I hope you're ready for the read. I've posted on this subject a dozen or two times in the last ten years, and thankfully, technology has updated, so I get to update my post on this subject.
There are several different styles and flavors of ball return systems. So, when people talk about "bar pool," unfortunately they may be talking about a bar table in their home town that has a suck ass system. As the norm in pool and the "big fish little pond" syndrome, many players don't realized what's been going on in the rest of the ocean. So, here's a ton of information for those that need it, specific to American bar pool. UK pub pool has its own methods that someone else can talk about.
Method 1 - Size Matters
Some evil genius realized that if you laid down two tracks of different sizes, you could set them up such that the small track could only take small balls. A big ball wouldn't go in it, so it would go in the next track, the bigger track. Voila, the oversize cueball was born. The oversize cueball is about as big as a small carom ball. Pain to play with. Pain to use draw. Very rampant across the country.
Another evil genius expanded on this idea to make track slightly angled, and with the side rail just high enough to keep a small ball from falling off the track, but a larger ball would fall off the track. Pretty sharp, if you ask me.
Method 2 - Weighing In
A more pedestrian method was to build in a balance/weight scale into the rail. Older Dynamo and maybe Irving Kaye tables used this method. Using this weight balance, a regular ball would pass over the balance and merrily go on its way. But a heavier ball would make the balance drop. So, the heavier cueball was born. The beauty of this balance system is that you could use either a heavy ball or an oversize ball, since the oversized ball was... heavier.
The problem is that to keep the mechanism relatively inexpensive, the weight difference in the balls had to be drastic. So, balls like the Dynamo Red Dot were born. The red dot is simply the frickin' heaviest 2.25" cueball out there. Also, a ball with a mixture of metal and phenolic was invented (the Universal B Ball or Mud Ball), nearly as heavy and a 2.25" diameter ball. Problem with this ball is that the ensuing texture is... too textured, causing more mayhem than they're worth. Both of these heavy balls do nothing to help a fledgling pool player to gain any confidence, leaving them in the void of lost draw.
Method 3 - A Magnetic Personality
A more better system created by Valley (which was purchased by Dyanamo, and subsequently by Brunswick, IIRC) artificially "created" weight by using a magnet. The successful theory was that if the cue had ferrous material in it, a magnet could pull the cueball off a track (it's always about a track). With this method, a cueball could be made with just a slight bit of steel in it, providing that the magnet is powerful enough. The cueball designed for this system is what I call the metal cage ball (Note: to my knowledge, there are no magnets inside any cueball). The metal cage is really a coil spring that someone figured out how to insert while the cueball is being cast. The beauty of the tables with magnets is that it could also pull the Dyanamo Red Dot as well as the Mud Ball, since both had ferrous substances in them.
Anyway, all of the metal cage cueballs that I have are slightly undersized (2.240" diameter), but the weight is within BCA specifications. So, this was the closest thing to a regulation bar cueball for several years. The National Amateur Tournaments used this cueball for many many years. Unfortunately, much of the country had/has no idea that these type of cueballs and tables ever existed.
Method 4 - Foiled , For the First Time
The problem with the metal cage insert is that the coil spring is not a sphere. I have a photo of it somewhere around. There really was no way to balance it spherically. So, on new slick cloth, that cueball could dance out of control. Not like the Crazy Cueball or Crazy 8-ball, but enough to drive players to drink.
So, a few years ago, a new Aramith bar cueball was introduced used in the Valley tables. The green Aramith Logo "Foil Ball," as I like to call it. It's a phenolic ball, wrapped in foil, recast with phenolic. The result is a spherically balanced cueball with metal "on the outside shell." The small downside is that the magnet in the bar table has to be strong enough to pull this ball. Not a problem for Valley Tables, but the Dynamo tables that used a magnet, they may need some modifying. The other downside is that this ball seems to attract and hold chalk more than its predecessor. Small price to pay, IMO. Our local bars that I play league use these balls. Another fault that I've noticed is the unnusual amount of these balls where the inlaid green Aramith logo has popped out.
So, there you have it. That's the evolution of the bar table cueballs. And if you have a weight system, or even an oversize system, you can mount a magnet to make it use the new Foil Ball, or at least the Metal Cage Insert Ball. Sizing the magnet and mounting it is the tricky part. I've done it, so if I can do it, anyone can do it. Some of the tables (certain Dynamo tables, at least) the separating area is difficult to reach.
and last but definitely not least...
Method 5 - The Eyes Have It
That all being said, the best system uses a normal cueball. Greg Sullivan and Diamond Billiards came up with an electronic sensor in their Smart Tables that basically sends light to and through the balls as they come through the track. The cueball (red circle, Brunswick bluck circle, Aramith cueballs) has enough of a difference in light passing/reflecting that the light sensor eye sees the difference, and tells a little solenoid to kick the cueball to the other track. Very technological, very ingenius. I only wish I had been involved in this when it was being designed. As an automation engineer, all of that sensor and motion technology is part of my daily grind.
So, there you go. No magnets in the balls, but magnets in the tables. Some use oversize balls, most today use regular size balls.
