your opinions

[chumscustoms]

i have been talking with pat diviney on this,
i have finally got to the point were i have time to start working on some cues,
i am looking at buying a lathe here in the next month or so.
pat recomended a hightower, if i am wanting to to do simple 4 point cues with veneers. I really dont want to do much with inlays yet, and i have access to a pentagraph, i was curious what your opinions were on hightower lathes,
and can i
cut points, and do anything and everything that his website says,
thank you
i dont want to invest money in it and realize i am going to buuy 5 other machines or something,
and i only want to build 5 to 10 cues a year due to my full time job
thank you any help is appreciated
thanks ben

 

[BLACKHEARTCUES]

The simple answer is YES. You will need more machinery than a lathe & even though a lathe can do all of the steps necassary to make a Q, you'll wish that you had 2. Never mind trying to make Qs with points. Just try to make a playable piece of wood, 1st.

 

[Cue Crazy]

Yes, But take It from someone that has been there, If you end up with alot of repair work, even building only 5 cues a year on the same equipment can be a chore. Even without the repair getting in the way, It's still nice to have dedicated machines. A milling machine big enough to cut points on would be a nice addition, and You would have a larger shank option which equals more cutter types You can use or try out. There are other advantages too.

I aggree, I would keep the first couple of cues basic to get the feel of things, but the deluxe I have can do the work You mention. As with anything It's not an automatic thing though, You have to learn to use, and get good at using It. It takes time to dial things in perfectly, and when You get them that way You hate to change them. That's what's so nice about dedicated equipment for individual to a minimal number of tasks or having more then one machine. It cuts down on setup time, and speeds up actual production time.

Greg

 

[Cuedog]

Whichever machine you end up with, I would recommend doing repairs first. It's not a must that you do repairs to build, but it helps in a lot of ways. Something as simple as how the machine should sound when you turn it on, how it should sound when you are asking it to do a task, how fast the chuck should be running for a particular task, etc, etc.

The best way to get to know your machine in this intimate manner is to do plenty of work on it. To get that amount of work without destroying legitimate cues, you have to find a source for unwanted cues or cheap cues such as a thrift store or cues that don't have to be perfect such as house cues at Boys and Girls clubs. Use your imagination.

Once you choose a lathe, I believe the above is where you want to start right after you reference a book like Chris Hightower's among others.

Gene

Edit: I wrote this assuming you don't already work on cues.

 

[qbilder]

I never did repairs to start, except for my own cues & freinds' stuff. I started by building, and it was not easy. I was a machinist for a while & had a couple years of machining school. But wood & linen & glues were far different than metal. I screwed up a bunch of stuff. But determination & simply having fun with it led me to where I am now, and i'm still learning.

My reccomendation would be a Hightower. It will indeed do everything he says it will do, plus some cool tricky things that would surprise most, maybe even Chris himself. But even with this, you'll need a way to cut your point squares & true them up. This means you'll need a bandsaw or tablesaw or both, and at minimum a belt sander with a a way of gaging square. Your point inserts must be dead nuts square & clean to make nice points. You'll need a way to press your veneers, and a way to miter them if you go that route. You'll need to buy all of your tooling including drill bits, router bits, etc. You'll need a way to suck dust to prevent you from breathing it. That can be a dust collector or a poor boy's shop-vac set-up. You'll need to buy wood, ferrule material, butt & joint material, joint pins, tips, finish, etc. There's a lot more involved with cues than simply buying a lathe. Look to spend around $5000 to get started for 5-10 cues per year.

 

[bullshooter69]

Lot of good advice here i wont tell you what lathe to buy but my advice would be. Start out doing repair,tips,ferrules,collars. Then when you learn a little cut a house cue in half and build a sneaky pete or two.