meucci weight bolt access

socks

socks

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
ok, i have a early 90s meucci 333-4. i took off the bumper and there is a white plastic insert directly underneath with a smooth surface. it seem sot be glued into place and i can only assume the weight bolt is up under neath this cap thing. it has no slits or edges anwhere to either pry or unscrew it. what would be the best way of getting this thing out so the weight bolt can be gotten to?

thank you for any assistance you can offer.
 
socks said:
ok, i have a early 90s meucci 333-4. i took off the bumper and there is a white plastic insert directly underneath with a smooth surface. it seem sot be glued into place and i can only assume the weight bolt is up under neath this cap thing. it has no slits or edges anwhere to either pry or unscrew it. what would be the best way of getting this thing out so the weight bolt can be gotten to?

thank you for any assistance you can offer.
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Never seen one like that before. I've seen them with a white plastic weight bolt used to be very light weight and just plug the end but it should have a slot for a large screwdriver. If it doesn't, just stick it in a lathe and drill it out and see whats below it.

Dick

Dick
 
Weight bolt?

There may not be a weight bolt in it. You could have it x-rayed. Do you want to make it heavier? or lighter?
 
tsp&b said:
There may not be a weight bolt in it. You could have it x-rayed. Do you want to make it heavier? or lighter?
Click to expand...

i really dont want to change the weight at all, as its currently at 19.2oz. unfortunatly it is very butt heavy as the balance is at 16 3/4" from the butt cap. i can stand weights down to 18 oz or so, so i figure if i can get the weight bolt out and drop an oz or so from the cue, it should push that balance up enough where its not so rear balanced.

i really don't remember it being that far back balanced as i've had this cue for like 13 odd some years. but a good majority of that time it has spent being broken. i recently had it repaired, where the forearm was cored out and a new tonon inserted and the original joint sleeve and pin where then reused. so it is possible that the wood in the tenon is significantly lighter than the wood that was there in the forearm that was drilled out causing the balance to move further back.

there is a before repair picture in my signature. but my camera recently broke so i havent gotten a picture of it repaired.
 
rhncue said:
Never seen one like that before. I've seen them with a white plastic weight bolt used to be very light weight and just plug the end but it should have a slot for a large screwdriver. If it doesn't, just stick it in a lathe and drill it out and see whats below it.

Dick

Dick
Click to expand...

i'll see what kinda photo quality i can get with the 1 meg pixal quality from my camcorder when i get home.
but unfortunatly, i dont have a lathe. :( , although i have been looking into one of those $400 mini's for tips and ferulles. the cummins version looks pretty nice, just irritating as it looks liek the hole through the headstock isn't large enough to suport the joint side of a shaft.

anyway, what if i heated up a flat head and created a slot? or maybe a soldering iron or something and melted around the edges? think that's be a bad idea?
 
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Call Steve Lomax. He's close to Atl and very good. You should have a cue builder look at before you have one fixing it. Call me and I'll give you his #.
Lee @ 864-642-5604
 
socks said:
i really dont want to change the weight at all, as its currently at 19.2oz. unfortunatly it is very butt heavy as the balance is at 16 3/4" from the butt cap. i can stand weights down to 18 oz or so, so i figure if i can get the weight bolt out and drop an oz or so from the cue, it should push that balance up enough where its not so rear balanced.

i really don't remember it being that far back balanced as i've had this cue for like 13 odd some years. but a good majority of that time it has spent being broken. i recently had it repaired, where the forearm was cored out and a new tonon inserted and the original joint sleeve and pin where then reused. so it is possible that the wood in the tenon is significantly lighter than the wood that was there in the forearm that was drilled out causing the balance to move further back.

there is a before repair picture in my signature. but my camera recently broke so i havent gotten a picture of it repaired.
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Meucci Qs are notorious for being butt heavy. I can't imagine the repair you talk about having much of any change, in the balance. I also think that taking one once of weight out of the cue, will chance the balance point by only a little...JER
 
BLACKHEARTCUES said:
Meucci Qs are notorious for being butt heavy. I can't imagine the repair you talk about having much of any change, in the balance. I also think that taking one once of weight out of the cue, will chance the balance point by only a little...JER
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alittle here alittle there, from my experiance, that i documented in this thread, http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=85117 the balance point will roughly move 1 inch per oz. and while 1 inch isn't much, it is better than nothing.

CDs cues said:
Call Steve Lomax. He's close to Atl and very good. You should have a cue builder look at before you have one fixing it. Call me and I'll give you his #.
Lee @ 864-642-5604
Click to expand...

thank you, i actually already have steve's number, while i havent had anythign done from him, as he's about an hour or so from me, i have seen some of his work. he does good work. kevin wright and danny tibbits are more in my neck of the woods.

if your talking about the broken joint, thats actually already been repaired.

as far as messing with the weight bolt, i'm not really looking to sink any money into the project as of yet. if theres a weight bolt up under that thing and i could get it out as easily as i did from my excaliber, which btw moved the balance point from 18" to 20" by removing the 2 oz bolt, i'd be in hog heavan so to speak....
 
