Shaft diameter

R

rodrigo1508

Registered
Hi, I just wanted to know which its the best diameter for a shaft or at least the most used in pool. My cue have about 11.5 mm but I see most shafts come with 13mm. Why is this diameter used?
 
I think the biggest influence shaft diameter has is how the cue feels in your bridge. Of course stiffness is greatly affected by tip diameter, but I think the taper has more to do with the stiffness than the diameter. Cuemakers, please correct me if I'm worng! :p This is just what my experience so far has taught me.
Tim. <-- Always ready to learn from the pros!
 
Diameter of shafts is usually a personal preference. I prefer 12.75mm. 13mm is pretty much the standard for most production cues. Custom cuemakers will turn down the shaft to your preference. I believe most pro players use 13mm or 12.75mm.
 
13mm is a good starting point because you can always take it down. It has been my experience that most prefer 12.75 and 12.5.
 
Most people use something between 12.5 and 13.25 with the bulk of them around 12.75.
I do see the odd person using a 10 or 14mm shaft, though!
 
For my 12.5 mm playing cue shaft, I use a dime radius on the tip and 12.5 mm is about as large as you can go and still use a dime radius.

If you have a 13 mm shaft and use a dime radius, the edges go down almost to the ferrule. So just a few "re-shapings" of the tip and it is time to install a new tip! And since many new tips "squish" down when first used, you would not get much use out of the tip before it needed replacement.

So the main reason I use a 12.5 mm shaft is to get more use out of my tip before it needs replacement, yet be as large as possible to keep the tip from "squishing" down much. (Tips on smaller shafts will squish down easier.)

For my 13 mm breaking cue, I use a quarter radius tip, so a smaller size is not needed. I also want this tip to be larger so it will not "squish" down as easily. I use a Tiger break/jump tip which seems to be very "squish" resistant.

For my 13 mm jump cue, I use a dime radius tip, but this is a phenolic tip which does not squish and does not need reshaping typically.

I heard that some Masse' cues use a 14 mm tip. I don't know if this is true or not?
 
Silly me. I just kinda assumed that 12.75mm was common because it was 1/2"

Seems odd that most other things (length, pin threads, etc) are all SAE and the shaft diameter would be metric.
 
Since the 12" straight "pro-taper" has become the norm. Smaller diameter shafts are almost always going to warp, so 13mm or slightly smaller is about as small as you can go and them stay reasonably straight. Even at that 99% of all pro-tapered shafts that have been used for over two months regularly that I have looked at have a slight warp in them. On the other hand my carom cue with a 12mm tip and conical taper rolls dead nuts straight with no daylight anywhere when rolled on the table. So if you want a pro taper expect your cue not to stay perfectly straight. I have noticed a few cuemakers are making stiffer tapers now and their shafts stay a little straighter.
Chris
www.cuesmith.com
www.internationalcuemakers.com
 
Correction:

.500" = 12.7 mm

Just thought i would let you know :D .

Thanks,

Jon
 
You know, I thought about whether to write 12.75 because it was the common size or the 12.7 because it was more accurate. Thanks for keeping me in line. :)

12.75 ~ 1/2"


BiG_JoN said:
Correction:

.500" = 12.7 mm

Just thought i would let you know :D .

Thanks,

Jon
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