Mike Wooldridge Cue Lathe?

[ferret]

I got an idea, all you need to do is add £4,000 to the £3,500 and give me a call

[thelongbomber]

Just a few questions mike

Will cue making instructions also cover selection of wood and grading requirements as well as possible list of suppliers cos we get crap cue shaft timbers here.

Ya good question. I'm very interested in wood knowledge too. I'm currently sourcing out wood information and suppliers here locally as I'm getting into experimenting with Ash shaft making.

[MikeWooldridge]

Just a few questions mike

Will cue making instructions also cover selection of wood and grading requirements as well as possible list of suppliers cos we get crap cue shaft timbers here.

i can help with that when the time comes

I'm intrigued. So far I've made one, one piece cue at the tail end of last year, in the most labour intensive manner I think, using a blunt jack plane, a hand saw and a piece of 2.5"x2.5"x2m ash, some Amboyna Burr and some ebony. Just how much easier is it with a lathe? I can understand it should be much easier, but I'm guessing there are different pitfalls.

been there, done it. hard work eh?

there are many ways to build a cue. a lathe is essential for joint work, but can also be utilised for many other operations.

this will make everything easier and repeatable.

[sanman]

Yest another question mike
OK 2

FIRSTLY IS THE LATHE POWER SUPPLY GONNA BE SINGLE PHASE OR 3 PHASE COS I DONT HAVE ACCESS TO 3 PHASE

SECONDLY WHEN ARE YOU OOKING AT GETTING THE PROJECT OFF THE GROUND AND WOULD REQUIRE INTIAL DEPOSITS SHOULD WE BE INTERESTED

[MikeWooldridge]

Yest another question mike
OK 2

FIRSTLY IS THE LATHE POWER SUPPLY GONNA BE SINGLE PHASE OR 3 PHASE COS I DONT HAVE ACCESS TO 3 PHASE

SECONDLY WHEN ARE YOU OOKING AT GETTING THE PROJECT OFF THE GROUND AND WOULD REQUIRE INTIAL DEPOSITS SHOULD WE BE INTERESTED

single phase.

yes, deposit required.

if you're interested i'll let you know more when i know more myself.

[poolqjunkie]

Good luck with this venture. I think it is awesome that you are building something to help people getting into cue making. With your expertise and experience I have no doubt it would be an awesome lathe.
I have had some US made cue lathes before and what I have found is that they took up much less room and are usually quite a bit lighter.
It does not just save room and space but also allows the cue maker to bring the lathe to some tournaments to do cue repair for players. Some tournaments last quite a few days and I know these cue doctors can make quite a bit of money doing it. (e.g USD$30 to install a Moori tip and $55 for a ferrule..when it is busy the guy can make from several hundreds to thousands a day depending on how long he is willing to work and how fast he is). Some professional tournaments are held along side with amateur tournaments so there could be thousands of people everyday.
I am not sure if things like that is common in the UK, may be on the 9/10 ball tour in the UK they are?
Some cue lathes I have seen are very light and portable which are only designed for doing tips and ferrules and those kind of simple jobs. They are cheaper and are mainly designed for doing cue repair in a local club or tournaments.
Then there are the more complex lathes with more power and features and to go more fancy you can also buy a CNC lathe. Most US cue lathes are designed for 29" butts and shafts so you do need a bed extension and some steady rests to hold a one piece cue. If you want to use a router with a tapering bar to taper your shafts the tapering bar is not long enough for snooker cues.
Some cue lathes such as the Chris Hightower lathe, are modified from a Taig lathe.
Unique Product, Christ Hightower, and Joe Porper are the msot common ones in the US.
You probably already know that but in case you are interested here are some links for your reference:
http://www.uniqueinc.com/
http://www.cuesmith.com/index.php?me...lathe_supplies
http://www.porper.com/index.cfm?CFID...&productID=100
Best wishes to your new venture. :-)

[MikeWooldridge]

Good luck with this venture. I think it is awesome that you are building something to help people getting into cue making. With your expertise and experience I have no doubt it would be an awesome lathe.
I have had some US made cue lathes before and what I have found is that they took up much less room and are usually quite a bit lighter.
It does not just save room and space but also allows the cue maker to bring the lathe to some tournaments to do cue repair for players. Some tournaments last quite a few days and I know these cue doctors can make quite a bit of money doing it. (e.g USD$30 to install a Moori tip and $55 for a ferrule..when it is busy the guy can make from several hundreds to thousands a day depending on how long he is willing to work and how fast he is). Some professional tournaments are held along side with amateur tournaments so there could be thousands of people everyday.
I am not sure if things like that is common in the UK, may be on the 9/10 ball tour in the UK they are?
Some cue lathes I have seen are very light and portable which are only designed for doing tips and ferrules and those kind of simple jobs. They are cheaper and are mainly designed for doing cue repair in a local club or tournaments.
Then there are the more complex lathes with more power and features and to go more fancy you can also buy a CNC lathe. Most US cue lathes are designed for 29" butts and shafts so you do need a bed extension and some steady rests to hold a one piece cue. If you want to use a router with a tapering bar to taper your shafts the tapering bar is not long enough for snooker cues.
Some cue lathes such as the Chris Hightower lathe, are modified from a Taig lathe.
Unique Product, Christ Hightower, and Joe Porper are the msot common ones in the US.
You probably already know that but in case you are interested here are some links for your reference:
http://www.uniqueinc.com/
http://www.cuesmith.com/index.php?me...lathe_supplies
http://www.porper.com/index.cfm?CFID...&productID=100
Best wishes to your new venture. :-)