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ok, so it seems my camera still works, i just cann't see what i'm taking pictures of. anyway, i got a picture of the plastic cap thing and the light from the flash gave it some transparency and i can see there is a weight bolt underneth. so i guess i'll try out creating a slot with a heated flat head. suppose it cann't really hurt anything....
 
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socks said:
alittle here alittle there, from my experiance, that i documented in this thread, http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=85117 the balance point will roughly move 1 inch per oz. and while 1 inch isn't much, it is better than nothing.



thank you, i actually already have steve's number, while i havent had anythign done from him, as he's about an hour or so from me, i have seen some of his work. he does good work. kevin wright and danny tibbits are more in my neck of the woods.

if your talking about the broken joint, thats actually already been repaired.

as far as messing with the weight bolt, i'm not really looking to sink any money into the project as of yet. if theres a weight bolt up under that thing and i could get it out as easily as i did from my excaliber, which btw moved the balance point from 18" to 20" by removing the 2 oz bolt, i'd be in hog heavan so to speak....
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I just took out 1 oz. from my Q & it moved the balance point 1" foreward. If you do get to the bolt, you will probably find that the bolt is GLUED in. You will have to heat the bolt up, with a soldering iron or something. BE CAREFUL not to heat up the finish, it will bubble on you. GOOD LUCK...JER
 
BLACKHEARTCUES said:
I just took out 1 oz. from my Q & it moved the balance point 1" foreward. If you do get to the bolt, you will probably find that the bolt is GLUED in. You will have to heat the bolt up, with a soldering iron or something. BE CAREFUL not to heat up the finish, it will bubble on you. GOOD LUCK...JER
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man your good. answered my next question before i even got to it. :eek:

didn't seem to have any trouble with that plastic cap, stuck a soldering iron on it and made a slit and was quite easily poped out. but yeah, was going to ask if they tended to glue thier bolts in. as it seems alittle tight in the thread, i would venture to guess it is.

about how long do you think the soldering iron should be held to the bolt to properly melt the glue without damaging the wood or finish?
 
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socks said:
man your good. answered my next question before i even got to it. :eek:

didn't seem to have any trouble with that plastic cap, stuck a soldering iron on it and made a slit and was quite easily poped out. but yeah, was going to ask if they tended to glue thier bolts in. as it seems alittle tight in the thread, i would venture to guess it is.

about how long do you think the soldering iron should be held to the bolt to properly melt the glue without damaging the wood or finish?
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I'm afraid it all depends on the iron, but the bolt really has to get hot & there is the problem...JER
 
Not positive, however I had one simular and it did NOT have a weight bolt under the plastic tube or bottle shaped cylinder. FWIW CB
 
socks said:
man your good. answered my next question before i even got to it. :eek:

didn't seem to have any trouble with that plastic cap, stuck a soldering iron on it and made a slit and was quite easily poped out. but yeah, was going to ask if they tended to glue thier bolts in. as it seems alittle tight in the thread, i would venture to guess it is.

about how long do you think the soldering iron should be held to the bolt to properly melt the glue without damaging the wood or finish?
Click to expand...

If, while you are heating the bolt, you grip the butt at the location of the bolt, your hand will tell you when the bolt is ready to come out. The butt should be warm, bordering on hot, and that should mean that the bolt is hot enough for the glue bond to break. If it gets too hot you will break down the glue that is holding the butt together.
 
Mase said:
If, while you are heating the bolt, you grip the butt at the location of the bolt, your hand will tell you when the bolt is ready to come out. The butt should be warm, bordering on hot, and that should mean that the bolt is hot enough for the glue bond to break. If it gets too hot you will break down the glue that is holding the butt together.
Click to expand...

Don't you mean - if it gets to hot he may break down the PASTE holding the butt together?

Dick
 
just as an update, i got that plastic insert out, just took alittle touch with the soldering iron to create a slit and it came out pretty easy with a twist of a screwdriver. also, took ya'lls advise on the soldering iron. took about 30 second till the handle/collar started to feal a touch warm and then i pulled it out. couldn't get the torque with driver in one and and cue in the other, so i clamed the driver down in a vice so i could use both hands to turn the cue. took a second, but once the glue bind poped, the screw came out pretty easy.

the screw ended up being like 2.5" long and weighed 2.3 oz. i clamped it down in the vice and took my jigsaw with a metal blade to it and cut the end with the slot just alittle shorter than half. came out at 1.1 oz and then ran a 1/2" bolt over it to correct any missthreads from the cut.

once screwed back into the butt, it took the total weight with shaft of the cue from 19.2 oz to 18.1 oz and moved the balance point from 16.75" from the end of the butt cap to 17.75" from the end of the butt cap. i know its not much, but it feals alot better now to stroke and not quite so butt heavy.

Thank you all for all your help.

P.S. does this mean i can call myself a cue repair man now? j/k you guys are great. :D

P.P.S. also for anyone interested, i added a pic of the cue after a fantastic repair job on the joint by local man kevin wright in my signature.
 
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