Office (603)
943-5643
Toll-free (877) 293-5832
Len's Cell (603) 759-7249
len@breakandrunbilliards.com
Billiards Retail Store
Retail Van Hirtum Cues
Summary of Equipment at Van Hirtum Custom Cues Workshop
The Van Hirtum Custom Cues shop includes the following major pieces
of equipment:
● Three 13 X 40 Machine lathes, each of which is set up with very
accurate three jaw chuck on the outside of each lathe’s headstock
(a)
Our Shopfox 13 X 40 lathe is
designated for all of our general purpose work
(b)
Our Birmingham 13 X 40 lathe is set up with custom designed taper
bars for cue butt work
(c)
Our Jet 13 X 40 lathe is set up with custom designed taper bars for
shaft work
● We have two wood lathes both of which are used for cue sanding and
repair work one of these lathes was custom made for Len
● We have a 17 inch heavy duty band saw which we use for many facets
of our work including the cutting of point material
● We have a small bench top band saw which we occasionally use for
cutting small inlays
● We have a gantry type four axis CNC machine which has lathe
turning unit which we use for both shafts and butts and this CNC
machine is also configured with an Indexing Head which we use for
cutting our forearm points, inlay pockets and inlays. This is a very solid and reliable CNC machine which we
purchased from K2 CNC products; it is highly accurate and very
versatile.
● We have a four axis Taig CNC Milling Machine which we regularly
use for our high quality inlays and inlay pockets
● Dust Collection: Each major piece of equipment within our shop is
connected to our 5 HP cyclone dust collection system
● Our spray booth, while made in-house has an explosion proof
exhaust motor which is ducted directly to the outside of our
building. This booth
can accommodate three cues at once; we typically apply nine coats of
two part automotive clear coat finish to all of our cues
● We have two heavy
duty table saws; one is a 3 phase, 5 HP unit which we seldom use and
our workhorse table saw is a 5 HP unit equipped with a built in
router table; Len also builds various pieces of custom furniture and
he considers this table saw as critical for his custom furniture
work
● We have two wood planers, including a heavy duty 17 inch planer
which we use for planning rough wood and we have a smaller planer
which we use for varied work including the trimming of point
material and sizing turning squares
● We have a two ton
hydraulic press which is set up with a custom-made Aluminum Plate vise system which we use to compress our veneer stacks;
we take considerable attention to this veneer compression process to
ensure the veneer stacks are consistently sized
● We have a large workbench which Len custom made; the top of this
bench is constructed with Mahogany and Maple and the top alone
weighs in excess of 350 lbs. Len built this workbench to accommodate the clamping needs of
his custom furniture and this bench is heavily used for Len’s Cue
Veneer work. Len
believes that much of a custom cue’s beauty and design comes from
the design, construction and quality of his veneers
● We have an Arbor Press which Len uses to compress cue tips upon
customer request