Rail calibrations

perfectpocketz

perfectpocketz

Banned
After months of designing this machine....I have just received my new rail calibrating machine....waited 4 months for it to get finished...a ton of work was put in to this machine......and it's awesome.
I thought I did some great work on rails before....and I'm sure that I did.....but trust me.....nothing can get much better than using this machine.

I can now calibrate any rail.....to the sub rail......and then calibrate the sub rail to any cushion.

Before this machine all anyone was doing was trying to calibrate the sub rail to the cushion.....and the sub rail was not calibrated to the rail......I was calibrating both.....but no where as accurately as I will now.

Just getting the sub rail to 1- 11/16ths.....and putting the cushion on...is not calibrating the rails. That's why you see the feather strip sticking up by the side pockets.

This machine will allow me to fix rails as close to perfect as possible.....I don't see it getting much better than this....unless the manufacture builds the rails right from the factory........

I've had this machine for 2 days now.....and it works awesome.....everything I hoped for...and more.

After 40 years of playing pool.....and understanding rails and tables.....this machine will help me rebuild rails the way only players understand how a table should play.....and when you get your rails done correctly.....you'll know how a table should play.

Trust me.....it's not ego.....it's years of hard work....and a lot of conversations about rails.

Mark Gregory
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This begs the question. Why didn't the table manufacturers simply build them right to begin with? Or have player's idea of what plays "right" changed and now the tables need to be corrected accordingly?

Isn't it pretty easy to build something from scratch to just about any specification?

JC

Edit: I do understand there is some rubber that's not available any more but did those tables play "right" when they were new?
 
An impressive piece of equipment, Mark. I'm sure you'll do great things with it.
 
JC said:
This begs the question. Why didn't the table manufacturers simply build them right to begin with? Or have player's idea of what plays "right" changed and now the tables need to be corrected accordingly?

Isn't it pretty easy to build something from scratch to just about any specification?

JC

Edit: I do understand there is some rubber that's not available any more but did those tables play "right" when they were new?
Click to expand...

JC....That's a great question....Like I said unless the manufacture builds them right from the factory......And most are doing that......I follow for the most part Brunswick spec's.

What I want people to understand....is that I'm fixing rails that have been hacked up by years of bad mechanics....or just changing cushion sizes....from 66 to 55....or thickness of rails to match up better for the profile of todays cushions.

The manufacture builds there tables...to fit there cushions....and to play all the same.
Now the guy that buys that table years later....and wants to change the cushions to a different brand.....then everything has to change...for the rail to play good with that cushion.

Greg Sullivan of Diamond is trying very hard to make his tables play perfectly with Artemis cushions.....and with Glen's help.....and some of mine....the table's real close.

Players want a table to play according to feel and touch.....if they hit a ball a into the cushion a certain speed...they expect that ball to come off the cushion at a certain speed...when that don't happen...players start to play tentative...and things go badly from there.

The thickness of the rail....the way the cushions glued on......the bolt system....the type of wood the rails made off....are all factors of how the table plays.

What I'm trying to do...is take old tables......calibrate the entire rail to the cushion i'm using on that table.

We all know what's next......the pocket angles...and size.....now that's going to be another test for sure.

Don't misunderstand me.....I'm not saying my way is the only way.......I'm very happy with the way the rails I do play.....so are a lot of my customers........now I think I have made and improvement.

Mark Gregory
 
What an awesome display of tooling and engineering. I can see exactly why you've gone this route. Just as a good player strives for consistency, you have created this for your rail work.
I'd bet once you get the work-flow down, this will also be a huge time saver and speed up your turn around time as well. hats off to you man, very impressive.

Dopc.
 
My hat's off to you Sir - you seem to be the type of guy that doesn't sit back on his laurels and just coasts. You appear to be the type that's always looking for ways to do the job better. Wish there were more of you. By the way, thanks for sharing with us your new tooling.
 
Niceeeee!!

Always good info on who to go to for one of the best service professionals out there.

Thanks for sharing!!
 
So now that machines do all your work, you can get rid of yourself, right?

