned!

Larry

 

[whammo57]

Warning!!! Cue repair leads to cue building. Cue building is addicting! You have been warned!

Larry

that explains the slippery slope I'm on.................

Kim

 

[GBCues]

Todd's (TSP&B) website is here:

http://www.midamericapool.com/

Chris Hightower's (Cueman) website is here:

http://www.cuesmith.com/

Both are great guys to work with.

My 2 cents,

Gary

 

[Blue Hog ridr]

You can get a small wood lathe on EBay. Small 3 jaw chucks are also available on EBay. The chucks are big enuff for a maintenance arbor.

Put a drill chuck in the tail stock and you have a great lathe for shaft work.
You can also use the wood lathe to make joint protectors.

Quite a few guys use this method.

In fact, and sorry, I can't remember his name, was just selling on here a couple of weeks ago.

Here it is. Chuck is a good guy to deal with. I don't know if he is willing to ship but it is an example of the lathe I was talking about.
Can't beat the price either. And it is 100% better than the one Clown Boy Billiards is selling.

I have a small wood lathe in the shop too. Heck, like I mentioned, you can turn square to round, make simple JPs and even pens.
Sell enuff pens at Christmas time and you can upgrade lathes.

Always more than one way to skin a cat.

http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=284033

 

[ddcuerepair]

You could use this for tips and ferrules and shaft cleaning.
http://www.harborfreight.com/7-inch-x-10-inch-precision-mini-lathe-93212.html

 

[DoubleDCues]

Money well spent

Rarely in life will you lament buying a fine piece of equipment, as it typically will out live you and allow you to MAYBE fulfill your talent potental. But a cheap piece ocrap sold for what it's bearly worth will not only help you produce poor quality results, you will likely be injured along the way and people will question your actual talent. And that's my 2 cents.

 

[jwe711]

It'll cost a lot more than 1000.00...

I just bought a nice repair lathe...now I need tool boxes and shop table, overhead light, variety of ferrules, strangely large variety of common preferred tips, break tips, more tooling, glue, sandpaper, sealer, wax, and a small world of a lot more crap...

Not to mention, practice dowels, and gumby cheapo ferrules,and tips for practice.


WTF, I just want to help out a few friends around here and stuff...


That's how it all started.
jwe

 

[Dave38]

I found this on ebay,

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PORTABLE-PO...900?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c28476154

and with such a low cost, I figured I'd ask the guys that know what the hell they're talking about lol. I'm living in manhattan with almost zero space for a full sized lathe. I'm really just looking for something small and strong enough to handle shaft conditioning, and tip replacement. Anything other than that, I'll just ship my cue off to Robertson (my cuemaker). I've seen the bashing ppl give the shaftmaster which was something I figured was ok, so now looking for alternatives at the same, if not, cheaper price range.

Hopefully you fellas can help me out. Thx!

That lathe will cost you more in the end, due to damaged shafts needing to be replaced. That and no customer service afterwards.
Todd, or Chris will get you going in the right direction, with no regrets. And when you decide to go to cue building, as it will happen...lol, you can sell theirs for a good amount to upgrade, and Sharpshooter's will get tossed into the trash where it belongs. Do a search for cowboy billiards, or sharpshooter here on AZ and read the posts.
Good luck in your quest, and welcome to the party.
Dave

 

[CrukedStick]

Junk

I found this on ebay,

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PORTABLE-PO...900?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c28476154

and with such a low cost, I figured I'd ask the guys that know what the hell they're talking about lol. I'm living in manhattan with almost zero space for a full sized lathe. I'm really just looking for something small and strong enough to handle shaft conditioning, and tip replacement. Anything other than that, I'll just ship my cue off to Robertson (my cuemaker). I've seen the bashing ppl give the shaftmaster which was something I figured was ok, so now looking for alternatives at the same, if not, cheaper price range.

Hopefully you fellas can help me out. Thx!

Does JUNK explain it..Rollers are not round, so it's impossible to use anything but hand tools so you can chase the end of the cue hence the file and box cutter, and they will continuosly ooze grease onto your work because they are NOT sealed bearings..The base end is not centered, rubber table leg cup on a bolt will make the tip end wobble and the add the un-round rollers to multiply that effect..Plus the customer service is mostly aimed at the customer is always an idiot...They must pay people to leave any pos feedback they get on this item, and there roller rest..Anyone that would take a hack saw and cut some screen room strutts up to build a cue "lathe" for re-sale, well, never mind.... You would be better off bending a clothes hanger for a crank handle and duct tape it the the shaft and have a friend turn it in a hole in a fence while you work on the other end..At least that way your only out some tape and a clothes hanger and the cost for some else to repair it....Do what they suggested, get in touch with someone here, I'm sure they can make you a simple set up, doesn't have to be their top model to do shafts, you won't regret it....:thumbup: