Joe Porper Cue-Rite tip shaper/cutter

[spin-right-round]

Left = Joe Porper’s Cue-Rite, $65 on Amzn.
Did an OK job of shaping, the downside is you really have to hold the shaft in place. The aluminum barrel has an insert which can potentially put dents in the shaft if you don’t do it correctly. The blade (shown in pics for people interested) literally “cuts” the tip, as opposed to…

Right = Willard’s Tip shaper, $10. Have had this for a couple years no complaints, does an excellent job and “grinds” the tip into shape. The difficulty as with the porper tool is keeping the shaft centered. Many players I asked about “which shape is better” commented that the right one is “right” (pardon the pun).

Personally I found I like a deeper dome shape than what Willard’s achieves, but not as deep as what the Porper tool. Being an engineer and a pool nerd, this is a problem I’d like to solve. I’m developing a prototype for a handheld, automatic tip shaping tool.

Thoughts/comments/suggestions welcome!

 

[boogieman]

That left one... is WAAAAY too rounded. I'd be interested in seeing what you come up with.

Personally I prefer a much flatter tip. Somewhere like a quarter on a 12.5mm shaft. I used to do dime shape, noticed it flattened with play, then went to nickle and it ends up quarter so now I just start with quarter on a new tip. I never re-shape it, just a scuff with sandpaper once in a while.

I use one like this, but I flattened it some. These work really nice, work really easy by hand and you can even use them on a lathe. I also have a last 4 ever tip tool, they are great but I kind of like the tweeten since it has more working area.

 

[kling&allen]

Left = Joe Porper’s Cue-Rite, $65 on Amzn.
Did an OK job of shaping, the downside is you really have to hold the shaft in place. The aluminum barrel has an insert which can potentially put dents in the shaft if you don’t do it correctly. The blade (shown in pics for people interested) literally “cuts” the tip, as opposed to…

Right = Willard’s Tip shaper, $10. Have had this for a couple years no complaints, does an excellent job and “grinds” the tip into shape. The difficulty as with the porper tool is keeping the shaft centered. Many players I asked about “which shape is better” commented that the right one is “right” (pardon the pun).

Personally I found I like a deeper dome shape than what Willard’s achieves, but not as deep as what the Porper tool. Being an engineer and a pool nerd, this is a problem I’d like to solve. I’m developing a prototype for a handheld, automatic tip shaping tool.

Thoughts/comments/suggestions welcome!

Go for it--on the lathe I haven't found anything better than a razor blade on a rest. Away from the lathe, I haven't found anything better than the sandpaper inside the half-tube design:

Last 4 Ever Tip Tool With Dime Radius

A complete multi tool that only has a dime radius.

www.pooldawg.com

 

[Zerksies]

Go for it--on the lathe I haven't found anything better than a razor blade on a rest. Away from the lathe, I haven't found anything better than the sandpaper inside the half-tube design:

Last 4 Ever Tip Tool With Dime Radius

A complete multi tool that only has a dime radius.

www.pooldawg.com

This is the best tool ever. I like that i can do everything in one tool and does everything well. I use to have several tools and this is the one that covers them all.

I spoke to the people at Last4ever and they recommended a more rounded shape for your play cue and the flatter shape for your break cue. I'm using the nickel for my play/jump cue and the quarter for my break cue.