# cue building lathe project



## 11am (Jan 15, 2012)

I'm new here. I am by no stretch a machinist, but I have an honest respect and love for these machines .From time to time I see posts inquiring as to whether or not one can build a custom cue stick on an Atlas 618 lathe. The short answer is yes, but with considerable fixture building. But that, of course is the fun part! I am posting a few pics of the carriage I built from junkyard parts for turning a 30" taper on a shaft. All of the 1/2 Aluminum plate for the fixture was cut on a table saw, as I have no Bridgeport any more. It is accurate to about .300 which is fairly reasonable for wood.If anyone is interested in the details I will gladly post pics, and exchange information, as it is a work in progress, and I could use some input on a dedicated motor to drive the screw which would attach to the aluminum plate directly. Anyway, this setup works perfectly fine. Glad to be here, Thank you


----------



## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

Welcome to the forum.


----------



## BernieW (Sep 12, 2006)

Welcome to the forum. Can't help you with the metal lathe and but the setup does look interesting. Will be watching to see any cue's you make.


----------



## 11am (Jan 15, 2012)

Thanks Bern, What it is essentially, is the routercrafter idea, applied to an atlas 618 lathe , and powered by a screw instead of manually. An elaborate jig if you will, that allows for control of the feed rate, and also automates the process, producing a precision cut taper. A porter cable laminate router is the prime cutting app in all dedicated cue lathes. Great little tool. My other one is for mortising doors

" measure once, cut twice, then throw away":sarcastic:


----------



## BernieW (Sep 12, 2006)

Thanks Jerry for the info. I have made a pool cue or two along the way but have used turning tools to do mine. They came out pretty well considering all handmade but your idea sounds like you could do production work and make a slew of them at a time.


----------



## 11am (Jan 15, 2012)

Yeah, Bern, I guess I'm looking for repeatability concerning tapers. The design factor and the ability to mortise the points accurately are what makes it art, the rest is all mechanical, but none the less requires a zen like approach to precision, which is an art too. At 58, I never cease to amaze myself at the lengths I'll go to achieve a headache, at best and a migraine, more often than not. The process to produce a decent cue will be slow, painful , and financially, unrewarding


----------



## BernieW (Sep 12, 2006)

LOL yep got the headache part. I can see where you are coming from. If I was going into production on most anything I probably would be more automated but I am of the mind set that most of my stuff is handmade and I really don't want it to be a perfect match to the one before. I guess that is why I fell in love with turning. Kinda like old Forrest Gump. Every piece of wood is like a box of chocolates. Ya never know what you will get. lol


----------



## papasombre (Sep 22, 2011)

...If anyone is interested in the details I will gladly post pics said:


> Hi ,Jerri.
> Looking at the pictures in your post and knowing that you are willing to post more of them, I'd like to see how did you attached the router to the threaded bar. Did you use linear motion devices?
> 
> Best regards.


----------



## N'awlins77 (Feb 25, 2011)

Hey Jerry, cool set up! But just wondering, I'm guessing either the cues you are machining are longer then your lathe itself, or you don't want a straight taper, but more of a curved taper? I'm just asking because I was never a "machinist" either, although I did attend trade school to be one, but then took my career more towards the repairing of metal cutting lathes and machines in general, rather then running them. And now I've been in the bis for 30 something years. Anyway, what I'm getting at is, that lathe looks like it has a feed/threaded rod on it, so it will power feed. And, it looks like, like on most lathes, the tailstock will offset to allow tapering. So I'm assuming there's a reason for all the fixturing, as appose to just using the lathe itself? I guess if not for the above reasons, maybe the feed and speeds aren't good for wood working either? Just curious!


----------



## 11am (Jan 15, 2012)

Hi Lee, thanks for the interest. Funny you should ask that question. The problem was that the lathe is based on an atlas 618, allowing for only 18 inches between centers. In order to not have to deal with the issues of size and weight of a dedicated engine lathe. ( I recently moved and was forced to give away my Logan 1248, and my Bridgeport J head miller) I kept only my small lathes. So what that contraption is, is a 618 with an additional bed. The problem was that there was no way to turn a taper on a 618 as a cue shaft requires 30" minimum. Hence the fixture. Actually, the feeds are fine in the back gear, as this type of setup requires an extremely slow feed rate. 55 rpm. The extra tail stock fixture I built is for 1 piece house cues, and sneaky pete construction. It is all pretty much knock down, as the taper attachment come of easily, and a secondary headstock and motor goes in it's place, for tips, furrels, and joint work.


----------



## 11am (Jan 15, 2012)

Poppasombre, I just answered your request with an lenghtly extremely detailed reply and my browser crashed before i could post it for you. I will try again tomorrow, as this really bummed me out, sorry


----------



## 11am (Jan 15, 2012)

Alex, the router is attached to a cross slide, the cross slide is fitted to the transport plate with 2, 10- 24 machine screws, drilled and tapped. The transport plate is attached to the lead nut with 4 8 -32 machine screws. the lead nut is home made to fit the screw. the lead nut is supported level with 2 sliding door guide wheels from home depot. There are no factory made linear motion fixtures. I am in the process of turning down shafts so i can't dis assemble the jig at this time. if you let me know what your trying to do, and how far you've gotten, I'll be glad to help you out . Jerry


----------



## N'awlins77 (Feb 25, 2011)

That's what I figured it was Jerry, length and feed rate. I'm not familiar with the Logan line, but definitely know Bridgeport! Rebuilt many J heads!! Matter of fact, back when I had my own machine repair business, I set up my backyard shed to rebuild them and was going to just specialize in rebuilding Bridgeport heads. Made a pallet to easily mount a head straight up for the ride back to my house. Had a Harbor Freight truck crane mounted on top of my utility bed. Lifted the head and pallet onto a dolly and rolled it into my back yard, up a ramp into the shed. Then I had a chain hoist mounted where I'd lifted it up to a bracket I had made onto my work bench. Then I had a phase converter to test run them. Was going to start buying a few old heads and rebuild them, and sell and take their old one as a trade in, or just rent them one while I fixed my customers head. But then I noticed a trend with customers junking their Bridgeport's when they were really bad, and buying imported mills. Imported mills/heads are too cheap to buy to make a business of rebuilding them. So I scraped the idea. 13 years later, their are only a hand full of Bridgeport's left over here. All imports.


----------



## papasombre (Sep 22, 2011)

Thank you very much for your replay, Jerry.

I have a wood lathe that I want to modify. Since I'm not a skilled person at honing the woodturning tools, I though to adapt a router to the lathe but, before that I want to make the bed larger. I will take some time so I'm picking some ideas up to reach my goal.


----------