Until the next piece of technology so that I can update,
Fred
There are several different styles and flavors of ball return systems. So, when people talk about "bar pool," unfortunately they may be talking about a bar table in their home town that has a suck ass system. As the norm in pool and the "big fish little pond" syndrome, many players don't realized what's been going on in the rest of the ocean. So, here's a ton of information for those that need it, specific to American bar pool. UK pub pool has its own methods that someone else can talk about.
Method 1 - Size Matters
Some evil genius realized that if you laid down two tracks of different sizes, you could set them up such that the small track could only take small balls. A big ball wouldn't go in it, so it would go in the next track, the bigger track. Voila, the oversize cueball was born. The oversize cueball is about as big as a small carom ball. Pain to play with. Pain to use draw. Very rampant across the country.
Another evil genius expanded on this idea to make track slightly angled, and with the side rail just high enough to keep a small ball from falling off the track, but a larger ball would fall off the track. Pretty sharp, if you ask me.
Method 2 - Weighing In
A more pedestrian method was to build in a balance/weight scale into the rail. Older Dynamo and maybe Irving Kaye tables used this method. Using this weight balance, a regular ball would pass over the balance and merrily go on its way. But a heavier ball would make the balance drop. So, the heavier cueball was born. The beauty of this balance system is that you could use either a heavy ball or an oversize ball, since the oversized ball was... heavier.
The problem is that to keep the mechanism relatively inexpensive, the weight difference in the balls had to be drastic. So, balls like the Dynamo Red Dot were born. The red dot is simply the frickin' heaviest 2.25" cueball out there. Also, a ball with a mixture of metal and phenolic was invented (the Universal B Ball or Mud Ball), nearly as heavy and a 2.25" diameter ball. Problem with this ball is that the ensuing texture is... too textured, causing more mayhem than they're worth. Both of these heavy balls do nothing to help a fledgling pool player to gain any confidence, leaving them in the void of lost draw.
Method 3 - A Magnetic Personality
A more better system created by Valley (which was purchased by Dyanamo, and subsequently by Brunswick, IIRC) artificially "created" weight by using a magnet. The successful theory was that if the cue had ferrous material in it, a magnet could pull the cueball off a track (it's always about a track). With this method, a cueball could be made with just a slight bit of steel in it, providing that the magnet is powerful enough. The cueball designed for this system is what I call the metal cage ball (Note: to my knowledge, there are no magnets inside any cueball). The metal cage is really a coil spring that someone figured out how to insert while the cueball is being cast. The beauty of the tables with magnets is that it could also pull the Dyanamo Red Dot as well as the Mud Ball, since both had ferrous substances in them.
Anyway, all of the metal cage cueballs that I have are slightly undersized (2.240" diameter), but the weight is within BCA specifications. So, this was the closest thing to a regulation bar cueball for several years. The National Amateur Tournaments used this cueball for many many years. Unfortunately, much of the country had/has no idea that these type of cueballs and tables ever existed.
Method 4 - Foiled , For the First Time
The problem with the metal cage insert is that the coil spring is not a sphere. I have a photo of it somewhere around. There really was no way to balance it spherically. So, on new slick cloth, that cueball could dance out of control. Not like the Crazy Cueball or Crazy 8-ball, but enough to drive players to drink.
So, a few years ago, a new Aramith bar cueball was introduced used in the Valley tables. The green Aramith Logo "Foil Ball," as I like to call it. It's a phenolic ball, wrapped in foil, recast with phenolic. The result is a spherically balanced cueball with metal "on the outside shell." The small downside is that the magnet in the bar table has to be strong enough to pull this ball. Not a problem for Valley Tables, but the Dynamo tables that used a magnet, they may need some modifying. The other downside is that this ball seems to attract and hold chalk more than its predecessor. Small price to pay, IMO. Our local bars that I play league use these balls. Another fault that I've noticed is the unnusual amount of these balls where the inlaid green Aramith logo has popped out.
So, there you have it. That's the evolution of the bar table cueballs. And if you have a weight system, or even an oversize system, you can mount a magnet to make it use the new Foil Ball, or at least the Metal Cage Insert Ball. Sizing the magnet and mounting it is the tricky part. I've done it, so if I can do it, anyone can do it. Some of the tables (certain Dynamo tables, at least) the separating area is difficult to reach.
and last but definitely not least...
Method 5 - The Eyes Have It
That all being said, the best system uses a normal cueball. Greg Sullivan and Diamond Billiards came up with an electronic sensor in their Smart Tables that basically sends light to and through the balls as they come through the track. The cueball (red circle, Brunswick bluck circle, Aramith cueballs) has enough of a difference in light passing/reflecting that the light sensor eye sees the difference, and tells a little solenoid to kick the cueball to the other track. Very technological, very ingenius. I only wish I had been involved in this when it was being designed. As an automation engineer, all of that sensor and motion technology is part of my daily grind.
So, there you go. No magnets in the balls, but magnets in the tables. Some use oversize balls, most today use regular size balls.
Until the next piece of technology so that I can update,
Fred
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The cue ball was 2 1/4" and same weight as the object balls.