Varsity2016 said:
for a break cue.....what do you prefer and why.... phenolic tip or hard tip.... a light break cue or heavy
There was a lengthy discussion of this a while back. You might search for it. Here is a small excerpt:
How does shaft diameter, cue weight, vertical angle, and break location (breaking head on is a shorter distance than from the rail) affect the break?
There are two schools of thought regarding break cues: heavy cues and light ones. A heavy cue stick travelling slower can result in as much force as a lighter cue stick travelling faster. However, the current trend is to use a cue stick closer to the weight of your playing cue, or perhaps a hair lighter...
1. Does a stiff taper offer higher break velocity?
How would you verify this? If you change the taper on a cue, you would change the weight, resulting in different measurements...
2. Does a phenolic tip offer higher break velocity? If so, how much?
A phenolic tip will absorb less of the impact (as compared to a softer tip). This in turn will result in more energy going somewhere. It could result in more velocity, or a jumping cue ball, or more spin on the cue ball, etc. [some results below.]
3. What is the optium weight for maximum break velocity for each player?
A player may have two cues that result in exactly the same velocity, one heavy and one light. The player will most likely be able to accelerate a lighter cue more than the heavy one over the course of the forward swing, but they might both result in the same KE.
4. Does the joint make a difference?
Look up the speed of vibrations through wood. The cue tip might be in contact with the cue ball for .001 sec. The longitudinal (compression) waves will most likely not make it through the joint and back in time for the joint to make a difference in this short time.
5. Will a jump/break cue break less solid than a full breaking cue because of the difference in balance and the presence of an extra quick release joint?
Mine did.
6. Will a player break better from a certain point on the table consistently? If so, where is it? And how much higher is the increase in velocity?
There have been statistical studies showing that breaking from the rail increases balls made on the break. I don't believe that break speed was a consideration in that study. I don't think that breaking from one place on the table affects velocity. A player has a maximum break speed no matter where they align. (i.e., if Hillbilly Bryant can break 35 MPH from the center spot, he can break 35 MPH from the rail...)
<from a second post>
I have a number of cues that I've used for breaking over the years. So
one day I decided to do a little experiment with a few of them. I grabbed the following cues:
- J&J jump break with phenolic tip (quick release)
- Bob Frey - shaft (1) with phenolic tip (5/16 x 14 piloted joint - not J/B)
- Bob Frey (same) - shaft (2) with Moori Medium
- Big Log - 20 oz house cue (Dufferin)
- Small log - 18 oz house cue (Dufferin)
I ran to my home room and took out my radar gun and had my good buddy time all my breaks. I did around 10 breaks for each stick, and kept
highly confidential and trade secret protected scientific data on the
back of a beverage napkin.
Speed: *all breaks counted, even if the cue ball went flying to Omaha*
For me, the best speed breaks came from the Frey with Phenolic tip.
I had around a 3-5 MPH slower breaks when using the J&J with phenolic tip. The other cues were just a bit under the J&J, but once or twice I was in the same range. This amounted to about a 15-20% increase in speed. [max with J&J was 22, max with Frey was 25, max with others was 21 (but only did that once); the averages had about the same ranges]
There was almost no difference between Frey with Moori and small log,
but the big log was 1-2 MPH slower. (I'm probably too weak to properly
wield the big log, lol). Overall: Frey with phenolic was fastest, then
J&J, then pick your poison.
Hope this helps
-td
