tips on tip tools?

[desertshark]

Looking at the Joe Porper tipping tool. It actually looks like Pandora's box.

I would like to do my own tips because I am going to be trying out different ones pretty often and don't want to pay the install price every time.

If not this tip tool, what works good?

 

[mortuarymike-nv]

lathe

I am the local cue repair guy
,nothing replaces a lathe.
Even a cheap harbor freight lathe off of craigs list will do a tip and ferrule.
but you can not use it for cleaning the shaft.

basic lathe from chris hightower would be the best.

I have not tried the porper tip tool.......

but I own a hightower lathe.
MMike

 

[desertshark]

Thanks Mike. I'll look into it

 

[bruppert]

Looking at the Joe Porper tipping tool. It actually looks like Pandora's box.

I would like to do my own tips because I am going to be trying out different ones pretty often and don't want to pay the install price every time.

If not this tip tool, what works good?

I had one of those years ago. Gouged the ferrule (luckily I tried it on 2 cheap house cues first). I threw it away.

If you search around on here someone a while back made a setup using a power drill, in a holder I think made by Grizzly, mounted it to a board, bought a maintenance pin to use in the chuck and had something (steady rest?) on the other end to hold it on center. Then just use a block thats at the centerline of the tip and use a razor blade to trim and shape. Kinda cheesy but it may serve your purpose.

I'd do like the above person said and buy a low priced repair lathe. After you've finished with it you'd get back 50 - 75% when you sell it..... it you buy something decent. Talk to Hightower, Bassel and Todd.

 

[whammo57]

Most of the time these tools do more harm than good................

my opinion..........

Kim

 

[desertshark]

Ultimately I'd like to change tips and maintain my shafts but I do have a cue butt that I'd like to give a try at restoring. Its nothing special. I looked at some lathes recently and don't want to drop more than $200 as I have a few irons in the fire right now.

 

[mortuarymike-nv]

cue lathe

I bought my cue lathe used and in my remote city.

First thing I did was hit up every bar in town and offered to retip their house cues for 6 bucks a piece.
45 days later I had done enough cues that I had got my investment back.
And the lathe has always made me a little money here and there.

Alot of people say they do there own tips by hand.
And some of the guys on here look like they do a good job .

But all the shafts I get in for repairs that the customer has done the tips them selfs .
the ferrule needs to be replaced because the owner sanded more on one side then the other.

In order to clean this up I would of had to take off 0.100 of the ferrule and then the customer would of complained about how small his tip ferrule and shaft is.
So I put a new ferrule on and basicly saved what was left of his shaft.

The other part is its hard to polihish out any ferrule by hand , and if you are doing tips by hand and you use sand paper on the ferrule , chalk fills the scratches .
like this.


MMike

 

[desertshark]

I live in Phoenix where most of the pool halls have their own cue repair specialists so going to pool halls and soliciting repair jobs wouldn't work. I could swing a few tip, ferrule and shaft repairing from friends but nothing near enough to pay for a big dollar machine. I am fairly certain I can practice on the old cue I have and pick up a few cheapies from craigslist to practice on. I've taken dents out of my own shafts and did a good enough job I can't tell where they were. I don't want to keep paying for tip replacement as I would like to experiment with a few different tips to find what works better for me. I don't want to do them by hand only because I can't see how you could get the side correctly manicured. I have a friend who picks up old cues and they look like hell in the ferrule and the shafts are dinged to heck. He pays a lot of money to have the shafts reworked so I could make a few bucks there.

And above all, I don't want my ferrules to end up looking like the one you posted Mike! A lathe would enable a correct polish to keep the blue off.

 

[63Kcode]

Ultimately I'd like to change tips and maintain my shafts but I do have a cue butt that I'd like to give a try at restoring. Its nothing special. I looked at some lathes recently and don't want to drop more than $200 as I have a few irons in the fire right now.

That's how it starts.

Every few months some one is selling a repair lathe here. Some do it to buy bigger lathes. They only wanted to do their own tips too. Save some money and buy a used repair lathe. You can sell it to the next guy who just wants to do tips. Chances are you will be looking for something to build cues on soon.

Welcome to the addiction!

Larry

 

[desertshark]

That's how it starts.

Every few months some one is selling a repair lathe here. Some do it to buy bigger lathes. They only wanted to do their own tips too. Save some money and buy a used repair lathe. You can sell it to the next guy who just wants to do tips. Chances are you will be looking for something to build cues on soon.

Welcome to the addiction!

Larry

But... I.... just.... wanna.... do..... tips..... and refinish and restore and rewrap and.... OK OK OK... maybe eventually make a cue... maybe... eventually.... possibly....

Aww man. I'm already infected...

 

[mortuarymike-nv]

Lots of bars around phoenix

I live in Phoenix where most of the pool halls have their own cue repair specialists so going to pool halls and soliciting repair jobs wouldn't work. I could swing a few tip, ferrule and shaft repairing from friends but nothing near enough to pay for a big dollar machine. I am fairly certain I can practice on the old cue I have and pick up a few cheapies from craigslist to practice on. I've taken dents out of my own shafts and did a good enough job I can't tell where they were. I don't want to keep paying for tip replacement as I would like to experiment with a few different tips to find what works better for me. I don't want to do them by hand only because I can't see how you could get the side correctly manicured. I have a friend who picks up old cues and they look like hell in the ferrule and the shafts are dinged to heck. He pays a lot of money to have the shafts reworked so I could make a few bucks there.

And above all, I don't want my ferrules to end up looking like the one you posted Mike! A lathe would enable a correct polish to keep the blue off.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is risky.................................................................

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CX2pKoHe9Y0



MMike

 

[desertshark]

Yeah I saw that and not having any experience redoing tips but a lot of experience with tools, my hands and common sense, even I know this is a bad idea.

In the market for a low priced lathe...

 

[ArizonaPete]

I was doing tips by hand for a while and saw a thread on this website about a shaft turner - basically just an electric drill fitted with a cane tip bought from Walgreen's. Well, I built one and used it for about a year. I held the drill in a vise mounted on my work bench. After a while I also built a steady rest for it. Great for doing tips and cleaning shafts. Then I ran across a used Harbor Freight mini-lathe I bought for $100. Does a great job. If you don't want to spend much money go for the shaft turner with a cane tip. If you want a lathe, it's going to cost a lot more than $200.

 

[Dirtbmw20]

The Willards tipper is by far the best "manual" tipper I have ever seen or used if you don't have a lathe, but.... you're still going to spend more than $200 on it and you won't be able to do shafts, JUST tip installs.