That'll be a money saver, for sure.:o
 
perfectpocketz said:
After months of designing this machine....I have just received my new rail calibrating machine....waited 4 months for it to get finished...a ton of work was put in to this machine......and it's awesome.
I thought I did some great work on rails before....and I'm sure that I did.....but trust me.....nothing can get much better than using this machine.

I can now calibrate any rail.....to the sub rail......and then calibrate the sub rail to any cushion.

Before this machine all anyone was doing was trying to calibrate the sub rail to the cushion.....and the sub rail was not calibrated to the rail......I was calibrating both.....but no where as accurately as I will now.

Just getting the sub rail to 1- 11/16ths.....and putting the cushion on...is not calibrating the rails. That's why you see the feather strip sticking up by the side pockets.

This machine will allow me to fix rails as close to perfect as possible.....I don't see it getting much better than this....unless the manufacture builds the rails right from the factory........

I've had this machine for 2 days now.....and it works awesome.....everything I hoped for...and more.

After 40 years of playing pool.....and understanding rails and tables.....this machine will help me rebuild rails the way only players understand how a table should play.....and when you get your rails done correctly.....you'll know how a table should play.

Trust me.....it's not ego.....it's years of hard work....and a lot of conversations about rails.

Mark Gregory
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Good job Mark, you going to use that for cutting the cloth relief as well?

Glen
 
realkingcobra said:
Good job Mark, you going to use that for cutting the cloth relief as well?

Glen
Click to expand...

Possibilities are endless with this machine......once I get used to just how I want to cut with it.....I'm pretty sure I could make a rail with this machine....LMAO

Once we got the machine leveled.....it was pretty sweet from there......now it's time to put it in action.
Have to try and pay this thing off......and I got a great deal on it....my friend Rick from Alabama built it......I describe what I wanted and 4 months later....here it is.:D

Glen this thing is just what I wanted.......rail work expectations with me just went a lot higher..:D

Now to convert a 10' snooker to a 10' pool table.....and test the cushions.
This is going to be fun to work with.....between my Festool tools...my Saw Stop with Incra fences...and this machine...I should turn out some pretty good work.

Mark Gregory
 
Black-Balled said:
So now that machines do all your work, you can get rid of yourself, right?

That'll be a money saver, for sure.:o
Click to expand...

That funny.....LMAO......I wish I could let the machine do it all...LMAO
I'm 56 this year and I still remember putting rubber backed cloth on with tacks and tack hammer......finally the staple gun.....yes how nice.

Now with this I be more accurate and faster at the same time.....I think....don't know until I get working with it.

Thanks for complements everyone.

Mark Gregory
 
Vyc said:
That would be something!! Let us know how that goes...!!

<-------Now looking for a used 10'ft table on CL
Click to expand...

I've been doing snooker conventions for years on 9' and 10' tables.....just getting ready to use this machine on a 10' centennial right now....should be a lot more accurate rail when done.

The others I've done we're very good.....just can't wait to see if there's a deference with this machines help.

I'll post pics of the work when I'm done with the set.....

Thank

Mark Gregory
 
What kind of pricing are we looking at to get a set of rails done?

What do you need to know about the table?
 
If you could, could you make a sketch of the type of modifications that need to be done to rails? I've been following these rail discussion on here since they first started, and seen all the pictures of your work and Glen's, but its still hard to visualize whats going on.

Maybe a cross sectional sketch of an existing stock rail, and what material gets removed/added/changed to make the rail work with a new modern cushion. Like a before and after sketch.

Also, there is a fundamental question(s) on why this is done. You alluded to before the tables you do this on are very old, and the replacement cushions available today does not work on them without extensive modification of the rails. Is this the only reason? Glen mentioned in some of his posts that brand new GC5's aren't even good and/or consistent. It would help give us perspective on why this modification is done, and when is it needed.

I'm not a table mechanic, but have been a woodworker all my life, along with a wanna-be pool player. These topics really interest me, and I'm sure others.

Thank you for taking the time to share your ideas and experiences with us.
 
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