Minimum Number of Lathes

DavidMNienow

DavidMNienow

Glamour Dave
Silver Member
I know of different cuemakers that have different number of lathes all setup for building different components. And I know that its possible to build a cue with a single lathe. But I am interested in getting feedback on what would be the recommended number of lathes to have and assuming that I have a moderate size shop space, Say maybe a bit larger than a double car garage. And what would you have each lathe station setup to perform?

And this would be separate from other equipments such a pantograph or cnc station, a setup for leather wraps, and so on.
 
Your number of lathes has NOTHING to do with your talent.
You could have 20 lathes and still be a hack or you could have one lathe and be a freakin' genius.
Multiple lathes are a matter of convenience.
I'll tell you also that sometimes it's best to do as much work as you can on a particular area of the cue
WITHOUT removing it from the chuck (to go to another lathe) so as to maintain absolute-center.
Go to another lathe and you risk losing it unless you dial it all in again.

On the other hand, there are very few shops that make do with just one lathe. It depends on the shop.
For example, I don't do live-threading on my spray-booth lathe. It's not capable.
Nor do I shoot finish on my jnt-work lathe.

There is no magic numbers of lathes a shop should have.
It's more a matter of a particular builder's preference and his processes.

KJ
 
DavidMNienow said:
I know of different cuemakers that have different number of lathes all setup for building different components. And I know that its possible to build a cue with a single lathe. But I am interested in getting feedback on what would be the recommended number of lathes to have and assuming that I have a moderate size shop space, Say maybe a bit larger than a double car garage. And what would you have each lathe station setup to perform?

And this would be separate from other equipments such a pantograph or cnc station, a setup for leather wraps, and so on.
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At least 2 metal lathes and one wood lathe for sanding/wrapping/ finishing etc. and for this reason. It is true you can do everything on one lathe regarding building cues but you need at least a second lathe for repair work, tips , ferrules, butt caps wrapping and so on. It is nice to be able to just step to a second lathe that is not tied up to do fast repairs that have come into the shop. Repairs are real gravy once you become skilled and you want to do them as quickly as possible. The cue building works in different time frames.

Having said that always be on the look out for another lathe because as you acquire more lathes you will find propitiatory uses. The same can be said for other machines such as bandsaws. There is no need to pay a lot of money if you keep your eye out for a good deal. As the saying goes,

"Never buy anything when you have to or sell anything when you have to and you will make the best deals".

Much of what you buy you will own the rest of your life. I still use tools that belonged to my grandfather.
 
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Hi,

It is nice to have dedicated machines for different jobs that are all set up and ready to go. Productivity is increased when you don't have to keep re setting up for each operation. I prefer metal lathes that are custom configured for my methods but my wood lathe gets more rpm time then any of my others.

That being said there are many cue makers that get it all done on a Hightower or some other type of single cue lathe.

Modifying and setting up equipment is a major part of cue making IMO and it is how a CM makes incremental strides tuning in variables that effect the overall outcome and control over complicated processes with repeatability. Plus it is interesting and challenging. You have to be smarter than the machines and dial things in to very close tolerances and standards.

JMO,

Rick
 
DavidMNienow said:
I know of different cuemakers that have different number of lathes all setup for building different components. And I know that its possible to build a cue with a single lathe. But I am interested in getting feedback on what would be the recommended number of lathes to have and assuming that I have a moderate size shop space, Say maybe a bit larger than a double car garage. And what would you have each lathe station setup to perform?

And this would be separate from other equipments such a pantograph or cnc station, a setup for leather wraps, and so on.
Click to expand...

