undercutting metal rings

BHQ

we'll miss you
Silver Member
anybody got a fantastic solution to metal rings, other than NOT USE THEM???
damn, i just cut one down and that 15 thou ring spread like butter to about 75 thou
used brand new cutting tool
of course , it's in the middle of the damn cue :rolleyes:
 
Wow, that's one heck of a burr. Sorry I can't help, I never turn metal sandwiched between slices of wood, but I'd have to do some serious thin'in' about what tool geometry to use. Did you use a different style cutter on this pass ?

Dave
 
DaveK said:
Wow, that's one heck of a burr. Sorry I can't help, I never turn metal sandwiched between slices of wood, but I'd have to do some serious thin'in' about what tool geometry to use. Did you use a different style cutter on this pass ?

Dave
15/1000 brass ring in between two 30/1000 black fiber rings
same cutter as i normally use
cue is F***ed now
looks like another candidate for the woods behind my shop ;) :eek:
 
metal rings

Brent are you using router, or using a single point tool. On the times I've used them I've had them mushroom a little bit, but when you got down to the rest of the rings, they cleaned up nice. That's using a router after bring them down a little with a cut off tool coming dead straight in on them.
 
Use a router bit carefully.
Use the very bottom of the router bit to do final pass.
 
JoeyInCali said:
Use a router bit carefully.
Use the very bottom of the router bit to do final pass.
Your cue should shouldn't be borked but try and cut LIGHTLY the other direction...then get a router setup...lolz...it's the only way to cut...
 
Craig Fales said:
Your cue should shouldn't be borked but try and cut LIGHTLY the other direction...then get a router setup...lolz...it's the only way to cut...
i got a router setup. after final pass, i been going back in back in with cue still on taper to undercut the rings. i've never tried with a router. i been using a cutting tool.
waht kind of bit are you using???
going in at it from the horizontal??
i've got two router mounts
horizontal and vertical
 
BHQ said:
i got a router setup. after final pass, i been going back in back in with cue still on taper to undercut the rings. i've never tried with a router. i been using a cutting tool.
waht kind of bit are you using???
going in at it from the horizontal??
i've got two router mounts
horizontal and vertical
5/8 straight carbide, Freud from Home Depot.
Vertical.
 
JoeyInCali said:
5/8 straight carbide, Freud from Home Depot.
Vertical.
i'm still not getting this
what gets the metal ring below the surface of the surrounding woods and rings??????????????????
 
Brent,
I've had pretty good success using A HSS toolbit with a wide radius cutting edge, very sharp with chip relief. I set the cutting edge just below center and only take .002/.003 per pass. It actually 'shaves' the ring & it doesn't spread. If you're using an AR carbide bit, it's forcing the ring over as it cuts and it will just get worse. You're right on target with the fibre rings. That's a pages out of McDermott's book. It goes a long way to defeat this problem but you still need to use the proper cutting tool. My HSS radiused bit is so efficient that I don't need to use the fibre rings anymore. Give it a try, you may like the results.
 
BHQ said:
i'm still not getting this
what gets the metal ring below the surface of the surrounding woods and rings??????????????????
Oops.
After final pass, round edge steel toolbit.
 
KJ Cues said:
Brent,
I've had pretty good success using A HSS toolbit with a wide radius cutting edge, very sharp with chip relief. I set the cutting edge just below center and only take .002/.003 per pass. It actually 'shaves' the ring & it doesn't spread. If you're using an AR carbide bit, it's forcing the ring over as it cuts and it will just get worse. You're right on target with the fibre rings. That's a pages out of McDermott's book. It goes a long way to defeat this problem but you still need to use the proper cutting tool. My HSS radiused bit is so efficient that I don't need to use the fibre rings anymore. Give it a try, you may like the results.
thats' what i'm talkin' about!!! :)
you got a part number by any chance??????
maybe this one particular ring was softer ??? i dunno
never had this happen before
 
As far as undercutting the rings, I don't think that's going to solve the problem. It's always going to be there. Let me explain. When you get to the point that you are now starting to feel the rings, it's generally the result of 2 different conditions. #1 is the 'pinch-down' effect of the finish. Even auto-clear can take up to a year to completely cure and it's continually pinching-down as it's curing. #2 is the fact that cues are made from various materials that expand & contract at different rates. What eventually happens is that the finish is put into 'shear' as these materials 'move'. In it's extreme, the finish will now start to flake off the metal rings. I've seen some very Hi-end cues do this and it's not pretty. If you're going to use metal rings, you're stuck with their inherent problems.
 
