Pool Cue Maintenance on SS Lathe

[charlese]

Brian - Please excuse me for calling you James - I was thinking of James Miller's post.

Both James and jbooher had the same answer I would give. A Talon Chuck should work just fine. If not, Shopsmith has a very liberal return policy.

[bdhoward]

jpg40504,

All of your assumptions are spot on... And my assumption was that the OD of the part that would need to fit into the chuck was 0.625" (the mating part). However, you brought up an interesting question about which part is 0.625" diameter. I will request info from their tech support/sales. I had also considered the possibility of having a machine shop mill it down to fit into the drill chuck.

I did check on some other cue manufacturing sites and it looks like they use an alignment chuck similar to the talon, but with 6 jaws and very high precision. The chuck alone retails for $425 and likely won't mate up to the SS.

Thanks everybody for the thoughts. I know somebody out there has done some cue work on a SS. Hopefully they will read this. Cue makers and technicians use smaller lathes designed specifically for the art/trade, but since I just want to tinker, I don't want to spend $5K on an experiment.

[JPG]

If the 'smaller' part is 1/2" then I would recommend the router chuck over the drill chuck. It will be sturdier and may have less runout.

If it is bigger, get them turned down to .500 +0 -as small as possible [turned, not milled]

By the way....what supports cue at the 'tailstock' end??????

[bdhoward]

OK, one last question on the subject since it seems that we are closing in on the Talon as a solution.

Please consider that I know nothing about the Talon (besides what it looks like) at this point.

I believe that the suggestion is to insert the cue maintenance arbor into the jaws where I am assuming one would normally be inserting a piece of wood. If that is the suggestion, it must be safe to clamp the jaws down on a piece of stainless steel rather than a piece of wood.

Does that sound right?

P.S. I was hoping to do the job cheaper, but I am finding that nothing that is done right is cheap.

[JPG]

No doubt a 'Talon" chuck would be "better".

Lots of $$$$$ though!

I would start with a cheaper alternative FIRST. You can always get BETTER later after proving it is feasible.

[bdhoward]

jpg40504,

If you are actually turning the wood, there is a live center that goes in the tail stock.

If you are just doing finishing work, i.e. filling dings, reducing diameter (via sandpaper), replacing ferrules or tips, the tip end just floats. It is light and sturdy enough that there is no need to attach it to the tail stock.

But my intention is to start by building joint protectors, which are small pieces of wood turned to the same OD of the cue. Joint pins are inserted in one end and collars in the other. They are used to protect the joint when the cue is broken down. Link of example attached.


http://www.poolndarts.com/p-5354-Dymond ... Joint-Cap/

[JPG]

jpg40504,

If you are just doing finishing work, i.e. filling dings, reducing diameter (via sandpaper), replacing ferrules or tips, the tip end just floats. It is light and sturdy enough that there is no need to attach it to the tail stock.

Hope the que isnt 'warped',but then it wouldn't be a very good que would it?

[charlese]

I did check on some other cue manufacturing sites and it looks like they use an alignment chuck similar to the talon, but with 6 jaws and very high precision. The chuck alone retails for $425 and likely won't mate up to the SS.
.

Wait just a second or two - - There are a lot of lathe chuck adapters out there. If you can find out the size and threads per inch on the 6 jaw chuck - you may be able to find an adapter that will fit a 5/8" shaft like on the Shopsmith.

Read this - http://www.shopsmith.net/forums/showthr ... k+adapters

And take a gander at this- http://www.oneway.ca/chucks/adaptors.htm

Best wishes!

[horologist]

Brian,

How about a detailed description of how the chuck is used? How much precision/concentricity is required?
I'm still having trouble picturing it in my mind.

From appearances it would would seem that it should be simple to make something that will work with the Shopsmith.
Based on experience with my Nova mini chuck I suspect that any attempt to grip a metal chuck with a wood turning chuck will not work well. They seem to need that slight compression of the wood to help hold the work.

No doubt it is possible to adapt a metal working chuck to the SS but this won't be cheap either. I believe a simpler solution exists!

Troy

[Ed in Tampa]

Why not mount a solid piece of wood on a face plate then turn a socket in it to hold the coupler? In fact I would be tempted to get two face plates permanently(glue)mount them to the face plate and true a block of wood on each. I would then turn a socket which by nature would be perfectly lined up to your machine and then I would glue the coupler in it. You would end up with both a female and male connector perfectly aligned to your machine to which you could then attach you cues.

Please keep us informed on you progress. My neighbor across the street is quickly rising through the ranks of amateurs. They did an article on her in the Pool Digest this month. She has won a few tournaments and often awarded cue sticks as prizes. Some of them are true works of art. I have more an once thought of trying my hand at making a stick. Most of the shafts that she has are made of 8+ wedge shaped segments much like a fishing fly rod. the real art is found in the handle.

I have one concern that site that contained the picture of the connector also offers for sale real ivory. I thought Ivory was taken off the market to keep poachers from shoting elephants. How are they selling it?