Re-Tipping Catastrophes...Anybody Had These?

[dmorley85]

I'm pretty good at re-tipping cues now mainly from a lot of practice doing them. But the other night I had an absolute nightmare!
Just wondering if anyone on here has ever had any catastrophes before when re-tipping a cue and their stories.


Here's my story:

I purchased an ADR black edition soft tip through Andrew's Ebay shop recently, fitted it and shaped it so it was a bit flared out from the ferrule and it felt great to play with during the 2 frames that I played on Friday night. Upon playing with it I noticed that there was a bit of residue super-glue gel that was set and still on the ferrule. I'd accidentally got some of the super-glue gel on the ferrule due to not masking the ferrule up high enough and I must have left a little gap with the masking tape between the top of the ferrule and the bottom of the tip. I played these 2 frames on the Friday night with the new tip and then the day after on the Saturday before I played again I thought I know... I'll just use some Loctite glue remover to remove the super-glue off the ferrule. Big mistake! Sure enough the glue remover got the super-glue off the ferrule after I slathered it all over the ferrule and left it for a few hours, but upon wiping the excess glue remover off the ferrule, the tip just came off as well! Nightmare! I cleaned the ferrule up and re-sanded the bottom of the tip and managed to glue the tip back on pretty much flush to the ferrule, that was a bit of luck as it's hard to do! I played 4 frames last night (Saturday) but during the middle of my fourth frame I noticed that there was a noticeable gap between the bottom layer of the tip and the second layer and I could move the tip about left to right between these 2 layers by pressing it with my finger! I couldn't believe it, the tip had come apart between the bottom layer and second layer due to my own stupidity of slathering the ferrule with the glue remover. Obviously some of this glue remover had also got in between the bottom layer and second layer of the tip as well as underneath the tip in the first place! I've attached a picture of the sorry sight of my cue with just the one layer of tip left on it when I got home after my four frames! The only good thing about this was that I won my 2 frames on the Friday with the new tip & won all 4 frames on the Saturday (although I had to swap my cue with a crappy club cue in the middle of the fourth frame due to me realising that the tip had come apart between the bottom and second layer!) For all I know these 2 layers on the tip could've been apart right from the first frame but I only noticed it in the fourth frame!

A word of warning - don't use glue remover to take any glue off a cue (apart from if there's some glue on the shaft) I don't know what I was thinking looking back now using this on the ferrule, luckily this glue remover didn't loosen the ferrule, just the tip!

Picture is attached of the sorry sight of just the one layer that was left on my cue with some masking tape around the shaft before I cleaned all the ferrule up again and took this one layer off! On goes another tip (probably just an Elk for now) until I wait for my new one to be delivered from Andrew and then I can put this one on.

Picture of just the one layer that was left on my cue! - https://ibb.co/kfS5ac

[markz]

Having read that, if I was you I'd not be trying to replace a ferrule anytime soon, leave it to the guys that know what they are doing.

[dmorley85]

Having read that, if I was you I'd not be trying to replace a ferrule anytime soon, leave it to the guys that know what they are doing.

Well I won't be using glue remover again to get glue off the ferrule anyway! It was just mainly a warning to other members not to use this stuff. I've certainly learnt my lesson from using it anyway! Was just wondering if anyone else has ever had any disasters before.

[Mark187187]

I delaminated a kamui black on my pool cue first time i tried to installed one. My blade probably wasn't sharp enough because I pulled a couple of layers apart when i was trimming down to size. Any other tips, including laminated tips, I've never had any problem with. I always get kamui blacks installed by someone with a lathe now, because they seem to be fairly easily damaged when trimming.

The biggest disaster I had was actually when I got a retip at a local sport shop. Small independent who advertised a professional retipping service. It was US pool cue, with a plastic ferrule. Anyway, they evidently didn't know what they were doing, they couldn't get the old tip off and had no idea how to trim the new one. When I picked up the cue it had big gauges out of the ferrule and top of the shaft, where they'd gone crazy with a pair of pliars, cut into the ferrule with a razor, and then sanded the ferrule with what must have been a high grit paper. Wish I'd taken photos, because it was about as big a disaster as is possible. It was a fairly cheap cue, under £100, and the shop owner replaced it without too much fuss. But, I nearly blew up when I first saw it.

[narl]

I retipped my legend cue last night and was dreading it as I've made an utter balls of it a few times in the past. However it turned out well, just need to trim it in a little and burnish it.

[dmorley85]

Nice job above. What tip is it. Doesn't really looks like it needs trimming much, just a burnish around the side wall.

[narl]

Nice job above. What tip is it. Doesn't really looks like it needs trimming much, just a burnish around the side wall.

A blackspin tip, the red layer is a fibre pad which is separate, have to glue that on, trim it in then glue the tip to the ferrule. Just needs a little more doming and a burnish really

[sharkster63]

A blackspin tip, the red layer is a fibre pad which is separate, have to glue that on, trim it in then glue the tip to the ferrule. Just needs a little more doming and a burnish really

Mike is alway's finding ways to improve on existing products. I think that is a very smart way of protecting the ferrule, when you change your tip the red colour will help you aim your blade and the red will show you when you are back to the ferrule and only need to remove the glue. Impressed...

[narl]

Mike is alway's finding ways to improve on existing products. I think that is a very smart way of protecting the ferrule, when you change your tip the red colour will help you aim your blade and the red will show you when you are back to the ferrule and only need to remove the glue. Impressed...

