What lathe to buy?

cbi1000

cbi1000

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What lathe to buy?

I want to get a lathe to do tips, ferrules, shaft maintenance, and wraps. I’m down to getting one of the following lathes; Mid-Size Cue Smith by Hightower, or the Cue Companion by Unique Products.

Which lathe do you guys recommend?

Thanks for the help.
 
Cue Companion

I would opt for the Cue Companion for what you are looking to do....I have a nice "used" one that is sold pending payment. Happy Holidays ;)
 
lathe

I would suggest the Hightower lathe. For the money, you can't do better along with the after sale support. Chris is the best.
 
No doubt about Chris being an exceptional resource, etc. :)

I have a Deluxe and Mid Size CueSmith lathe but, IMO the Cue Companion is an excellent repair lathe for the money and a little more portable. I've found Jim at Unique to be an excellent resource too!

....just my 3 cents ;) -- both are EXCELLENT choices :D
 
krbsailing said:
No doubt about Chris being an exceptional resource, etc. :)

I have a Deluxe and Mid Size CueSmith lathe but, IMO the Cue Companion is an excellent repair lathe for the money and a little more portable. I've found Jim at Unique to be an excellent resource too!

....just my 3 cents ;) -- both are EXCELLENT choices :D
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The thing I like about Chris' lathes over the uniques is that you can take the least expensive cuesmith lathe and everything is compatible with the Deluxe. You can purchase lathe parts as you go to increase the capabilities of the cuesmith. It's a given that it will be more expensive to buy it in pieces than all at once, but it's nice to be able to do when you are on a tight budget.
 
Lathe

I have a Cuesmith lathe that I will be putting on Ebay in the next week.
 

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cue companion

I have used one of these at state tournaments for the better part of 8 or 9 years. I think I have like #2 or 3 of this machine. It is still going strong. You said cue repair. If I was thinking of building cues I would go with something else. Mine has paid for itself al least a dozen times. Butterflycues
 
Personally , we have 2 of Chris's deluxe lathes and they are great. We bought them several years apart from each other , and they are interchangable after all that time. Talk about building it to last. I like them due to their many jobs they do and they easiness of the interchanging of parts. Wouldn't go with any other!
JUST MY THOUGHTS,
Jim
J&D CUSTOMS
 
Get a chris hightower lathe. I have all 3 lathes. I have a unique product repair lathe witch is the least superior of all. I have a porper and a hightower lathe. Hightowers lathe is eaiser to use, has enought power, and is the most economical lathe on the market. every now and then you will find one on ebay for $400 which is a combination of both hightower and unique. for the money I woder carfully consider this. I would certainly by this over paying $1200-$1600 for a unique product. I can certainly asure you that you wouldnt see and difference in performance or end result work between this one and uniques.
 
to me it sounds like you like the hightower better. Its the only item you listed that wasnt for sale!
 
Hightower drawback:do not have variable speed , unique have

Unique drawback:not easy boring , but Hightower is easy to boring hole
 
Adonisy said:
Hightower drawback:do not have variable speed , unique have

Unique drawback:not easy boring , but Hightower is easy to boring hole
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That would depend on which Hightower machine they buy as to whether it has variable speed or not. Midsize and Micro 3 both have variable speed motors. Deluxe, Full Size and Micro 2 have regular main motors and variable speed wrap motors. For tapping under power at slow speeds the large single speed motors are hard to beat. That is one of the main reasons I have not put the variable motor over onto the Deluxe Cue Smith.
 
Since We're having show and tell here, a couple pics of Mine. Please excuse the mess. Turning shafts, I have junk everywhere, and things draped off with plastic. The second pic is in action.
 

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lathe

I want one! The hightower seems to be the odds on fav. Thanks for all the info.

Craig
 
Cue Crazy said:
Since We're having show and tell here, a couple pics of Mine. Please excuse the mess. Turning shafts, I have junk everywhere, and things draped off with plastic. The second pic is in action.
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I really like the vacuum system you hooked up there. What percentage of the dust and chips do you estimate it catches?
 
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