Milk Dud Recipe.... HELP!!!

dirtypool40

dirtypool40

I love this freakin' game
Silver Member
Yes, I know there are 10,000 posts on here about milk duds, my search netted 1,000 threads that had nothing to do with it.

I have been a "hard Le Pro" guy forever, but I hit with a milk dud and fell in love. I am soft drawing the ball better than I ever dreamed I would. Great hit, great feel, more spin, less miscues.

I have found a hit I like, now I want to get consistent tips I can make myself. I'd like to get this down to a science and not just wive's tale voodoo.

Here's what I am doing so far:

Soak 8-10 tips in warm skim milk (120 deg??) for 2 hours. They are swollen up almost 2x original size.
  • Those that still float after 2 hours I discard.

I dry the tips lightly on a paper towel and clamp them in a smooth jaw vice and tighten the vice. I don't SQUASH them, but I do try to compress back down to original size or a hair under.

I let them dry in the vice, in a warm area.
  • This last batch, I heated the oven to 200 deg, and put the vice (with tips) in, and shut the oven off, allowing the tips to dry in a warm, DRY environment.

Am I on the right track?

Advice appreciated....
 
I don't think I would speed up the compression/drying process. If you have patience, just let the sit and dry naturally. The longer compression time will engage a better 'compression memory' in the tips.

I don't think there is too much to think about with these things. Just soak em and press em, and discard the bad ones. I use buttermilk. That's the key behind my tips. :wink:
 
Off Topic - sorry

Are Milk Duds soft, medium, or hard?
Or can one be made to any of those specifications?


Josh
 
I'd be concerned with the heat since you are cooking them and they could become brittle and crack over time.

When I wanted them really hard I used milk and a little elmers white glue and let the soak a few days, then pressed and let them dry slowly and tightened the clamp several times the first couple of days.
 
Duane Remick said:
Tommy,
Do you soak the tips very long??
Any heating of the solution, or the tips?
THANKS
Duane
Click to expand...

I let the tips soak for three days and squeeze 'em for three tightening the vice till no more movement. I use the tip jig from rocket cues and I might hit the jig with a torch the final day.
 
Milk Duds...

Ok, the trick is in the compression stage, if you compress them to almost original size i can see this working.

The Dudley tips from Mueller are suppose to be a 73.6 (medium)in hardness according to their hardness scale. But when i installed one, it sure felt allot harder than that.. like a (hard of 8o or so) From Mueller they come pretty flattened.

In my experiments, you don't need to use milk at all. Just the standard Elkmaster 14mm, press them in a vice, so the dome is a little flatter. It will probally give you a hardness i imagine about a 70 in hardness. For you guys that want a firmer hit, use a 13mm. And just compress the same way, so the dome is just slightly flatter. This will give you mostlikly a hit of medium hardness.

hope this helps
 
I'm not so sure discarding the floaters is necessary. I've found the floaters eventually sink. I use them all and haven't found a difference. Its like the poster said, the trick is in the compression.
 
soak them in a little crown and coke, squeez em till you a little tipsey .leave in press overnite . and your done.

ok maybe i just drink the crown. and press em dry.

i didnt like the soaked ones. and i am going to try one of picones presses , just ordered sunday
 
Milk Dud Hardness

What will the thickness be in order to make(press) an Elk Master(soaked in milk) to become a medium soft, medium, medium hard and hard tip??? I do not have the cash to invest in a durometer. I am just looking for approximate numbers.
 
manopr350 said:
What will the thickness be in order to make(press) an Elk Master(soaked in milk) to become a medium soft, medium, medium hard and hard tip??? I do not have the cash to invest in a durometer. I am just looking for approximate numbers.
Click to expand...

From my understanding, the final thickness has little effect on the hardness as they are all different thicknesses before compression. I believe it's the amount of pressure that the tip is subjected to when being compressed that determines the hardness, to an extent.

Dick
 
If it helps for a start. My first few batches were pressed between .180 and .190. The closest I can come to for those were that they were close to a Le Pro in hardness and performance. Last few were pressed at .200. Haven't tried one yet but am hoping they play a bit softer.
But like Dick said, they're different sizes after they are soaked and because of that they get somewhat of an unequal press in my home made job, because I press 4 at a time.
 
Last edited:
Heres a pic of my Duds. I soak mine for a week and press for a week. They are at a medium hard and they are not thin and at 14mm.

IMG_0338.jpg
 
bnall said:
Heres a pic of my Duds. I soak mine for a week and press for a week. They are at a medium hard and they are not thin and at 14mm.

IMG_0338.jpg
Click to expand...

And for everyone who wants to try them, I'll have two shafts with those tips at the west coast cuemakers' gathering in San Ramon.
 
My current theory is:

I want to replace the dead space and air in the tip with sticky protein rich skin milk, which dried under compression SHOULD act like a sort of organic glue. I want to compress them once soaked and let them dry compressed for a harder, more uniform hit.


I HAVE NO IDEA IF I AM GOING ABOUT IT THE RIGHT WAY.


My CURRENT recipe is:

soak 4-6 tips in WARM milk. NOT boiling or cooking, but hot enough I can't leave my finger in it when I check temp. The theory is this helps open pores and with penetration of the milk.

The tips that do not sink in the milk as it is allowed to cool have bubbles they are not releasing. You can often squeeze these with your hand and get them to sink, but superstition makes me feel the "floaters" will not come out as solid. Who knows? :rolleyes:

I let them sit in the milk as it cools, usually over night, then I press them that afternoon / evening, so there's about 24 hours in the milk. I really don't think 2-3 days would make significant difference as you are just trying to reach saturation, but again I have no science to back this up.

Once they've soaked long enough, I preheat the oven to 250 deg to provide a warm / arid environment.

I lightly dry them on a paper towel and line them up as best I can in a small vice. They come out of the milk ABOUT .350" and I squeeze them down to ROUGHLY .210".

I then put the small "drill press vice" in the oven and turn it off, allowing it to come down to room temperature slowly as the tips dry. I leave the tips in there over night, and leave them in the vice AT LEAST 24 hours.

Again I have NO IDEA if any of this voodoo helps in any way.... but I hope it does.



Right now my biggest hurdle is getting them even in height and not slanted or squished. I have interest in hearing about people's experience with the Picone Tip Press. That may be my next purchase.
 
Ok, got three of these tips put on, and they hit good, and consistent.

Nice *BONK* sound with great feedback and I spin the ball WAY more than intended. I am literally having to "re-learn" how to draw for position as I keep over hitting things. This is with a FULL 13mm shaft and a flat "quarter" radius, not some 12mm dime radius.

I am a convert (at least for now) Milk Duds are the shizzle.
 
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