Thanks Aaron!
Unfortunately here in Australia in Wagga Waga where I am living is about 4 hours from someone with a cue lathe...
So just going to have to try it with a stanley (Box) knife, and shapen it with sand paper. I pray to god it works! Have a big tournament in 2 weeks, so I need to get some practise before then, hopefully with a new tip! lol
Do you or anyone else have any advice and extra precaution I can take to TRY put this new tip on? I will still wet it abit, to try sofen it etc...
Cheers!
Well, if I were going to try it again I would do a couple of things differently.
1) re-moisten the sides of the tip as you trim it, so that it doesn't dry out during the trimming process. i think this may help reduce stress on the tip.
2) seek out the very sharpest razor blade available. i had some carpet guys tell me one time that there was a special blade they used that was much sharper than the standard razor blade that comes in the stanley knife.
3) as much as possible, cut slightly downward (toward the ferrule) on the tip rather than using the traditional method of turning the shaft upside-down on a table or something, and cutting the other way. in other words, cut in a direction that pushes the layers together rather than apart.
4) Favor trimming over sanding. Not only is it nearly impossible to avoid sanding the ferrule when you sand a tip, I suspect that the heat generated by sanding could have a negative effect on the glue that holds the layers together. Perhaps keeping the tip moist during sanding could help as well??
Those are just the things that I personally would try if I were doing it again, but you also have to keep in mind that this is coming from a person who has a zero percent success rate at installing Snipers by hand.
Makeshift lathes can be bought or built for not too much money. I am actually in the process of building one for myself right now. I see them on ebay from time to time also. Go to ebay and search for "portable pool cue repair lathe". The one I am building is similar to that, and it will just be for tip replacement. I figure to have $60-$80 in it when I am done.
Aaron