Recommendations on a cue lathe for a billiard room?
- Thread starter Mingaud
- Start date
Hi,
I own a room and I strongly recommend a Unique Cue Companion for a lot of reasons for your needs.
If you wish to give me call @ 847 641-0276 (up till midnight cst every night) I would be happy to share my pool hall cue repair business plan & experience.
Rick G
Hope to here from you>
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Check your PM's
Hi,
How many times did that chuck bite your hand when you first started. A trip to the hospital is very expensive and chuck accidents can be very serious. Not knocking Taig or Chris's product, they are great. We as cue makers however, are sensitive to chucks and their danger and that is a daily thing that requires our constant heightened level of awareness.
The Cue Companion allows you to put your hand right over and next to the chuck while it is spinning. I like to put my hand on the bearing journal and use my finger to spring the ferrule a touch against the tool pressure when blending the tip to the ferrule. Perfect blending method, no danger. Tool pressure deflects the piece and by using my finger as a follow rest, I can spring pass for perfect blending.
The chuck's internal spring loaded concave delrin paws along with the simple collets will not allow the user to dent the shafts unless they are a muscle head. A new user may ruin and customer's shaft before he finds his proper tension with a conventional chuck. What is that worth.
When crowning a tip I can get my hands so close to the chuck that if I touch the chuck while the jaws are spinning from time to time, all I feel is heat and I back off a little.
If you own a pool hall and are doing tips and ferrules and such I think the Cue Companion should get consideration because of the chuck safety concern for someone who is not that experienced. IMO Brian designed a perfect cue repair lathe from the ground up.
After 8 years of service in my pool hall the only maintenance I have performed on my unit was the O-Ring drive belt. I am on my third one.
I currently have nine lathes in my cue shop and I still use my cue companion to put the tips on. Even on my new shafts.
Rick G
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So how many times have you smacked your hand on any of the
other 8 lathes?
First rule of lathe work - don't put your hand where the chuck can
get at it.
Dale
Hi Dale,
I have owned 3 businesses in the last 37 years and I know that liability and safety issues are the first place to protect yourself concerning risk management.
Mingaud's question had to do with a tip repair lathe in a business, a pool hall. He is not a guy that wants to put a lathe in his workshop a home to start making cues by himself.
When you own a business and have a piece of equipment there where employee's may interface with it the only way to go in my opinion is the one with the safe chuck. What I do with chuck's in my shop has nothing to do with giving someone sound advice who may not have any experience with lathe chucks.
You are correct about not putting your hand where the chuck can get it but when you shape a tip your hand can get close using some techniques. Distractions or being in a hurry can cause you to loose focus especially in a pool hall environment. When I am driving my car I should not smash into anything. How many people do you know that have not been in a fender bender.
Safety is a culture and the way I see it, the culture in my pool hall is such where no one will get hurt because there is a lathe there with a safe chuck.
My son runs my pool hall and I am a full time cue maker now in a separate location. Safety is the number one concern in my shop and pool hall concerning rotating equipment and that can never be trivialized or be subject to complacency or ego. Someone in a pool hall may not have the same mindset. Pride always comes before a fall.
Forewarned is forearmed.
Rick G
Here are a few pics of a Unique Larger Bore Internal Chuck I mounted as back chuck on a lathe in my shop. It will never cause an accident to anyone. Having 3 pieces of aluminum flat bar spinning back there was something that I would never consider in this application. Risk Management means thinking ahead and planning for safe practice.
When I moved this lathe to my new shop layout having this safe back chuck allowed this lathe to be adjacent to a walk way. With a taig chuck this set up would never worked for me.
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Safety ?
See those flammables NEXT TO THE OUTLET ?
INCLUDING a compressed air can with flammable ?
If fire dept walked in there ........
Do lathe manufacturers ENDORSE rear chucks ?
See those flammables NEXT TO THE OUTLET ?
INCLUDING a compressed air can with flammable ?
If fire dept walked in there ........
Do lathe manufacturers ENDORSE rear chucks ?
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wow, whats all the huff about rick's answer??? a guy asks for recommendations and gets one from a guy who has experience in pool rooms. ricks answer didn't seem inappropriate for what was asked - mostly tips, occasional ferrule. the midsize may work better, and useful for more things, but maybe that is not wanted or afforable. i have a hightower and i can say that chuck can be annoying at times.
Safety ?
See those flammables NEXT TO THE OUTLET ?
INCLUDING a compressed air can with flammable ?
If fire dept walked in there ........
Do lathe manufacturers ENDORSE rear chucks ?
Joe,
For the record, I have a SS cabinet where I store all of my chemicals with the MSDS records. I have 2 fire department inspections per year in that former shop location where that pic was taken. Having a rattle can and some shellack on a work bench with a 60 watt bulb being powered is hardly a violation.
My QA/QC manual has as site specific procedure entitled "Chemical Hazzard communication and control". My spray booth is equipped with a fire suppression system and I have ANSI filter media and OSHA approved spark proof motor fan that is also MSA approved.
I take safe practice procedures very seriously because of my training as a professional diver and pilot.
As far as a rear chuck is concerned, I am sure OEMs have disclaimers concerning them to shield liability. If you aspire to be a world class cue maker moifying equipment is something a resorceful operator must perform in a safe manor. If one has to get sanctioning or permission to modify their lathe for cue making, (pause), There is nothing I can say!
Rick G
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As far as a rear chuck is concerned, I am sure OEMs have disclaimers concerning them to shield liabiliy. If you aspire to be a world class cue maker moifying equipment is something a resorceful operator must perform in a safe manor. If one has to get sanctioning or permission to modify their lathe for cue making, (pause), There is nothing I can say!
Rick G
I called Scott Logan one time to ask if he had a longer threaded sleeve/spacer so I can mount a chuck. He said Logan lathes were not designed for that .
If you do put a lathe in the back, you are actually breaking your own safety holy grail is my point.
With little imagination and know-how, you can actually build cues w/out the rear chuck.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSL11ikbxnw
I haven't even installed the spider yet.
You have a nice lathe but I prefer old American clunkers with polished spindle . But, I'm not a world class maker like you are.
Rick G
I called Scott Logan one time to ask if he had a longer threaded sleeve/spacer so I can mount a chuck. He said Logan lathes were not designed for that .
If you do put a lathe in the back, you are actually breaking your own safety holy grail is my point.
With little imagination and know-how, you can actually build cues w/out the rear chuck.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSL11ikbxnw
I haven't even installed the spider yet.
You have a nice lathe but I prefer old American clunkers with polished spindle . But, I'm not a world class maker like you are.
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Joe,
I said if you aspire to be a world class cue maker, I never mentioned I or me. It's been my experience that in any endeavor you persue in life, it is not a sin to reach for the highest apple on the tree. What ever level you achieve is up to others to decide.
As far as breaking my own safety rules installing a back chuck, I never wrote any rule like that. Even with a rudimentary knowledge of mechanics or engineering, safety should not be a factor.
The points of my suggestions to the pool hall owner are good and valid advice. I don't care what lathe he buys, I just offered my thoughts in this area because I was on my computer passing time while my machine was cutting shafts.
Rick G
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JOey two questions.....what kind of shaft tapering machine is that:shocked:.....and I didn't know you where a boxing fan.....you just earned cool points :lol: