lathe question
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I'd vote for CH .
Too many nightmare stories about Porper's model B.
Too many nightmare stories about Porper's model B.
Adonisy said:
I had all three, sold the Porper B, use my Hightower Dlx, and "sometimes" use the Unique Cue Companion. The Porper was a SOLID lathe, but the setup, the way the toolpost worked and cut, and no taper bar -(on mine at least), I sold it so quick after buying it, to get the most back from my "investment".
At least my wife thinks so.I have not had the Unigue Cue Maker, but it looks to be a good solid machine. WilleeCue uses one. I still have the Cue Companion and it is a great little tool, only fault is it's accuracy. It lacks just a little. It is a tool to do shaft cleaning, ferrules, tips. I would not do joint work on it, though the makers say it is fine for that. I have a nice set of wobbly cues to prove them wrong.
Now the Deluxe Cuesmith, my workhorse, I still would like a BIG metal machine lathe for that "hair-splitting" accuracy, but believe me on this. I can in a minute or two, be tapering butts, or switch to tapering shafts, or switch to working on ferrules or tips in a flash. Solid bed, just a "tiny-tiny" amount of so sloppiness in the toolpost, but nothing that has stopped me from building nice cues and selling them to friends. Only item I wish Mr Hightower would be able to change up, would be his tailstock. If he could design a rock solid tailstock, with a way to use the speed bar for drilling, that was a bit more accurate, this lathe would be the benchmark for all to beat for price and value. (If it isn't already) I LOVE my DlxCueSmith, it has been a pleasure using it.
My 3 cents worth
RWOMEL
Richard Womeldorf
McAllen, TX
The model B lathe by Porper is not a good lathe IMO...when you put a cue in it and snug it down you can see the center of the tubes flex upward....for almost $4000 think this WAAAY out of line....the lathe was a friends of mine....never would I pay that.....the Porper is overrated....
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showboat said:
Let me start by saying that I've always had larger and much more powerful equipment to work on so I am spoiled and mycomments may be a bit tilted.
I first saw a Unique outfit at a BCA Trade Show around 1997. I thought it would be the cats meow for doing repair work on the road and at tournaments being so lite and compact. I talked two friends into getting one. I was getting ready to move my shop back to Cincinnati from Col. so I recomended the Unique to Cornfed Red's so that they could do tips and such at their room. They permently set their's up in a small room. A few months later I was there to do a Viking Tour tournament and instead of bringing my booth in I agreed to use the Unique. Mistake. The Unique was almost useless. The motor that operates it is so underpowered that I couldn't properly burnish the shafts. If I used much pressure at all on the leather the shaft come to a stop. Putting tips on and polishing a shaft normally takes me 8 to 10 min.. On this mach. it took a half an hour. There is no tail stock when using the cutter as they are the same unit, if I remember right, so that ferrules couldn't be supported while turning making them slightly belled. At any rate I was very unhappy with the unit.
Maddison Bob is a good friend of mine and I've been to his shop a few times. He has 3 Porper 'B' lathes and is very happy with them however he told me that he had to do about 1500.00 of improvements to each to get them to work well. He has made one of them into a CNC which he uses for shaft and Butt tapers. He also has a 12 by 40" full size lathe but he does almost all of his work on the Porpers.
Although knowing Chris Hightower for years, at least thru phone conversations, I don't have any experiance with his equipment. I know that Joe Blackburn has one that he uses for retapering and maybe a few other operations in cue repair but I don't personally know anyone who uses one for building a cue so I can't give a unbiased opinion.
Like I said in the beginning, I'm probably spoiled but as expensive as these little lathes have become, I can't see why people don't buy a reguler full size machine lathe as they can be had cheaper as long as the person has the room of coarse. I've got 10 lathes and only bought two of them new. I go to auctions and look in the papers and when a deal comes along I buy it.
Dick
showboat said:
Can I have it when he's ready to throw it out.
PoolSleuth
Banned
JoeyInCali said:
Joey what is your Lathe, how many Q's Per year do you build?