It's more of a functional thing for blackspin ferrules, it does aid in retipping but it also protects the ferrule from damage while playing.

I generally use one of those tip top grinder things to get the ferrule flat and then put the pad and tip on.

If you go here and click on blackspin and go to "what tip" it explains why it's needed handmadecues.com/key-features/

[MrRottweiler]

I got pretty good at retipping when I worked at a club and there were always cues that needed new tips. One day we decided to start retipping them all at the same time and making sure we did a good job of it so they would last longer which would mean less work for us in the long run. It took a few days but it worked and the tips lasted much longer and the cheapskates few who would rather steal a tip than buy one could no longer rip them off to put on their own cues. The way they were applied meant if you tried to tear them off it would make it split and leave a big chunk of it on the cue.

I had a retipping disaster once when I had retipped my cue and got ready for a match making sure the table was brushed and ironed and the balls cleaned etc. I was ready and rearing to go when I went to the lav pre match. While at the urinal I leaned my cue case against the wall not realising I had put it in a large puddle or urine and my cue case had a hole in it. The tip and ferrule were soaking wet so I had to apologise to my mate and rush home to sort it out.

[thai_son22]

I got pretty good at retipping when I worked at a club and there were always cues that needed new tips. One day we decided to start retipping them all at the same time and making sure we did a good job of it so they would last longer which would mean less work for us in the long run. It took a few days but it worked and the tips lasted much longer and the cheapskates few who would rather steal a tip than buy one could no longer rip them off to put on their own cues. The way they were applied meant if you tried to tear them off it would make it split and leave a big chunk of it on the cue.

I had a retipping disaster once when I had retipped my cue and got ready for a match making sure the table was brushed and ironed and the balls cleaned etc. I was ready and rearing to go when I went to the lav pre match. While at the urinal I leaned my cue case against the wall not realising I had put it in a large puddle or urine and my cue case had a hole in it. The tip and ferrule were soaking wet so I had to apologise to my mate and rush home to sort it out.

That is disgusting hahaha

[Csmith]

I usually can't be bothered to retip myself and don't have the tools to do it myself either, though I should invest in some basic stuff.

But part of the reason is there is a local guy with a lathe who does amazing work. Not only does he do a great job with the tip but he cleans the cue and ferrul up so that the cue looks brand new. The down side is that he works out of his home (which is out of my way) and you may not get your cue back for a week or more depending on back log and time constraints.

This one time I was in dire need and I had heard my local room will retip cues, so I gave it a try. But when I picked it up he had slapped a 10mm tip on a 9.5mm cue tip and didn't cut it down. It was like my cue was wearing a hat, it was ridiculous. Not only that but he had made a right mess of everything with the glue, it looked like primary school crafts activity. I couldn't believe he expected me to pay $12 to do a worse job than I would have done myself even without the proper tools.

I learned my lesson about going to someone other than usual guy. I brought it back to him and him cut the new tip off and do it properly.

[Davebarker1978]

I got pretty good at retipping when I worked at a club and there were always cues that needed new tips. One day we decided to start retipping them all at the same time and making sure we did a good job of it so they would last longer which would mean less work for us in the long run. It took a few days but it worked and the tips lasted much longer and the cheapskates few who would rather steal a tip than buy one could no longer rip them off to put on their own cues. The way they were applied meant if you tried to tear them off it would make it split and leave a big chunk of it on the cue.

I had a retipping disaster once when I had retipped my cue and got ready for a match making sure the table was brushed and ironed and the balls cleaned etc. I was ready and rearing to go when I went to the lav pre match. While at the urinal I leaned my cue case against the wall not realising I had put it in a large puddle or urine and my cue case had a hole in it. The tip and ferrule were soaking wet so I had to apologise to my mate and rush home to sort it out.

Lol! You should of let it dry out and see how the tip played. Some of the best inventions have been found by accident. it might be better than milk duds

Of course you would have to monitor what you drink throughout the day to ensure consistency.

[Shockerz]

Lol! You should of let it dry out and see how the tip played. Some of the best inventions have been found by accident. it might be better than milk duds

Of course you would have to monitor what you drink throughout the day to ensure consistency.

You could drink milk and kill twp birds with one stone!

[MrRottweiler]

I usually can't be bothered to retip myself and don't have the tools to do it myself either, though I should invest in some basic stuff.

But part of the reason is there is a local guy with a lathe who does amazing work. Not only does he do a great job with the tip but he cleans the cue and ferrul up so that the cue looks brand new. The down side is that he works out of his home (which is out of my way) and you may not get your cue back for a week or more depending on back log and time constraints.

This one time I was in dire need and I had heard my local room will retip cues, so I gave it a try. But when I picked it up he had slapped a 10mm tip on a 9.5mm cue tip and didn't cut it down. It was like my cue was wearing a hat, it was ridiculous. Not only that but he had made a right mess of everything with the glue, it looked like primary school crafts activity. I couldn't believe he expected me to pay $12 to do a worse job than I would have done myself even without the proper tools.

I learned my lesson about going to someone other than usual guy. I brought it back to him and him cut the new tip off and do it properly.

The magic advice I was told was to always make slight incisions in to the base of the tip and also on the tip of the cue so the glue seeps in to this and makes a stronger bond.

Something else I always do is before I get the glue out I find a place I can wedge the cue after the tip has been put on that will exert force on to the tip. A doorway, or hallway are good places for this and once I've found the ideal spot I'll put the tip on and immediately wedge it in place to let the glue set.