STOOOPID Questions about "Cue Makers guild" YouTube & Cue Demon CNC

[icbm]

Hullo all. Long time wood Turner. I have started and stopped testing repair jobs, joint work, coring etc. & reexamined machines many many times over the years. For a long time I considered CNC a dead end for me bc it was cost prohibitive. The amazing reduction in price tag for cnc routers & lathes has opened up a lot of new people getting into creating very nice and less manual wood working & turning projects. I prefer using my Hightower delux & have a cnc that on paper looked like an acceptable 4 axis CNC that my hindsight tells me is waaaaay too much machine for my purposes & that I have NOT completed a single cue with.

My quations:

I tried the search feature on this board to look for first hand reviews of the Cue Demon CNC & the YouTube channel "The Cue Makers Guild" & I got pocket lent in return. No matches. I've not been active here for a few years and it struck me as odd that there is no mention of that machine or that YT channel.
Did I miss out or is there any problem discussing that in here?

I'm not trying to make money doing this & never had intended on that but when the other manual machines & modified lathes I have purchased or tried out through someone else, are now pretty close in $. The CNC I have would require minor @$$ pain for cues and inlay cavities and it is plain and simple too damn big for this. Down the line I may take a better & more serious whack at using my current machine but based on specs from Amazon the 6090 CNC set up with a 4th axis cost a bit more than a third of my machine and I won't have to mess around pulling out a spoiler board and losing valuable space and dudes with the exception of the spindle used and the power it needs. I am absolutely going to lose money on the old I2R CNC. That cannot be helped unless I start stepping up the odds & ends jobs it can easily take care of & it is definently more powerful and capable that a 6090. I'd like to check the feasibility of selling or repurposing to dedicated tasks on the I2R and get info about the Cue Demon. Thanks for any help.

If anyone here has the 411 on

 

[boogieman]

He has had quite a past. He's posted interviews and such telling his side of the story. Most will not do business with him. I'm subscribed to the CMG channel. It's cheap, like $2 a month and there are some good in depth videos on cuemaking. It's a good channel.

I didn't get burned by him. He warns up and coming cue makers to not do what he did and just take unlimited custom orders. He seems sorry it happened. People can change. The cue demon looks interesting but who knows. At minimum I'd probably put it on a CC so worst case scenario you could do a charge back. Again, I like the dude's channel and he seems like a nice guy but I would recommend protecting your ass just in case.

 

[DeeDeeCues]

I just looked at the two machines, yours (or at least the current offerings from i2r) and the Cue Demon. From a 500ft view, they are the same machine.

From a few details:

Your machine uses profile linear rails, the cue demon uses round rails. Huge advantage to your machine.

Your machine has an actual steel bed, the cue demon appears to be set up on a piece of plywood that you supply (?). Gigantic advantage to your machine.

The i2r has a better aspect ration of the x-axis car span and the z height. Huge advantage to your machine.

The cue demon claims repeatability of 3 ten-thousandths. I call BS.

Neither of these machines are really 'cue building' machines. Neither of these machines will ever drill and bore for a pin, or a-joint. You are right that the ir2 will take a bunch of modifications, but so will the cue demon. The biggest modification will be to also buy a lathe.

I don't understand what you hope to gain going from one gantry style mill to another very similar gantry style mill.

My advice is: If you are going to lose money on the i2r and then buy a cheaper machine, take the money you are going to lose and invest in tooling and education for the machine you already have.

If you feel like reaching out, give me a pm and we can discuss offline via pm, email, or phone.

 

[icbm]

I just looked at the two machines, yours (or at least the current offerings from i2r) and the Cue Demon. From a 500ft view, they are the same machine.

From a few details:

Your machine uses profile linear rails, the cue demon uses round rails. Huge advantage to your machine.

Your machine has an actual steel bed, the cue demon appears to be set up on a piece of plywood that you supply (?). Gigantic advantage to your machine.

The i2r has a better aspect ration of the x-axis car span and the z height. Huge advantage to your machine.

The cue demon claims repeatability of 3 ten-thousandths. I call BS.

Neither of these machines are really 'cue building' machines. Neither of these machines will ever drill and bore for a pin, or a-joint. You are right that the ir2 will take a bunch of modifications, but so will the cue demon. The biggest modification will be to also buy a lathe.

I don't understand what you hope to gain going from one gantry style mill to another very similar gantry style mill.

My advice is: If you are going to lose money on the i2r and then buy a cheaper machine, take the money you are going to lose and invest in tooling and education for the machine you already have.

If you feel like reaching out, give me a pm and we can discuss offline via pm, email, or phone.

Oh dude, thank you. I have had a Hightower for maybe 4-5 years. I knew the I2R would have been fine for the inlay cavities and taper. The I2R definitely has applications for other projects that are not between centers. I make different gifts for retiring military guys. The reason I wanted to weigh the @$$ pain of removing the 4th axis and having to reset up it and make sure it's as close to Ye Eld Dead-nuts. Based on your input? I'm pretty sure I'm good. I won't bother with another machine unless I work cues more frequently. If I ever go further than that I'll just take a look at it again.

Thank you brother. That is gonna save me money.