1. A precise metal lathe.
2. A taperer ( some don't consider this a lathe ), I have one and it's not a lathe.
3. Sanding lathe .
Finishing lathe is an option as you can use epoxy and use one of the two lathes.
 
agree with joey

I have made many cues with one lathe, but now I have 3 stations, one for tapering butts And shafts, one for rings, pins, tips, and one for finishing
 
desi2960 said:
I have made many cues with one lathe, but now I have 3 stations, one for tapering butts And shafts, one for rings, pins, tips, and one for finishing
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That is usually the natural progression as you acquire your tools. You can build on one lathe just for fun but if you are trying to make a few bucks at your hobby it isn't much fun. Especially when you have your one lathe tied up and someone calls with a bundle of simple repair work from their pool league they want back tomorrow and you can make an easy hundred in just a couple of hours work. It is just not fun all the setting up and re-setting up as you are trying to get stuff done. All that constant setting up and changing just wears you out, not to mention it can lead to mistakes and wasted time and material.
 
DavidMNienow said:
I know of different cuemakers that have different number of lathes all setup for building different components. And I know that its possible to build a cue with a single lathe. But I am interested in getting feedback on what would be the recommended number of lathes to have and assuming that I have a moderate size shop space, Say maybe a bit larger than a double car garage. And what would you have each lathe station setup to perform?

And this would be separate from other equipments such a pantograph or cnc station, a setup for leather wraps, and so on.
Click to expand...

I think the answer for one would not be the same for another. I had the pleasure of being in Leonard Bloodworths man cave for making cues that was larger than his house. The man had a jig for anything and everything.

Your question is far differant than I picture cue making as its more about jig stations. Joey hit on someting by people questioning his taper system as a lathe.

I can tell you how I am going (this time around). A dedicated station for cutting square round tapering and drilling holes and threading. A dedicated station for faceing off, cutting tenons etc and a station for sanding and finishing. All that and if stacked two men could lift and carry out a door.

As KJ said, it has nothing to do with the numbers, its the talent. This is one business/hobby that you could spend all Bill Gates money and still feel you need more "stuff" LOL
 
I wish to thank everyone for their responses. They were all informative. And gave me a better understanding of what I need as I slowly make plans for wanting to get into cue making.

As long as I have been playing (30+) years and collecting cues, I have dreamed of making cues. I have used my graphic design skills to create a lot of different unique cue designs that I would like to see produced over all that time. So now I am researching and making plans and hope to have a small setup in the next year.
 
I agree with this as being a good setup.

JoeyInCali said:
1. A precise metal lathe.
2. A taperer ( some don't consider this a lathe ), I have one and it's not a lathe.
3. Sanding lathe .
Finishing lathe is an option as you can use epoxy and use one of the two lathes.
Click to expand...

I have a wood lathe that I use for sanding. I have access to a porper model B for main working and tapering. I have the CNC lathe I am just about to finish building and I have a zyliss drill lathe that I have converted to use with a variable speed control for finishing.

I will be using the CNC lathe for tapering and most of the main assembly and cue working. I have it setup to use a horizontal mount router. This allows me to use a square cut bit for doing the tapering with a single G-code program for all tapers so they are all practically identical. I can also use it for cutting the indent for wrapping the cue, since the horizontal mount allows it to square the edges (no more file work, I love it).

It also allows me to use a straight on 90 degree v-groove bit for cutting pockets for points.

I will also be making a cnc-mill here in the near future for doing engraving and more intricate cue building.

You aren't that far from me Joey and you're always welcome to come up and visit if you'd like...

Jaden
 
Jaden said:
I have a wood lathe that I use for sanding. I have access to a porper model B for main working and tapering. I have the CNC lathe I am just about to finish building and I have a zyliss drill lathe that I have converted to use with a variable speed control for finishing.

I will be using the CNC lathe for tapering and most of the main assembly and cue working. I have it setup to use a horizontal mount router. This allows me to use a square cut bit for doing the tapering with a single G-code program for all tapers so they are all practically identical. I can also use it for cutting the indent for wrapping the cue, since the horizontal mount allows it to square the edges (no more file work, I love it).

It also allows me to use a straight on 90 degree v-groove bit for cutting pockets for points.

