Lathe for use in the near future??

[scottd9993]

I am embarking on cue building, now i dont get a lot of spare time to do this but the time is going come when i need to use a lathe for connections and ferrules. I cannot afford one at the moment, so is there anyone out there near the Southampton are willing to help out? Or is there any other way of attaching these (in my mind) vital items??

[Deepscrew]

ummmm........

[scottd9993]

....mmmmmmm?

[scottd9993]

I'm more thinking about the mini butt connector for the bottom of one peice cues.... hence needing either a lathe with very long centres or large enough bore in the headstock to enable use.

I cannot afford this just yet!!!

[stan-mullin]

I am embarking on cue building, now i dont get a lot of spare time to do this but the time is going come when i need to use a lathe for connections and ferrules. I cannot afford one at the moment, so is there anyone out there near the Southampton are willing to help out? Or is there any other way of attaching these (in my mind) vital items??

Hi Scott

Keith Auld is in Southampton and is normally quite keen to help budding cuemakers.

Stan

[deant1982]

Jason Owen was selling his old cue making lathe for £900 I think. Maybe it might be worth saving for that, and using it to make some cues to sell to get the money back. Depending on how much you sell a cue for, depends on how well it is made, and how long it will take to earn the money back. Jason is making beautiful cues now, which fetch a pretty penny as well, so he will be on the road to earning his outlay back.

You might get lucky and find someone willing to let you use their lathe for a little while, but normally for machines like that, the only way you'll get near one is to buy it!

[JasonOwen]

Hi,
My wood lathe went for £500 on ebay. It did pay for itself so no great problems with that.

Scott, If your attempting a one off then you could do all the making your prepared to do by hand and then send it to a cue maker to have it weighted and a Mini joint added?
Pretty much every lathe out there will need some modifications and extras to accommodate a cue and your unlikely to find that in a run of the mill engineers workshop. Your even more unlikely to find a cue maker who will let you near his lathe.

Think about what you want to do and how you can do it and then research into what lathes there are that could provide the solution. Then youll have costs and 3 phase power sources and weights of machines and a million other problems.
But if you want to start up cue making then its an expensive hobby, we are talking 1000's and a fair few of them just for the tools, then the wood is another massive cost if its own. And be warned, its addictive!!!

Ooh by the way im selling my pillar drill, perfectly good for drilling badge holes. Ive picked up another one. £50 and its yours, will even meet you at ringwood to exchange.

[MikeWooldridge]

will even meet you at ringwood to exchange.

pfft! didn't meet me at ringwood to collect the lathe...

[jim evans]

haha like it,prob you didnt give proper handshake

[poolqjunkie]

You dont need a lathe to do ferrules, actually, you can install a socket without a lathe, too, or send to have it done.
Buy a cue lather specially built for cue repair from the US is only about $1000-$1500 USD. It is pretty much ready to be used right off the box.

[JasonOwen]

pfft! didn't meet me at ringwood to collect the lathe...

Mike, you dont even know where Ringwood is?
You overshot Bournemouth so far that I thought youd ended up in Cornwall !!

[scottd9993]

Thanks Jason,
I've been looking into lathe's for a while and still want to but i'll get a few cues to the correct stage before i need to invest, maybe months down the line. I have plenty of ash drying out and also a good supplier of dry in the meantime!! Also have a source of exotic woods, just waiting on the delivery of ebony and hopefully get started splicing! I'm already addicted, and the main reason is i love pool and snooker and want #1 to be my cue, and the rest up for grabs!!

Thanks for the offer on the pillar drill, thats awesome, ill let you know when im ready to insert the badges and see if its still up for grabs!!

Have you tried any cues with 4 face splices yet??

[scottd9993]

have you put ferrules on cues well yourself then? how do you go about your 'sockets'??

[scottd9993]

sorry that was for poolqjunkie!!

[poolqjunkie]

have you put ferrules on cues well yourself then? how do you go about your 'sockets'??

Yes, I had in the past. With a ferrule tenon cutter. It is a much cheaper machine to buy than a lathe. It cuts the tenon for your ferrule to go on.

If it is a 3/4 butt you can also use a drill press to do the socket. If it is a one piece cue you can do it with a drill but you need some set up so the drill can go in horizontally with the cue mounted. It is not easy.

If you dont want to spend any money on any half decent lathe, the best way is probably to just pay your cue maker to get it done right. It really is not worth it to save that little bit of money and risk butchering all your hard work on a socket.

As for building a cue you dont need a lathe to do it.