Live center question

[Dave38]

I am going to be starting the learning curve for doing inlays on my CNC shortly, after my recovery from surgery is done, and am wondering what are people using in the tailstock of their CNC to level a cue for doing inlays? I have seen the small boring head/live center that Chris sells, but it looks like overkill. is there a simpler way that won't take a bunch of time to line up everytime I switch to it? Any help appreciated.
Dave

 

[Scratchy]

If you are using Mach3, (I presume Mach4 would offer the same option.) one option is to leave the piece as it normally would be - no special tailstock- and use the ‘Formulas’ feature to adjust your depth of cut to follow the taper, Dave. I use the inlay’s X center point as X0, Z0 and then enable the formula Z = Z +/- .0069.*X to cut an equal depth along the taper.
Now, yes, in theory the ends are not *perfectly parallel* with a flat cut inlay piece. “I leave it as an execise to the reader”(!) to calculate the error - it is negliably miniscule, as others concluded once upon a time in a prior discussion of this approach.

I have done many inlays this way. The biggest priblem I have is remembering to disable formulas when I finish.

Happy to go into more detail if you’d like.

Best

Mac


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[jokers_wild96]

Why can't you just put the cue on centers and cut the inlay pockets normally. One side will just be a few thousands bigger. Just make sure to cut deep enough so when the final taper pass is made it doesn't cut all the inlay out. Just my thoughts, don't have a cnc yet but planning on buying one soon.

 

[JC]

Why can't you just put the cue on centers and cut the inlay pockets normally. One side will just be a few thousands bigger. Just make sure to cut deep enough so when the final taper pass is made it doesn't cut all the inlay out. Just my thoughts, don't have a cnc yet but planning on buying one soon.

If you are cutting a 6 inch long inlay of some kind you would need .085 of extra depth @.014 per inch taper to achieve that and the depth limit of a small end mill would be long gone. I like the idea of using formulas in mach. Once you grasp it you are good to go with anything you would like to do.

 

[cueman]

I am going to be starting the learning curve for doing inlays on my CNC shortly, after my recovery from surgery is done, and am wondering what are people using in the tailstock of their CNC to level a cue for doing inlays? I have seen the small boring head/live center that Chris sells, but it looks like overkill. is there a simpler way that won't take a bunch of time to line up everytime I switch to it? Any help appreciated.
Dave

I sell an offsetting dead center that goes in a 1/2" chuck for $40. The offset is .200" which levels most cues pretty close.
It is one of the parts that comes with my inlay machine. I haven't put a picture up yet, but here is the link to the item.

Dead Center with .200" Offset - Cue Man Billiard Products

Dead Center with .200" Offset for leveling cue under Inlay Machine or CNC Machine. 1/2" Shank.

www.cuesmith.com

 

[whammo57]

if you have a normal taper ........ .850 joint to 1.25 butt................. shim the tail stock up .200 in and the cue will be level................

Kim

 

[Newsheriffintwn]

I use the offsetting tail stock adapter from Chris...super easy.

Here's a pic of it.....

 

[Dave38]

Thanks for all the replies. Using formulas sounds like the way to go, but I am not at that level yet...lol, so I believe I will be going with the Taig boring head, it is small and adjustable, plus can be used for a few duties including milling. I use .850 for my normal joint size, but have had customers request different sizes to match shafts etc. I always like to have flexability. Price is not too bad at $49.80 from Taig and comes with 2 boring bars ...bonus.