I will also be making a cnc-mill here in the near future for doing engraving and more intricate cue building.

You aren't that far from me Joey and you're always welcome to come up and visit if you'd like...

Jaden
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Thanks Jaden.
I have never heard of Zyliss drill lathe until you mentioned it.

Horizontal mount router on a cnc makes sense to me. I've never thought of plunging to the wood and squaring up a wrap groove.
Easier to capture dust too if the router is horizontal. Might be safer too as the cutter's direction is up and down from you.
One profile/G-codes for tapering means you only set the offset command ?
XOY0 is set at the center-hole of the joint ends ?
I'd love to see that cnc mill project.
Thanks.
 
You definitely at a minimum want at least 2 lathes capable of cue work. If the repair does not keep one lathe tied up all the time, It will still get in the way when trying to work on building a cue, and repair comes in, taking priority. when you get a steady flow It becomes near impossible to work on builds. Breaking down a setup that's dialed in, and having to continuously dial It back in after doing repair work is frustrating and counter productive. For me the more lathes the better, because I'd like to have several dedicated lathes to do specific tasks, but It's gonna take me some time to get to where I will be satisfied, and I'm also gonna need a larger space to house all of the equipment. I'm Working on It though, trying to finish up another lathe right now, but the dog on metal supply place is taking their sweet time shipping the metal I need to fabricate My motor bracket. I paid for It on the 3rd of this month and still have not received it. Hopefully It will come in this week and I can finish up on getting that one operational.

If You have the funds and the space then I would recommend having at least 2 lathes, but if your not sure that You will stick with doing this, then maybe 1 capable of doing both repair and builds would be better to start with, get Your feet wet, and see how It goes. There's also a lot of cash that goes into other things you need for this, that often goes unseen. Tooling, hardware, woods and other materials, not to mention common supplies. It all adds up to more then may be seen at first, and constantly has to replenished as you use up what You have on hand. That's something to take into consideration unless You have unlimited funds to spend. You also want to load up woods ahead of time when possible. Not only does It keep going up in price, but It needs time to hang in Your shop before working with it, and it also gets used up rather quickly once You actually start to work with It.

If not planning to do repair work, then I would just mention that a lot of experiences comes from repair, as well as many buyers of cues will come through that chain of work. It Also helps bring more funds back in to It, that will help bring in a more consistent income. Just something to consider.

The different operations could range quite considerably depending on the person, but dedicated lathe could consist of a repair lathe, cleaner lathe, tapering lathe, point lathe, billet lathe, joint lathe, and the list could probably go on quite a bit, but with the right setup, 1 lathe could be capable of doing It all, or a couple of them could split the tasks between them, and makes thing a little easier. It's really a matter of what You can afford, have space for, and what level of productivity You would like to achieve. When You bring cnc into the equation, things could change too, because some machines are capable of doing some of the tasks that a lathe does.

Greg
 
lathes

I have to give credit for those of you who have the patience to tear down and re-set constantly with 1 or even 2 lathes. Like they all have said, it can be done but at times, very inconvenient.
After 18 years of partaking in this hobby, I'm up to 12 lathes and in the process of making 1 more. Do I actually need this many? No, but it sure is a time saver.
I have to admit that 4 of them are in store for future projects and have never really had to do directly with my making cues......yet, but only time will tell.

Good luck on your ventures. Most of us started with one and made it happe:thumbup:n.
 
If speed or efficiency is not an issue one decked out lathe is fine. But I really feel to make good use of your time you need one lathe capable of doing tapering and one more that you can be doing something else on while your wood is tapering. Or else you stand there twiddling your thumbs for hours. Many small shops have my Deluxe Cue Smith lathe with taper bars that they can do most everything on and a second function lathe like the Mid Size Cue Smith so they can do assembly and such while tapering. So two lathes is the minimum to be efficient. And the more the merrier after that.
 
