Question about Joint Pins...

jwe711

jwe711

The Great Cue Masters...!
Silver Member
Hello

I am wondering about the joint pins that the high end custom cue makers use...in their cues...

Do they make their own pins in their own shop?

or do they have them custom made by an outside machine shop?

or do they buy them over the counter?



I got into a discussion about this...and we couldn't agree...

My friend believes that most all high end custom cue makers buy them over the counter...and that everybody is buying the same styles...type...kind...thread...and so forth...from a variety of vendors. (Cue Components or similar)


Here are my thoughts...
I believe that they have the cnc machine lathe that can repeatedly reproduce these types of pieces, and that they make them in house, to their own design, in batch runs for the proven pieces, and singles, for prototypes for new designs and ideas.

I also believe that they might have some pieces outsourced, to other machine shops, so that they are still made to their design and are proprietary to the respective cue maker.

And Lastly, for smaller Cue Shops and independents, that make a fewer cues a year, then naturally, it's more practical and cost effective to buy them over the counter. But we're not talking about these guys.

We are talking about the elite custom cuemakers like Scruggs, JW, Gina, Tad, Haley, Hercek, BB, and so forth...


Could you please lend us your thoughts...

Thanks,
jwe
 
Last edited:
some buy threaded rod and part their own pins. for the price i dont find it saves me money bc it takes more time. ive dont both buy id rather just buy them pins rings SS joints wraps. everything else i machine myself
 
Hey Guys,

Thanks for the feedback...

I guess I'm mostly wrong at this point...

I know that Schick, Southwest, have theirs custom made...I've heard that Hercek and Gina make all their pieces...

...but it seems that for the greater 98+% of other cue makers, that they buy them as over the counter pieces.

I also believe that Bill Stroud made his own radial pins...but this was years ago when I spoke to him.


Does anyone else make their own? or have them custom made?
 
I made my own for a while until I found somebody who would do it for me at a fair price. Now I buy them. Still my pin to my spec, but contracted by me rather than me actually spending the hours to do it myself. I'd say it's fair to assume all cuemakers with their own style pin likely do as well. It simply doesn't make sense to spend time & effort in making your own joint pins if you can get the exact same thing made by the hundreds without costing you any time. It was very tough for me to find time to actually build cues because I was spending too much time making hardware. Hope this helps give you some insight.
 
I know some that make their own....
I know some that buy common size made....

Myself....I used to make a few but feel the same as Eric....why waste my time doing so when I have a qualified partner in the biz that can do it faster, better and less expensive then I can. I don't believe not making your own pins or bumpers makes you any less of a builder.
 
> When you've cut several dozen screws of different diameters with single-point,hand-ground cutters,then experimented with carbide inserts,you'll understand the complicated process of making screws on a lathe.

The processes used to make a single-pointed screw aesthetically pleasing enough to be used in a high-grade cue are enough to possibly throw the dimensions out of whack.

Screws that are made by shops that SPECIALIZE in cutting screws in high volume (using CNC/screw machine) are just NICER,right out of the machine,than probably any of us are capable of making on a manual lathe,even with the same tooling.

What I'm trying to say is this. There is NO doubt in my mind I can make a Radial pin for example on a Haas CNC lathe. There is also no doubt in my mind it won't look as nice as one made by someone that has made 1000 of them,without a LOT of time spent on abrasive polishing. RHN said the ones he had made in bulk were so nice it only took a few seconds on a buffer to make brass look like gold. I HAVE made a few 3/8-10/11/11.5 screws on a Haas and they look like crap compared to the ones Bryan Mordt recently showed here.

Some of the screws cuemakers use are custom GROUND,rather than single-pointed.

Bottom line,just about all of us here can cut a screw,but it takes real skill to make a PRETTY screw. Tommy D
 
Last edited:
as I understand ... G10 and other fiberglass material pins are ground ... not cut on a lathe and I doubt there are more than two cue makers that make them for themselves.
If you have a large shop like McDermott, Viking, Meucci, and some others then you might have the resources and people to do those things for you.
Most one one or two man shops will buy them from suppliers.

BTW: back in the good old days ... some of the early cue makers would use the screw stem (cut down in length) from a water faucet as a joint pin.
I have even seen some old cues with large wood screws as a joint pin.
 
Before I began making my own pins, I had experimented with wheel studs & they were great. I actually liked the idea of the piloted pin & is the reason I used that design aspect on the pins I made.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top