Tip installation question

Wolven

Wolven

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I would like to start tipping my cues and need to know which tools are good.
Porper has a bunch of tools for cutting the sides of the tip, etc.
Does anyone know what works best?

Thanks for your help
 
Just curious...why tip your own cue instead of letting a professional do it?

Gene
 
A few reasons. Tired of paying 50$ for a tip and install! And I would like to try a bunch of different tips. Also one day, my tip came off.
I fixed the mushroom and glued the thing back on and liked working on it, kind off fun.
 
Cuedog said:
Just curious...why tip your own cue instead of letting a professional do it?

Gene
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Why have a professional do a mundane task like change a tip? You can save a bundle by doing it yourself.

To the OP, get the Tweeten's top sander, a good edge cutter (Porper makes them) and a few different grits of sandpaper (320, 600, 800, 1500, 2000, etc).

I usually use the top sander to make the top flat and rough. Rough the tip and glue it on with cyanoacrylic. Cut the edge of the tip and burnish the side wall.

There is a great guide on here if you do a search. You will not regret doing your own.
 
Thanks Varney. Incidentally, I got used to the smaller diameter on my Ob-1 and really like the hit after your modification. Although there was some mushrooming on the Kamui tip. :)

PS:695$ is a lot more than I want to spend.
 
Varney Cues said:
$695 and well worth it for a professional job.;)
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$695?!!!

If he did only his own, it would take him like 40 years for his investment to pay off.

I would spend like $50 max for the equipment. You can find the items I mentioned earlier for around that price. You don't need state of the art tools for a retipping job.

Hell, gimme some glue, a razorblade, and some sandpaper, and I could give you a professional looking tip job.
 
belmicah said:
$695?!!!

If he did only his own, it would take him like 40 years for his investment to pay off.

I would spend like $50 max for the equipment. You can find the items I mentioned earlier for around that price. You don't need state of the art tools for a retipping job.

Hell, gimme some glue, a razorblade, and some sandpaper, and I could give you a professional looking tip job.
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Just the fact that you want to use sandpaper & razorblade...and without a lathe...is all I need to see. I assure you that one mans professional job is very amateur to another. I'd like to measure your ferrule then let you do a couple of tips...then measure again. Besides being smaller, I doubt it'd even be round. Not trying to bust your balls but if you did one of your tip jobs to say someones ivory ferruled Gina cue...they may not be quite happy. Its your cue, feel free to do whatever you want. If I didn't own a lathe...I'd take it to a pro. The tip is the most important part of a cue.;)
 
belmicah said:
Why have a professional do a mundane task like change a tip? You can save a bundle by doing it yourself.

To the OP, get the Tweeten's top sander, a good edge cutter (Porper makes them) and a few different grits of sandpaper (320, 600, 800, 1500, 2000, etc).

I usually use the top sander to make the top flat and rough. Rough the tip and glue it on with cyanoacrylic. Cut the edge of the tip and burnish the side wall.

There is a great guide on here if you do a search. You will not regret doing your own.
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The reason for my question belmicah is that not everyone is as adept as you. Many cue repairmen, including myself, are very thankful that there are people that try to replace tips themselves. About 15-20% of my work comes from re-do's where a player has tried. Most times, a new ferrule is needed because the original one has been marred by the knife used.

I have no problem giving someone instruction in tipping. However, there should be a caution that goes along with it. Many people replace their own tips, but there are many more that try and find it is not as easy as it looks and end up paying more than if they had just let a pro do it.

As far as tip installation costing $50.00...even the top tips should cost you less than that to have installed. Average pricing is as follows:

Everest...$20.00
Tiger ......$20.00
Sniper.....$25-30.00
Kamui,,,,,,$25-40.00
Moori.......$25-40.00

Gene
 
Varney Cues said:
Thats the biggest joke I've ever seen.:eek:
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The guy asks what he needs to do the job and you offer a $695 dollar alternative to taking it to a "professional."

I expect a professional to say "take it to a professional", and I guess that's exactly what you are saying.

You have a point about the ivory ferrule on a Gina cue thing, but even professionals make mistakes.

The guy is looking to do his own, and it is well within most people's ability to do so. I encourage it, but I don't expect you too. Why don't you give him some "professional" advice on how to do it by hand, instead of offering an unrealistic alternative.
 
Varney Cues said:
Thats the biggest joke I've ever seen.:eek:
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I agree a Lathe is the best option period, and Yes! I have seen guy's ruin shafts by tipping them by hand..

I like my ferrule and tip to be a continuation of the shaft taper, and its hard to get a tip installed this way.. but if you do they hardly ever Mushroom, I have a tool I use thats a guide, solely for this purpose, and by hand alot of the tips I have had installed I have had to spend alot of time getting the sides of the tip right.. If I dont they Mushroom, can you explain to me why this is?

thanks, SPINDOKTOR
 
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SPINDOKTOR said:
I agree a Lathe is the best option period, and Yes! I have seen guy's ruin shafts by tipping them by hand..

I like my ferrule and tip to be a continuation of the shaft taper, and its hard to get a tip installed this way.. but if you do they hardly ever Mushroom, I have a tool I use thats a guide, solely for this purpose, and by hand alot of the tips I have had installed I have had to spend alot of time getting the sides of the tip right.. If I dont they Mushroom, can you explain to me why this is?

thanks, SPINDOKTOR
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Proper burnishing is required to ensure the tip will not mushroom. A little water (or spit) is used by most of the cue repair guys I have seen do it on a lathe. I use very fine grit sandpaper and then leather. The little porper burnisher wasn't bad either with a little gob of spit.
 
belmicah said:
The guy asks what he needs to do the job and you offer a $695 dollar alternative to taking it to a "professional."

I expect a professional to say "take it to a professional", and I guess that's exactly what you are saying.

You have a point about the ivory ferrule on a Gina cue thing, but even professionals make mistakes.

The guy is looking to do his own, and it is well within most people's ability to do so. I encourage it, but I don't expect you too. Why don't you give him some "professional" advice on how to do it by hand, instead of offering an unrealistic alternative.
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I don't think a $695 mini lathe is too much to spend for a lifetime of being able to do quality replacements on your own tips & ferrules. I would never offer any advice on doing it by hand...as it would be very unprofessional. Knowing what I know, I'd NEVER attemp to do one without a lathe. Sure, maybe I could get it to "look" ok....but I'd know it wasn't done correctly. Like Gene...I've seen way too many hack jobs where the ferrules were destroyed. I had a mini lathe to do my own work long before I was a cuemaker...as well as many others. Bnall has his own lathe...simply for his own use. Don Purdman has a full blown Deluxe Cuesmith. Like I said...there is a pro job & then there is "hey this looks great for an amateur with no lathe." ;)
 
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First of all who in the hell is charging $50 for a tip??? There's not a tip made that should cost that much.. And as for that demo on kamui tips web site you are just asking to screw up your cue. And for that matter if you want to do tips why not clean your shaft as well. I would not recommend anything less than the cue companion package 1 for $1195 or the mcro smith II for $1200 http://www.cuesmith.com/index.php?menu1=menu_lathes&page=cue_lathe_micro_2 but thats just my 2 cents...
 
Proper burnishing is required to ensure the tip will not mushroom.
There's only one surefire way to keep the tip from mushrooming.
Don't use it.
 
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