Mill ?

DawgAndy

DawgAndy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
When does a mill become a must in a cue shop? How long did some of you build cues before adding a mill? What size seems to work best?

Thanks
Andy
Studing his new Grizzly catalog:D
 
DawgAndy said:
When does a mill become a must in a cue shop? How long did some of you build cues before adding a mill? What size seems to work best?

Thanks
Andy
Studing his new Grizzly catalog:D
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You could probably build a cue with only a spokeshave but a lathe is much easier and faster. Same with a mill, it is not really needed as what the mill does can be accomplished with other tools but a mill does a better and quicker job. I cut half-splice points on a lathe for over 10 years before aquiring a mill.

Dick
 
DawgAndy said:
Thanks guys..I was wondering about the merits of the big lathe/mill combos.

Andy
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As with any machine tool, bigger and heavier usually results in better precision.
However most people don't have the need nor the room for a Cincinnati #2 mill in their shop. A half way decent mill/drill would suffice for most cuemakers. As cheap as used Bridgeports have got and if you have the room, then that is what I would look for. The thing with cue-making is that you are constantly making jigs and fixtures for certain operations so a Bridgeport would be handier than a mill/drill plus later down the road you could always convert it to CNC operations.

Dick
 
rhncue said:
As with any machine tool, bigger and heavier usually results in better precision.
However most people don't have the need nor the room for a Cincinnati #2 mill in their shop. A half way decent mill/drill would suffice for most cuemakers. As cheap as used Bridgeports have got and if you have the room, then that is what I would look for. The thing with cue-making is that you are constantly making jigs and fixtures for certain operations so a Bridgeport would be handier than a mill/drill plus later down the road you could always convert it to CNC operations.

Dick
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Perhaps Andy is refering to machines like this one :

http://www.smithy.com/granite1340.htm

One product that has not been mentioned around here is the VersaMil. It is a powered milling head/Z-axis-slide that bolts onto a lathe carriage. They've been around for a long time, and would seem to be well suited to cuemaking. Have a look at http://www.versamil.com/ .

I am not associated with either Smithy nor VersaMil, but if some of their products showed up in my garage I would be more than willing to take care of them. I would not have room nor a thick enough floor for a Cinncinnati #2. It kinda annoys me how 50 year old huge industrial 600V 3phase machines go for a few hundred dollars, while anything of the same vintage under 1000 lbs running on single phase power goes for $1000s ! I need a much bigger garage/shop, it would save money :)

Dave
 
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DaveK said:
Perhaps Andy is refering to machines like this one :

http://www.smithy.com/granite1340.htm

One product that has not been mentioned around here is the VersaMil. It is a powered milling head/Z-axis-slide that bolts onto a lathe carriage. They've been around for a long time, and would seem to be well suited to cuemaking. Have a look at http://www.versamil.com/ .

I am not associated with either Smithy nor VersaMil, but if some of their products showed up in my garage I would be more than willing to take care of them. I would not have room nor a thick enough floor for a Cinncinnati #2. It kinda annoys me how 50 year old huge industrial 600V 3phase machines go for a few hundred dollars, while anything of the same vintage under 1000 lbs running on single phase power goes for $1000s ! I need a much bigger garage/shop, it would save money :)

Dave
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As far as I can tell, those lathe/mill combinations have no use in cue-making. They limit what the lathe can do and the mill is not suited to any operations in building a cue.

As to your other question. Almost all machine shop equipment that is not CNC is now obsolete. There is no use for it as far as machine shops or manufacturing plants are concerned. This is for all machine tools including lathes, mills, grinders, presses or any other mechanised equipment. All shops and factories now have one set-up man and a number of low paid operators to load and unload the equipment. CNC machines now can manufacture parts at 20 times the speed of manual with an operator making half the wages.

All this obsolete machinery is on the market and most is just being melted down for the metal. Like you said, it's to large for your garage and since no factory wants it it is just a dead horse. Smaller, easier to move equipment is desired by home owners like you and me and some machinest's who would like to do some side jobs at home so the prices of this equipment is staying higher.

About 8 years ago I was at an auction of a plant that went under. The Bridgeports were bringing about 3800.00 which I thought was a little high at the time. They also auctioned off a Deckle three table pantomill that was 5 years old at the time. This was one hell of a machine costing about 35,000.00 new and it went for 250.00 because nobody wanted to pay to have it moved. I was wanting to bid on it but never because I would have had to take a wall down to get it into my shop.

Dick
 
rhncue said:
Almost all machine shop equipment that is not CNC is now obsolete. There is no use for it as far as machine shops or manufacturing plants are concerned.
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I hear ya Dick, but I'm still waiting for someone to offer me an obsolete Hardinge HLV-H for the price of hauling it away ;)

Dave, still turning handwheels ... and loving it !
 
Hmmm....living here in Michigan with so many places going under I'm going to have to keep my eyes open for a juicy auction....:D
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