John Rocker Sand Mandrels Rock!!!

scdiveteam

scdiveteam

Rick Geschrey
Silver Member
Hi,

I just finished 4 cues using Sanding Mandrels I bought from John Rocker at Rocket Cue.

I was having trouble getting my joints perfect after applying my epoxy substrate and finishing coats of clear.

John's carbide mandrels are made very well and are ground to a very high tolerance.

He was also great to do business with.

Rick G
 
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John makes great mandrels indeed.

I wonder why you needed one Rick.
I thought turning with the centered pin blanks made the two pieces dead concentric.:D
 
JoeyInCali said:
John makes great mandrels indeed.

I wonder why you needed one Rick.
I thought turning with the centered pin blanks made the two pieces dead concentric.:D
Click to expand...

Joe,

My machine concentricity is spot on.

I Apply .010 of epoxy substrate, then I sand flat to plus .005 over. I then spray .010 clear coat. The mandrels put me on the exact finish of .850.

Now all of my joints are the same, all of my future shafts will fit all of my future cues.

I am beta testing this procedure and so far the repeatabllity is 100 percent thanks to Johns mandrels. I am currently building 13 cues, if the repeatabllity holds up, I will add the procedure to my QA/QC Program Procedure.

In the last 2 months, I have moved my cue shop out of my pool hall to my new shop in Palatine, Il. Now that I am full time cue maker I am fine tuning the entire operations. Focusing on this without other outside business distractions let's me really go annal in cue making details.

Rick G
 
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Thanks

Thanks Rick.
I take pride in anything I build. I am glad you are happy with them. They should last one heck of a long time.

John
 
Sanding Mandrels

I am a new cuemaker just finishing up my first few cues, but I can already see how something like this could be very useful. I do have a couple questions regarding the sanding mandrels if anyone wishes to share their experience....

I am wondering whether most people use a mandrel setup to get their final sanding size or their final size after finish or both? I'm sure there are people that may use both... but it would seem that if your finish process was pretty similar each time, that many people may only need one set of mandrels? I am thinking that a set of mandrels setup to final size before finish might be the most useful, but I'm open to hear thoughts from anyone that has been down this road before.

By the way, I am currently using epoxy basecoat and then using general finishes Enduro based finish for my cue finishes.

Also ... John Rocker, please PM me with a general price idea on these mandrels. I am using a 3/8x10 pin flat minor dia (from atlas) and .840 size joint before finish.

Thanks,

Spencer
 
Hi,

I finish machine my joints to .837. I apply my 3 coats of epoxy substrate to between .845 to .850. I then flat sand them to .842 on both my shafts and butts. I spray 4 coats of polyurethane clear to about .855.

After 2 days I wet sand using the mandrels to .850 before I buff and polish. John's mandrels are very accurate and I get a very sharp edge to the joint that I feel was lacking in my past work.

Before I start the finish process my joint concentricity has been very good. My problem came after epoxy and clear because the spraying and application of epoxy added material that was a tiny bit uneven.

If you are serious about the final look and feel of your joint concentricity, this is the ticket.

I have noticed that when a customer first inspects a cue the first thing they do is check out the finish and look of the cue. The second thing they do is look at and feel the joint for concentricity. This is a very important feature that requires attention to detail by the CM.

Rick G
 
pm

PM sent.
I also ask that you send a pin so I can make sure they are very close tolerances.



John
 
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Thanks Rick

Rick,

Thanks for the reply and always taking time to help out and give a detailed description. Being new to cue making a person can make a lot of mistakes and misunderstand things, but you seem to have a very detailed process for everything that you do and you are always open to share the details and I really appreciate your efforts. Hopefully someday I will find a way to repay your kindness and your williness to share information.

Thanks again and take care,

Spencer

scdiveteam said:
Hi,

I finish machine my joints to .837. I apply my 3 coats of epoxy substrate to between .845 to .850. I then flat sand them to .842 on both my shafts and butts. I spray 4 coats of polyurethane clear to about .855.

After 2 days I wet sand using the mandrels to .850 before I buff and polish. John's mandrels are very accurate and I get a very sharp edge to the joint that I feel was lacking in my past work.

Before I start the finish process my joint concentricity has been very good. My problem came after epoxy and clear because the spraying and application of epoxy added material that was a tiny bit uneven.

If you are serious about the final look and feel of your joint concentricity, this is the ticket.

I have noticed that when a customer first inspects a cue the first thing they do is check out the finish and look of the cue. The second thing they do is look at and feel the joint for concentricity. This is a very important feature that requires attention to detail by the CM.

Rick G
Click to expand...
 
Thanks Spencer,

Thats what this forum is all about.

I have also gained knowledge about a lot of details from many great cue makers who post here.

Good luck in your cue making.

Rick G
 
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