All men are created equal...

[Club Billiards]

But not all K-Pattern slate. LOL So maybe this post should go in the before/after, but I really only have pictures of the During.

So before #1: I aquire a Kasson box style table from a customer of mine. He was replacing this table with another, and him and a few buddies flipped it up on it's side and leaned it against a wall to get it out of the way. They managed to busted a big chunk out of a couple of rails, bend all of the blind screws, and bend some of the rail bolts. I've had that table stored for about a year and a half.

Before #2: A customer had an Imperial table with sentimental value stored in a tractor trailer. A tornado came through and blew over the trailer, laying down and cracking all of his slate and tweaking the frame and rails pretty good.

So I sold him the slate off of my Kasson table under advisement of a fellow forum member, who shall remain nameless, who told me confidently that they took the same K-Pattern slate. Difference being, my customer's slate was backed and mine was not.

So here's the during:

The backing went on pretty well. The corners were pretty easy to sand down and match up to the inside of the pocket in the slate.

New bolt holes and slate screw holes drilled:

 

[Club Billiards]

Oops...

We forgot to make a cutout for the side pockets before we glued the backing to the slate... So I'm not perfect.

Oh well...cut a triangle shaped notch out and belt sanded close, then sanded flush:

So I knew when we sold this job 3 hours away we'd run into trouble. LOL The slate actually DIDN'T match up exactly. When we centered the slate on the frame, the screw holes just missed on the ends. So a quick dry-fit of the rails to see how far out the balls roll. Marked off the playing surface, then re-drilled new slate screw holes just outside the play surface, but far enough in to hit frame:

We also had to re-locate the rail bolt holes on the side since there was about a 1-3/4" offset where the rails would bolt on. Once all the new holes we drilled though, it all went together. Another fun one in the books. One of these days we'll have a normal routine job, but in the meantime, we're having fun with these!

 

[realkingcobra]

See....the slate DOES fit

 

[jrt30004]

what kind of wood did you use to make the backing and what type of glue did you use to attach it?

 

[Dartman]

Nice work but I guess my question - if you're a disciple of gluing cloth
then why take the time to reback the slate. It would seem gluing/tacking the wood
strips to the frame would produce the same results.

 

[Club Billiards]

what kind of wood did you use to make the backing and what type of glue did you use to attach it?

1x4 Pine from Lowe's. 3M-10.

 

[xianmacx]

great work Josh. You quickly running up the ranks, great to see the attention to details.

 

[Club Billiards]

Nice work but I guess my question - if you're a disciple of gluing cloth
then why take the time to reback the slate. It would seem gluing/tacking the wood
strips to the frame would produce the same results.

This table had sentimental value for the customer. It belonged to his brother who passed away last year. The table used to have backed slate, and he wanted backed slate, so we made backed slate.

Also we were setting up the table using the existing used cloth, so this table got stapled.

 

[jrt30004]

1x4 Pine from Lowe's. 3M-10.

thank you sir. if i may one more question, is there an advantage to adding the backing. right now the table i have is not backed and the felt must be glued to the slate. i have not had the table set up yet. is something i may want to consider doing before i have the table set up? and would this be something i would tackle my self or leave to the table mechanic. looking at the pictures it appears to be a straight forward task.

 

[Club Billiards]

thank you sir. if i may one more question, is there an advantage to adding the backing. right now the table i have is not backed and the felt must be glued to the slate. i have not had the table set up yet. is something i may want to consider doing before i have the table set up? and would this be something i would tackle my self or leave to the table mechanic. looking at the pictures it appears to be a straight forward task.

The backing can give the slight advantage of quieting the roll depending on the table. It's the same as me putting my drums on a 6" wood riser in my tile floor/cinder block wall basement. It muffles slightly.

Other than that though, a lot of guys are going to gluing the bed cloth on all tables, even those with a backing. You also have to consider that adding a backing to your slate would change your table's playing surface height by the thickness of the backing and may take it out of BCA spec. It will most likely also make all of your rail bolts too short since they would now be going through the slate AND the backing.

My .02: leave it as is.

By the way, I just read your bio about your cues. You should see my new Dickie.

 

[jrt30004]

The backing can give the slight advantage of quieting the roll depending on the table. It's the same as me putting my drums on a 6" wood riser in my tile floor/cinder block wall basement. It muffles slightly.

Other than that though, a lot of guys are going to gluing the bed cloth on all tables, even those with a backing. You also have to consider that adding a backing to your slate would change your table's playing surface height by the thickness of the backing and may take it out of BCA spec. It will most likely also make all of your rail bolts too short since they would now be going through the slate AND the backing.

My .02: leave it as is.

By the way, I just read your bio about your cues. You should see my new Dickie.

all right sir now we're gettin somewhere - you're a drummer too? been playing since i was about 14, much better drummer than pool player. and you play with one of mr. neighbors' cues. you gotta send some pics if you have 'em. i love my cue. get more compliments on that cue than i could count. oh then there's the table thing.....thanks. i will leave as is if there is no more tangible benefit. thank you for the answers.

 

[PoolTable911]

Guilty party

Hey Josh,
No need to leave me unmentioned. I appreciate the thought. I checked with Imperial and their 8' tables come with 95” x 51” x 1” Three Piece K Drilled/Framed MDF slate. I assumed that the Kasson slate you had would work. Seriously I feel really bad you and Don had to do all that extra drilling. I had Imperial slate in the storage unit. I should have measured it for you. Next time I will be more thorough if you still have faith enough to call on me.

 

[scruffy1]

Nice job Josh but you really should of outed Pat as the guilty one!LOL. As punishment, all of Pats tables next week will be on the third floor loft and be stapled per the following pic!!

 

[realkingcobra]

Nice job Josh but you really should of outed Pat as the guilty one!LOL. As punishment, all of Pats tables next week will be on the third floor loft and be stapled per the following pic!!

How much is tin going for by the pound these days

 

[realkingcobra]

Oops...

We forgot to make a cutout for the side pockets before we glued the backing to the slate... So I'm not perfect.

Oh well...cut a triangle shaped notch out and belt sanded close, then sanded flush:

So I knew when we sold this job 3 hours away we'd run into trouble. LOL The slate actually DIDN'T match up exactly. When we centered the slate on the frame, the screw holes just missed on the ends. So a quick dry-fit of the rails to see how far out the balls roll. Marked off the playing surface, then re-drilled new slate screw holes just outside the play surface, but far enough in to hit frame:

We also had to re-locate the rail bolt holes on the side since there was about a 1-3/4" offset where the rails would bolt on. Once all the new holes we drilled though, it all went together. Another fun one in the books. One of these days we'll have a normal routine job, but in the meantime, we're having fun with these!

Josh, pick up a router from Home Depot for $60 and a flush cut router bit with the bearing at the top to cut the pockets out and flush them up with the edge of the slate

 

[Club Billiards]

Hey Josh,
No need to leave me unmentioned. I appreciate the thought. I checked with Imperial and their 8' tables come with 95” x 51” x 1” Three Piece K Drilled/Framed MDF slate. I assumed that the Kasson slate you had would work. Seriously I feel really bad you and Don had to do all that extra drilling. I had Imperial slate in the storage unit. I should have measured it for you. Next time I will be more thorough if you still have faith enough to call on me.

No problem, Pat. We're good Besides, when I sold the job 3 hours from home, I knew to make sure I had the masonry bits and spade bits with me just in case.