How to Retip a REVO Shaft on a Lathe

This guide walks through the correct process, tools, and materials for replacing the tip on a Predator REVO carbon composite shaft. It's written for cue technicians and experienced DIYers working with a lathe — if you'd rather have it done for you, an authorized Predator Repair Center can handle it start to finish.

Before we machine any material, it’s important to point out that changing the tip silencer should be avoided at all cost. Replacing the silencer forces us to remove vital material from the face of the vault plate which over time could reduce front-end strength and durability. Always check the specifications for the product you’re working on to ensure the vault plate and v-tek tip silencer thickness are within spec before removing any material.

Now, let’s get started. Here is an old tip that needs to be replaced. We want to replace the tip without removing or damaging the red tip silencer. First we’ll face off the tip. You may notice we’re being very aggressive here as you can see how well the tip stays bonded. Leave three-thousandths of inch the old tip intact. Do not cut the black or white vault plate that is after the red tip silencer When done correctly, the silencer should last indefinitely. Now we’ll apply a little alcohol to the face of the silencer so we have a nice clean surface.

Looking closely you can see the tip needs to be cleaned. By blowing it out using our compressed air, we get the pores nice and open. Now that we have some nice clean open pores we’re going to apply our Loctite super glue gel to the tip.

You want to spread the glue around the entire face so it is absorbed into the leather’s pores. We’ll now let that dry for a minute. With our super glue dry, we’re now going to scuff the glue side in a figure 8 on 400 grit sandpaper, allowing us to remove any high spots that could prevent a solid bond with the V-tek tip silencer. Next we’re going to clean the scuffed tip face with alcohol and blow it dry ensuring its clean.

With our tip prepped and existing V-tek tip silencer ready we apply our Loctite super glue gel. Wrap the carbon composite shaft, vault plate, and half of the tip silencer with a piece of tape to protect from glue spillage. Now we’ll bring up our tip and wipe any excess glue off. Avoid getting excess glue on the carbon composite shaft’s surface, the tape should help protect from this. We’ll now wait one minute for it to set and be ready to turn it and shape the tip.

With our tip now dry, we can turn it down. We’ll start with carefully trimming the excess. Make sure you are using a sharp blade. Do not trim the vault plate. Now we’ll begin sanding it down to spec. Avoid sanding the vault plate and the Carbon Composite Shaft. We’ll now sand with 320-grit sandpaper and check.

Using the micrometer, check the diameter of the tip to ensure that it is flush with the shaft. Next, we’ll follow that up with 500 grit and then 600 grit. Use the loctite 495 instant adhesive to apply a thin layer to the outside of the tip. This helps prevent mushrooming of the tip. Now we’ll use the razor to form the tip, then refine the shape with a radius tool and 40- and 80-grit sandpaper. Remember to let the sandpaper and tool do the cutting work for you. Now all that’s left to do is to take some 600 grit sandpaper and take the slight edge off the corners.

Recommended tip diameter tolerance for a smooth transition: +/- .001"