KJ Cues said:
As far as undercutting the rings, I don't think that's going to solve the problem. It's always going to be there. Let me explain. When you get to the point that you are now starting to feel the rings, it's generally the result of 2 different conditions. #1 is the 'pinch-down' effect of the finish. Even auto-clear can take up to a year to completely cure and it's continually pinching-down as it's curing. #2 is the fact that cues are made from various materials that expand & contract at different rates. What eventually happens is that the finish is put into 'shear' as these materials 'move'. In it's extreme, the finish will now start to flake off the metal rings. I've seen some very Hi-end cues do this and it's not pretty. If you're going to use metal rings, you're stuck with their inherent problems.
yeah, i agree 100%
sherm tried to tell me, to stay away from metal,
so did dennis dieckman
now, if we can find some silver or brass colored wood,
everything would be so much simpler :)
screw it, this may be the last cue with metal rings from me
i may be hardheaded and stubborn , but i ain' stupid. lol
 
I use a 3/4 inch straight carbide bit on a vertical setup...go left to right and in thin passes...one other thing with metal rings is to take the cue to just oversized and hang it for a couple of months in a controled dry environment...the wood will continue to shrink and the rings will be really popped...then take the rings down...
 
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BHQ said:
thats' what i'm talkin' about!!! :)
you got a part number by any chance??????
maybe this one particular ring was softer ??? i dunno
never had this happen before

No part number needed. Look in any tool supply catalog and find HSS tool bits. Get a blank, uncut and grind away. As Joey & I have both said, put a round (wide radius) on it and start shaving the ring. HSS can actually be sharpened sharper than carbide. Even nickel-silver rings will lay over using the wrong bit.
 
KJ Cues said:
No part number needed. Look in any tool supply catalog and find HSS tool bits. Get a blank, uncut and grind away. As Joey & I have both said, put a round (wide radius) on it and start shaving the ring. HSS can actually be sharpened sharper than carbide. Even nickel-silver rings will lay over using the wrong bit.
true...using a rounded bit is the only way to go for trimming metal rings down...I come straight in when I trim them...
 
Craig Fales said:
...one other thing with metal rings is to take the cue to just oversized and hang it for a couple of months in a controled dry environment...the wood will continue to shrink and the rings will be really popped...then take the rings down...

Temperature change can be a handle's (butt's) worst enemy (expansion/contraction), but moisture will take it's toll as well. Hanging a cue in a controlled environment is fine while it's in there but once it gets out in the real world is where things start to happen. Unless it's new home has similar conditions to the controlled environment, it's going to start to move. My shop is located near a relatively large lake and when I learn that one of my cues is going to be sent to the southwest, I literally cringe. Then I start praying.
 
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KJ Cues said:
Temperature change can be a handle's (butt's) worst enemy (expansion/contraction), but moisture will take it's toll as well. Hanging a cue in a controlled environment is fine while it's in there but once it gets out in the real world is where things start to happen. Unless it's new home has similar conditions to the controlled environment, it's going to start to move. My shop is located near a relatively large lake and when I learn that one of my cues is going to be sent to the southwest, I literally cringe. Then I start praying.
well considering that the butt of a cue is sealed end to end I don't worry about it after it's done...
 
BHQ said:
thats' what i'm talkin' about!!! :)
you got a part number by any chance??????
maybe this one particular ring was softer ??? i dunno
never had this happen before

Intesting comment. Brass comes in a wide variety of alloys, but any that I've turned resulted in brass-dust-swarf, with very little burr, when using proper cutting tools. I'm thinking that the geometry of the bit or it's set-up in the holder may have been the problem here. For brass I definately agree with the grind-your-own crowd, and pay attention to the angles for brass, they are different than for steel or aluminum.

I hate plunge cutting, it's a sure way to get chatter happening on my lathe (not much of a lathe btw). But if I had to do this, plunging a narrow spinning tool like a dremmel cut-off abrasive blade or a narrow slitting saw in a tool post grinder would work for sure.

Dave
 
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