This is straight from the "World Pool Association" rules. This is nothing more than repeat from other past guidelines. According to these guidelines, Diamond ProAm's wouldn't follow the rules as Diamond 9ft ProAms don't have a slate backing to staple the cloth to, and they also don't have cloth strips glued into the pockets before the pockets are finished off.
I can't even think about the last time I saw a 9ft table that someone used "Tacks" to fasten the rail cloth, at least not in the last 20 years or so, in fact...I don't even know of anyone that still uses them, unless they're recovering an antique Brunswick table...the OLD way:wink: And never...never use staples longer than 1/4" unless you need the length of the staples to hold the cloth on rails that are stapled out, longer staples just help degrade the rails that much sooner.
I don't mean to argue with you, but as far as I'm concerned these guidelines don't really mean much of anything to me. Now, if the standard of how to recover a pool table was written by a group of very knowledgeable mechanics as a way of setting a "Standard" that the table and cloth manufacturing industry supported 100%...as the "correct" way...I'd support that. When the "World Pool Association" starts endorsing the mechanics that install the cloth...because they themselves can install the cloth....now THAT would be something!
Glen, the "Realkingcobra"
13. Fastening of the Cloth (Guidelines)
Before cloth-covering the slate, a strip of canvas (or table-cloth) should be glued to the vertical pocket cuts of the slates and their underlying wooden slate liner. The table-bed cloth must be stretched for "proper tension" and mechanically attached to the underlying wooden slate liner with fully driven fasteners (staples or tacks) spaced a maximum of 1 inch on center approximately, with at least inch [.9525 cm] penetration into
the wooden slate liner. Guidelines for proper tension are as follow:
1. Length of the cloth should be manually stretched as tight as possible,
and then relieved ½ inch [1.27 cm] before attachment, and
2. Width of the cloth should be manually stretched as tight as possible,
and then relieved ¼ inch [.635 cm] before attachment.
When covering the cushions, the cloth must be lengthwise evenly and consistently well-stretched while inserting the featherstrip as well as thereafter. While the cloth is in a stretched condition lengthwise, the cloth must then be stretched in the width up to the moment when indentation of the nose of the rubber cushion is about to start and attached underneath the wooden rail with fully driven fasteners (staples or tacks) spaced a
maximum of 3/4 inch [1.905 cm] on center approximately, with at least 3/8 inch [.9525 cm] penetration into the wood. At the side pocket openings, the rails are to be covered with a minimum overlapping of fabric over the facings. When doing overlappings, great care must be taken so that hidden folds, if any, do not cause balls to jump off the table during play. No folds are allowed in the cloth over the facings of the corner pockets.
The "BCA" is not qualified to set a standard on how to install cloth, or how tight it should be!