I have acquired 6 lathes so far, 3 metal and 3 wood. I also have a broken mini metal lathe that I am in the midst of repairing that worked well for cutting ferrules and such, that would make 7. The woods lathes are for spraying, sanding and wrapping. I like creating dust in one area and having all the sanding supplies on one bench, goes faster. The wrapping lathe is on a separate stand also. The spraying lathe replaced one of the metal lathes in the spray booth and allowed me to use the metal lathe for gluing my lamination instead of using my tapering lathe to glue also and then having to really clean the mess up every time and do a complete set-up before turning tapers again. The 3rd metal lathe does all the misc jobs, joint work, ferrules, etc.

It is nice not to have to take the time to set things up over and over.

I also have a fixture to hold a router horizontal for cutting wrap grooves, works like a charm.

Bob Danielson
www.bdcuesandcomix.com
 
GatzkeCues said:
I have to give credit for those of you who have the patience to tear down and re-set constantly with 1 or even 2 lathes. Like they all have said, it can be done but at times, very inconvenient.
After 18 years of partaking in this hobby, I'm up to 12 lathes and in the process of making 1 more. Do I actually need this many? No, but it sure is a time saver.
I have to admit that 4 of them are in store for future projects and have never really had to do directly with my making cues......yet, but only time will tell.

Good luck on your ventures. Most of us started with one and made it happe:thumbup:n.
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You can't have to many lathes set up for different operations. Each set-up means time saved and time equals money. It burns me up when I read that someone is charging an excessive amount of money for a repair or build because they have so much time involved. Why should the customer pay for the mechanics inexperience or for his lack of equipment that is slowing him down?

I just gave away 2 smaller lathes that I either took out of service or never found a use for. I still have a number of lathes:

I have 2 saw shaft machines that I consider to be lathes.

I have a one-piece tip lathe

I have a layered tip machinists lathe

I have a wood lathe for polishing shafts

I have a small metal lathe for cutting off deco-rings

I have a 36" machine lathe for general work

I have a 40" collet lathe for coring and precision work such as joint and pin installations

I have a 48" machine lathe that is permanently set up to turn the taper on my butts

I have a finish lathe

I have a lathe that I used to make deco-rings on but is not in use any longer as now I use the CNC

I have a lathe for installing linen and leather wraps

So, I guess I have 12 lathes in operation each set up for a particular operation.

Dick
 
ELBeau said:
I've gotta ask- what's the difference between these two? Is a one-piece tip lathe for house cues or one-piece tips?

Thanks,
Beau
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It's for one piece tips regardless if it's a H/C or just a shaft. It is very quick and does very good job of installing tips but that and polishing the ferrule is all that it does. I use a machine lathe for layered tips as I cut them entirely different so that I take no chance of getting the glue hot nor spreading the layers apart which could cause trouble down the road.

Dick
 
bdcues said:
I have acquired 6 lathes so far, 3 metal and 3 wood. I also have a broken mini metal lathe that I am in the midst of repairing that worked well for cutting ferrules and such, that would make 7. The woods lathes are for spraying, sanding and wrapping. I like creating dust in one area and having all the sanding supplies on one bench, goes faster. The wrapping lathe is on a separate stand also. The spraying lathe replaced one of the metal lathes in the spray booth and allowed me to use the metal lathe for gluing my lamination instead of using my tapering lathe to glue also and then having to really clean the mess up every time and do a complete set-up before turning tapers again. The 3rd metal lathe does all the misc jobs, joint work, ferrules, etc.

It is nice not to have to take the time to set things up over and over.

I also have a fixture to hold a router horizontal for cutting wrap grooves, works like a charm.

Bob Danielson
www.bdcuesandcomix.com
Click to expand...

Hi Bob,

Thanks for the understanding of how you are setup. You and I met several years ago when you came into Billiards and Sports with Drew, while the store was in the Rogue Valley Mall.

I appreciate your info.

David :)
 
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