I have a Cue Companion, Taper Shaper and a Logan lathe, maybe 10.PoolSleuth said:
Wrong. Only there CNC machine can cut threads with lead screw. Not the Cue Maker. It does look like a nice machine to me, but it will not do what you are saying it will do, unless he has made some massive changes on it since last time I looked at one.Adonisy said:
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The CNC version also only does 2 pitches IIRC.cueman said:
The sell 5/16 and 5/8 taps/dies with the Cuemaker.
PoolSleuth
Banned
JoeyInCali said:
ASSUME maybe 10 means 10 Cue per year, any way why not post em on you Web-Site.
Or the Cue Gallery for the all to see.
cueman said:
yes.... CUe Maker can add Threading attachment and lead screw , and you
can thread....
this pic is from http://www.sicklescustomcues.com
Attachments
Adonisy said:yes,I want buy regular lathe , but it so heavy .... regular lathe have
2000 lbs or more ........
if I have a regular lathe , I think my house will collapse....
Adonisy, First off, I know the people who make all of the machines mentioned. They all make a good product for someone who's looking for the easiest way to get in gear and making cues or doing repairs, but like Dickie mentioned, we're in a city that at one time was the machine tool capitol of the world. There is a much better secondary market around here for machinery than most areas. Dickie and I were partners for some time and close friends for a LONG time, and we have a similar approach to cue building. We buy, modify or make dedicated machines for just about each and every operation. It's more efficient than reconfiguring any machine to do many things and gives you better precision and repeatability! Not only that, but a lot of time is wasted watching things like shafts turning, epoxy drying, inlay pockets or parts cutting, etc... The way we work, we can move from machine to machine and actually be using 4 or more machines at a time. It's kinda like an assembly line, in reverse. The cuemaker moves down the line with the cues and often while I'm doing "hand work" my shaft machine is running, and my CNC is also running cutting inlay parts or pockets. I re-load the shaft machine at my convenience, it takes about 5 minutes to make a pass. I check on the CNC whenever I pass by it and can bounce between 4-6 machines at a time, of course I'm on the phone about 25% of the time as I'm working as well. Just rambling here but giving you an idea how cues are made. As far as your concerns of weight, if it's because of the shipping or moving of the equipment, you shouldn't plan on doing it often, it should be a perminent set-up, if you're serious, and weight is a GOOD thing when it comes to machinery! The mass of the machinery gives it much more stability, cuts out vibrations and makes it work a lot better. In fact I know of some high end wood turning lathes that have huge cast iron castings for legs that are designed to be filled with sand for EXTRA weight and some of the serious turners use lead shot instead of sand just to get that extra little bit of weight in there! One of my old "Pratt & Whitney" machine lathes, has an incredibly accurate carriage with some very fine depth stops built in, and it has a weight that hangs from the carriage, that probably weighs as much as most of the "cue lathes" on the market. This lathe was probably used to build machines that built aircraft engine parts back during WWII and it still holds incredible tollerances today! Nothing against the "cue lathes" as I can see there is a big market for them, but I like old heavy machines designed to work, day and night! Yeah and I ride a Harley too, and am building a new one, old style, with a new EVO motor, as we speak! Looks like I may be getting a world class, billiards theme paint job by Scott Suren, a real artist with the custom bikes, and will be getting him back into the pool game at the same time.
just more hot air!
Sherm
thanks Sherm:
I know your point , and I like heavy lathe , too ...
but real world , heavy lathe does not live my home ...
because of two reason:
1.place:I have not enought space to hold one heavy space , I just have
small space...
2.weight:my workshop is at 6F , not 1F ...
if I have enought space , I will buy heavy lathe , in Taiwan , many lathes
are good , and cheap , below 3000 us dollar...
I know your point , and I like heavy lathe , too ...
but real world , heavy lathe does not live my home ...
because of two reason:
1.place:I have not enought space to hold one heavy space , I just have
small space...
2.weight:my workshop is at 6F , not 1F ...
if I have enought space , I will buy heavy lathe , in Taiwan , many lathes
are good , and cheap , below 3000 us dollar...