How to evaluate rails

[pulldapin]

Aloha all,

With all the different factors that go into creating ideal rail calibration, how does one go about analyzing the table he is playing on. From a players stand point, what can one do to tell how rails will react be it slow, fast, long, short or any other characteristics you could think of or would be willing to share? Other than hitting balls on it, could I measure cushion height, some how measure the cushion profile angle, or anything else and then what would it tell me about what to expect reaction wise?

The equipement I play on is so miss matched and inconsistant making sense out of it all would be nice.

Once again Mahalo to all who contribute to what I consider to be the most important topic in this forum.

Carl

 

[realkingcobra]

Aloha all,

With all the different factors that go into creating ideal rail calibration, how does one go about analyzing the table he is playing on. From a players stand point, what can one do to tell how rails will react be it slow, fast, long, short or any other characteristics you could think of or would be willing to share? Other than hitting balls on it, could I measure cushion height, some how measure the cushion profile angle, or anything else and then what would it tell me about what to expect reaction wise?

The equipement I play on is so miss matched and inconsistant making sense out of it all would be nice.

Once again Mahalo to all who contribute to what I consider to be the most important topic in this forum.

Carl

Knowing what has been done to a pool table, and by whom, isn't going to change the end result, the table in front of you. It's up to you, the player, to be able to adapt to what ever it is you're playing on. Knowing anything about the table in advance by doing some kind of measuring, or testing, isn't going to change things before the fact...you still have to play on it. It's not like you can make any last minute changes in the table to make it play more perfect, or consistant, or anything else. That is why, as a player, you have to just hit some balls on the table to judge for yourself as to what the playing conditions are going to be like.

Glen

 

[pulldapin]

Aloha Glen,

That is about what I expected to hear. Mainly I am interested in the art of table engineering and was hoping to pick up some usefull info and more insight. Mahalo again to all and for your contributions,

Carl

 

[matteroner]

Aloha Glen,

That is about what I expected to hear. Mainly I am interested in the art of table engineering and was hoping to pick up some usefull info and more insight. Mahalo again to all and for your contributions,

Carl

this might help ....

billiards.colostate.edu/PBReview/Stimpmeter1.htm

 

[Club Billiards]

Knowing what has been done to a pool table, and by whom, isn't going to change the end result, the table in front of you. It's up to you, the player, to be able to adapt to what ever it is you're playing on. Knowing anything about the table in advance by doing some kind of measuring, or testing, isn't going to change things before the fact...you still have to play on it. It's not like you can make any last minute changes in the table to make it play more perfect, or consistant, or anything else. That is why, as a player, you have to just hit some balls on the table to judge for yourself as to what the playing conditions are going to be like.

Glen

Agreed. I compare it to my wife asking me to teach her how to bank after I fired a few in warming up. I said I could teach her 4 or 5 systems and she still wouldn't KNOW how to bank, or she could just bank some balls and see where they went and then adjust and practice.

You can measure rail height, angle, etc etc etc, and you can even measure temperature and humidity, but until you hit some, you just don't know how it's going to play. Can you quantify how clean the balls are? How much nap there still is to the cloth? The stretch pattern that was used to insall it? I'm sure someone could find a way to measure all of these things, but you're kind of going the long way around finding out how a ball's going to roll. Roll a ball, I say.