Odd behavior after recovering pool table
3/11/2009 11:13:53 AM
Odd behavior after recovering pool table
Hello, after recovering my table I notice that when any ball comes to rest it seems to rock and settle into a spot. The action is like they are on a screen and they are settling into the holes of the screen. Is this normal for new cloth and will it disappear after it is played on more? I stretched the felt as hard as I could and there are no wrinkles, the balls rolls straight and smoothly.
Odd behavior after recovering pool table
Replies & Comments
Justanotherevolutionary on 3/11/2009 1:48:56 PMWhat kind of felt is it? If you rub it really hard does it wrinkle up? (boy that sounds bad) Is it a slate table or wood/slatron? Was the slate clean when you put the felt on? Could be any of those, I've played on brand new felt and never seen this before. The only time I have seen that, is on loose felt. I recently played at a hall where they put top of the line Simonis on and it is so loose when you put your bridge down it wrinkles, pretty sad, big waste of money. The action on the balls was similar to what you explained. =/ Kinda wobble to a stop.
socrbob on 3/12/2009 4:16:30 PM
JUE, thank you for the reply. The felt is Championship Titan, it is tight in all directions, does not bunch or wrinkle up when you try to push it. I brushed and vacuumed the 7/8" slate before putting the felt on. It has me confused as I can not think of anything else that would cause this.
Three Brothers Billiards on 4/1/2009 7:32:18 AMI have seen this before, but I don't know what causes it. I would say just let it settle in for a couple of months and see if it goes away.
TBB, thanks for the reply. Guess I will just have to enjoy my table and hope it settles down.
billiardsforum on 4/1/2009 6:15:45 PMThe cause is that your cloth is brand new and has not compressed (for lack of a better word).
Basically, the more you play it, the more compressed it becomes.
It's like rolling a golf ball on tall grass, versus the fairway. As the cloth compresses over time, it essentially becomes more dense, and thus, the balls don't "sink in". This equals less friction. Friction is what is causing the balls to come to an "abrupt" stop.
The general rule of thumb with cloth thickness is that there are tradeoffs to be made in determining cloth thickness.
"The thickness of the cloth determines the speed, accuracy and responsiveness of the table to spin, thicker cloths being more hard-wearing but slower and less responsive. "
However, thicker cloth will allow easier jumps, since there is some "give" under the ball which effectively produces "bounce" (see a few of the "slow mo" shots in the video at the very bottom of this site...)
What type of cloth did you use? There are low quality cloths and high quality cloths, and you'll notice this issue less the higher up in quality you go. (With Simonis being the widely accepted best in class)
You can see from this image (from simonis' web site) that the lower quality one is going to allow the balls to sink into them more.
RRF on 1/17/2010 4:49:18 PM
Hi All, I just joined the Forum because I have the exact same problem with my new Titan Championship cloth, and I am not very happy about it.
Every ball "rocks" as it comes to a stop. It is very hard to get a proper rack as at least one ball will "fall away" from the rack balls. Very soft shots may change direction.
Other players have commented on the table not being level when they see this effect. But after double-checking the table and several rolls over the same spot, and the table is confirmed level. It is a Brunswick table, circa 1912, and is in excellent condition.
The cloth was stretched very tight but close inspection shows it is not a very smooth cloth.
I made some videos, maybe I should post them.
Mitch Alsup on 1/19/2010 9:17:33 AM
Suggestion: Take an Iron and Iron the cloth. This will compress the fabric and make it faster at teh same time.
Alternate suggestion: Brush the cloth in a single direction over its entire surface.
Odd behavior after recovering pool table
- Title: Odd behavior after recovering pool table
- Author: socrbob (Robert Burns)
- Published: 3/11/2009 11:13:53 AM