yes, i investigated these many years ago. i own a cuesmith and porper. they are useful, nice and compact, but lack some features and accuracy i feel.

i use a 'real' engineers lathe for the 'important' stuff but i still use both for certain jobs, mainly sanding/roughing/early work. they are not the all singing all dancing machines they claim to be, but of course they are designed for 2pc american pool cues and are more than capable of doing the job in the right hands.

i will be doing something along similar lines to the cuesmith cos i love the idea of the size and portability, but hopefully i'll get it absolutely right and get all the features in it that i feel are needed.

i was going to invest in a german mid size cnc lathe next but instead decided to do this. let's hope i get it right...

[gazza147]

Hiya Mike please check your e-mail.


Cheers Gaz.

[The Doctor]

I have my own little peatol(taig)lathe. It has a large 1 3/8th" bore and very small footprint(only about 1.6').
I have a bed extension that can go either side of the main bed and allows me to do all cue work(ferrules,joints etc)
The only thing i would like to add to it is a taper bar, so i can attach a router to taper the shafts making it quicker than im currently doing by hand.
Its a great little machine and is easily portable. The headstock was specially ordered for me from USA so it was a little expensive buy it will pay its way in no time.

[MikeWooldridge]

I have my own little peatol(taig)lathe. It has a large 1 3/8th" bore and very small footprint(only about 1.6').
I have a bed extension that can go either side of the main bed and allows me to do all cue work(ferrules,joints etc)
The only thing i would like to add to it is a taper bar, so i can attach a router to taper the shafts making it quicker than im currently doing by hand.
Its a great little machine and is easily portable. The headstock was specially ordered for me from USA so it was a little expensive buy it will pay its way in no time.

yes, i'm familiar with taig stuff. did the headstock come from nick carter or chris hightower? or maybe someone else i don't know about...

[The Doctor]

Not sure to be honest m8. I got a guy called Peter Morrison from Peatol lathes uk to order it for me. He was very helpful.

[poolqjunkie]

I had some problems before with the pinion gear and the powerfeed got stuck a few times on my ChrisHightowr. It was not as powerful as a real metal lathe, which si really the only problem I have had. The motor would jerk and jump up everytime I turned it on but I got used to it after a while/
With a Taig if you get a large bore you are basically good to go for working on snooker cues for the basic stuff...how much did you pay fro the headstock if you dont mind me asking...
Tapering bar you can buy from Chris Hightower. I believe you can tell him it is for snooker cues and he can set it up for you differently.
I sold my Chrishightower lathe a long time ago. If not I could send you the tapering bar.
Planning the shaft is the fun part though I think. You can see the high and low parts of the shafts as you plane. Doing it with a router kind of take the fun out of it as I just basically push a button then wait for the powerfeed to pass the router back and forth.:-) But for sure I agree it could save you lots of time.
I use my hand planes a lot these days, but with joints I use my metal lathe. I do my ferrule and tips on a little lathe I got from Unique. Soemtimes I just do the tips by hand. :-)

[The Doctor]

I got the headstock for around £250 i think although i got it as a whole package.
I also fitted a speed control switch to the motor so i can have it at any speed.
I would be interested in the taper bar if you still have it buddy.

[MikeWooldridge]

I got the headstock for around £250 i think although i got it as a whole package.
I also fitted a speed control switch to the motor so i can have it at any speed.
I would be interested in the taper bar if you still have it buddy.

i might be able to help you on that score.

email me pics of what you actually have. i have some parts here that you may need.

[poolqjunkie]

I dont have it anymore. Sorry.
It was a custom tapering bar he built for US pool cues, it had a rubber piece that was attached to a metal bar. You can attach the router to the tool post and there was an automatic powerfeed that you can turn on so the router would just move along the length of the shaft and cut your taper for you. There was a roller which touched the tapering bar with a spring mechanism so as the powerfeed moved the tool post would move the router following the profile of the tapering bar.
I never tried it on snooker cue, and I no longer have the lathe.
The tapering bar was only about 30" or so long if I remember correctly. I did not really use it that much as the power feed was stuck a few times but I think it was a easy fix although I never bother to.
I had the delux hightower lathe with all the options, I paid about USD$3800 for it including postage I think. It was very heavy. No way can a person move that all by himself bare handed.