What about a football-ish shaped tip?

[twilight]

I've been searching the forums for a lot of posts about different tip brands, and tip shapes as well as having different cues for different shots (jump/break) I got a funny idea in my head about having a cue with 2 shafts and one with a dime radius and one with a nickel for different tables/games. Then a funny thought occured to me, what if a person shaped thier tip into a hybrid nickel/dime? I think this would look somewhat like you cut a football in half across a seam more or less.

Picture a football laying horizontally where the largest radii would be along the seam representing a nickel, and perpendicular to the seam would be a more rounded radius (dime)

Of course you'd probably need some way to mark the ferrule or shaft to let you know what part of the tip you're using, but if you're a person who likes lots of tob/bottom but little side, then you could align the football shape horizontally. If you like a lot of side spin for a particular shot but not much top/bottom then you could align the football shape vertically. For shots that use a combination of top/bottom/side, you could choose how much you want from rotating your shaft.

I dont' mean this to be a super serious post, I just have some spare time and had a random daydream about an all in one tip. I personally like playing most of my shots with little english and therefore like a nickel shape. But there are some times when I get out of line and need a bit more spin that I can get from a dime. I could switch out shafts, which would be time consuming. That action alone could be misinterpreted as a forfeit too. Anyway I thought this would be an interesting topic I haven't seen in my search through the archives.

 

[cigardave]

Are you thinking about an official NFL football... or the NCAA version. It could matter, you know.

Personally, I like to match the radius of my playing tip to the diameter of the shaft. For ferrules closer to 12.5 mm, I prefer shaping it as a dime. For ferrules closer to 13 mm... a nickel. They just seem to look and play right when matched that way.

 

[Tommy-D]

> I've shaped my break cue tips for years to a 2 1/4 radius,same diameter circle as the cue ball. More often than not,after I break the cue ball has a chalk mark on it the same size as my tip. It gives me a huge sweet spot this way,much like having a huge head on a golf driver. Even the hardest leather tip is going to change shape just a little,and with this flat of a radius,when it does it goes almost dead flat. It's very strong. Tommy D.

 

[Stones]

With my eyesight, the object balls are shaped like footballs. So, why not the tip?

LOL

Stones

 

[Billy_Bob]

Very good idea.

The tip is the "business" end of the cue and I feel it is the *most* important part of a cue, yet there has been little or no research done in this area.

Predator says...
"Predator research has clearly shown that a dime radius (or shape of a dime) will produce 5 percent to 10 percent less cue ball deflection than the more commonly used nickel shape. The cue ball deflection is reduced because the dime radius centralizes the hit to the center, or strong part, of the shaft."
http://www.predatorcues.com/predator_cues_tech_tips.html

But that is about all the research I have seen on tips.

And there are a lot more shapes than U.S. dime, nickel, or quarter. There is billiard ball shape, all the shapes in-between dime and flat, and then there could be all sorts of egg (or football) shapes.

Pool is an international sport. People in other countries do not use U.S. coins, so I think a more universal description of tip shapes would be better. Perhaps some metric numbering system?

So far as testing various tips, I think only a robot "stroking machine" could do this accurately. And then it would need to be designed like a human in the way it held the cue. People have soft skin and there is a bit of cushion or give left/right - up/down when using a closed bridge.

A robot which "tightly held" the shaft for a bridge (and had no give) would not be the same as a human hand bridge.

But once such a robot stroking machine was made, then various tips and tip shapes could be tested. English, draw, follow, etc. For example: How much draw distance with various tips / tip shapes and the same stroke, etc.?

Who knows? Maybe a certain shape works better for certain shots than others? Maybe it makes no difference? Maybe there is a range of shapes which work pretty much the same? Maybe egg/football shaped would work better?

So far as making different tip shapes, you can cut an 8 inch piece of electrical PVC pipe in half and hold sandpaper to the inside. Get 1/2", 3/4", 1", 1 1/2", etc. PVC pipe and you will get all sorts of different shapes.

Egg/football shaped would be costly. You would need to have shaping tools made at a CNC machine shop. Maybe $100 or $150 each to make just one!

 

[Rasta]

A small tip radius is better for shots with a large tip offset ("extreme" english, follow or draw). A larger tip radius is better for small/no tip offset.

Easy, old school solution:
Shape to a dime and do not reshape when the center begins to flatten out.

Alternate solution:
Shape tip to nickel radius. Chalk tip. Start shaping tip to dime radius. Stop shaping to dime radius when the chalk has been removed from the outside half of the radius (12mm, 13mm, etc, NOT coin radius). Smooth out the transition between the area shaped to a dime and the area shaped to a nickel.

Either method offers a large radius near the center of the tip, where centerball contact is made, and a small tip radius at the outside of the tip, where contact is made with the cueball on shots using "extreme" english. Neither method requires any special orientation of the cue along its linear axis to utilize the optimum tip radius.

Good Rolls,
Rasta