Tip Replacement
By badandy
Date: Sat, Apr 5, 2003 @ 00:00:00 CST
Topic: Maintaining your Pool Equipment


Over time i have found a method of installing tips that look every bit as good as a professional install. It works on single and multi layered tips, I am currently using Moori.

I use a bench grinder to do the major diameter shape before the tip is installed which is the hardest part of installing a tip. By doing the diameter shape while not on the stick saves a lot of vibration on the glue weld and less chance to hammer the ferrule. Take the tip on its edge like you are going to roll it, and hold the top and bottom of the tip which is now on the sides with an index finger from each hand and use the thumbs to apply pressure on the back edge of the tip. This pushes the front edge against the spinning grinding wheel. It is like touching the tips of your two index fingers together in front of you with the tip in between your fingers. The wheel will automatically rotate the tip just like it is rolling along. It will slowly shave off the edge as it is also slowly spinning which results in a nice circular shaved tip. Keep checking the tip diameter against the ferrule until you have the desired size. You might want to leave it just a little bigger then the ferrule for final shaping. It takes about 10 minutes on the grinding wheel so don’t be worried about grinding off too much at once. If you push too hard it will stop spinning, it takes a light touch and will seem like you are not making any progress.

When done, sand the bottom of the tip to give it a better glue surface. Place one layer of masking tape over the ferrule to keep it clean, then put some Barge glue on the tip and on the ferrule and let sit for about 5 minutes or what ever it said on the tube. Press together and hold on with rubber bands. I use the tip protector partially unscrewed and place the rubber band between the protector and the shaft at one end and put other end over the tip. The last time i just set the shaft tip down on a bench and place a weight on the other end.  this allow free sight of the tip and make sure it is centered.  I Let it sit over night.

When glued, I use paint mixing sticks with sandpaper attached to use as a file. I tried real files but they do not shave the tip as well as sandpaper. I have one stick with 100 G and one with 220 G. look at the tip and if needed do final sanding of the sides of the tip to get the exact straight up and down side or slight taper. (Keep the tape on the ferrule). By rolling the Q stick on a flat surface back and forth and at the same time using the sander stick on the side of the tip in the opposite direction gives a nice circular shaving effect, no flat spots on the side.

Once the sides are nice and straight, shape the top to a dime. I find the tip shapers that you stick your cue in tip first and spin back and forth are too slow but is great as a final tip shaping touch up. I use a shaping tool that is just a curved plastic stick with sandpaper and cost about $3, it looks like toilet paper roll cut in half length-wise. This cuts the shape real fast and you keep going round while sanding until it looks good then finish it off with the above mentioned tip shaping tool to get the dime shape even all the way around. Just wet the fingers to wipe the sides of the tip and burnish with a piece of leather.

The whole process takes about ½ to 1 hour minus the gluing time. I usually compare the end result with a professional installed tip to check my results and make any adjustments if necessary. I have been using tweetens glue (not sure of spelling) but my last couple of tips have been popping off. I do not know if the Meucci ferrule, which is stain resistant, is also glue resistant and requires different glue. I changed to Barge glue and love it. It is easy to use, no sloppy dripping mess, plenty of time to adjust the tip to get it centered and once on it stays on.

You may be able to use some of these suggestions for your install. It is satisfying to do it your self and not look like a hack job.





This article comes from Easy Pool Tutor
http://www.easypooltutor.com

The URL for this lesson is:
http://www.easypooltutor.com/article37.html

Copyright Notice: The copyright in materials on this site and in this web site as a whole is owned by Easy Pool Tutor. The copyright in some materials incorporated within this web site is owned by third parties. You may view this article using your web browser or print out a copy solely for your own personal and non-commercial use, research or study, but with the following restrictions: (i) You may not modify the copy from how it appears in this web-site, (ii) You may not remove any trademark, copyright or other notice contained in such content, (iii) You may not republish any of the site's content on any Internet, Intranet or Extranet site or incorporate the content in any database, compilation, archive or cache, (iv) You may not distribute any of the site's content to others, whether or not for payment or other consideration, and you may not modify, copy, frame, reproduce, sell, publish, transmit, display or otherwise use any portion of the content without the written consent of owner. Distributing, modifying, transmitting, reusing, re-posting any materials on this site without the owner's permission is prohibited.