GC 1 with swayback

[tjohnson]

I had about 2 playing cards thickness of swayback to get out of my GC with Brunstone. I think I caused the problem by not properly supporting the "slate" when I set the table up, I corrected it about 6 months ago and seems to be staying flat now. The balls would roll away from the rails slightly on a slow roll lengthwise down the table. It was barely noticeable, I probably could have left well enough alone but I saw it happen a couple times, had to investigate, and after that I knew I had to fix it. Hopefully I can get a decent mechanic up here in the next year or so to recover table again and double check the work I did. I tried to find someone to recover the bed after I had the rails modified but I couldn't find anyone that I trusted to do a decent job so I was forced to stumble thru it myself.

I think I have about the same amount of swayback in my GC 1. Can you tell me how you fixed it? Did you have to take off the cloth, redo seams, etc.? Many thanks!

 

[tjohnson]

Jerimy Chambers has sets of new old stock Gold Crown slates from the '70's
Last I heard he was charging $4-500 a set, plus delivery or freight. He's located in the
SW burbs of Chicago, search his name on this site, you'll see he's highly
recommended, top notch mechanic and great guy to boot. You can reach him at 708-574-9888

Thanks for the lead, I'll give him a call.

 

[tjohnson]

This is interesting, the link below indicates the "first use anywhere" of Brunswick Brunstone was on June 6,1981. This seems way later than we think/know. What's up with that?

http://www.trademarkia.com/brunstone-73316458.html

Interesting. My early 60s Brunstone is definitely sandstone, but it is not resin-impregnated, as far as I can tell. Maybe that was the new feature developed in 1981? Resin may have been added to make the Brunstone less brittle.

 

[fastone371]

I think I have about the same amount of swayback in my GC 1. Can you tell me how you fixed it? Did you have to take off the cloth, redo seams, etc.? Many thanks!

I had to take table apart and lift the felt to re-bondo the seam, I only had to open 1 seam, it was a pain in the butt but it was well worth it. My felt was less than a year old and I had no lines drawn on it or anything but it ended up lining back up with all the rail bolt holes almost perfect. I used the glue down method when the felt was new but after the fix I stapled the felt, I didn't think it was going to work well trying to re glue it. I used synthetic shims instead of pine because it seemed to me the pine shims would squish down after a while. The synthetic shims are made from something like plastic I think. I loosened up the slate screws and started tapping shims in place where the slate was low, it took a while as I only have 1 10" machinists level but it worked out real well. Any other questions feel free to get in touch with me, if I am a moron and screwed it up I'm sure someone here will let us know.

 

[tjohnson]

I had to take table apart and lift the felt to re-bondo the seam, I only had to open 1 seam, it was a pain in the butt but it was well worth it. My felt was less than a year old and I had no lines drawn on it or anything but it ended up lining back up with all the rail bolt holes almost perfect. I used the glue down method when the felt was new but after the fix I stapled the felt, I didn't think it was going to work well trying to re glue it. I used synthetic shims instead of pine because it seemed to me the pine shims would squish down after a while. The synthetic shims are made from something like plastic I think. I loosened up the slate screws and started tapping shims in place where the slate was low, it took a while as I only have 1 10" machinists level but it worked out real well. Any other questions feel free to get in touch with me, if I am a moron and screwed it up I'm sure someone here will let us know.

Thanks a lot for the info. I JUST had my table assembled about a month ago so was hoping not to have to go down this path, but it seems unavoidable and your method is the one I'll try. To be honest, the sway back is pretty minor, and if only I had not spent ten minutes checking for it, I probably would not have noticed. But of course now that I DO know it's there, it's just eating at me, lol.

 

[tjohnson]

And to be honest, since this table has been this way from the day it was set up, I have actually tried to get the installer to come back out to take a look and see if shimming is possible. The owner of the business takes great offense when I call (I promise that I am polite, reasonable, and calm) and swears the mechanic will call me back. Today was my third call in three weeks and I STILL have not gotten the mechanic to call me. All I got was a lecture about how their work is of the highest quality and how dare I question their skills.

Sorry, just got off the phone...again..with these clowns and had to vent. If you are in the Raleigh, NC area I can tell you who NOT to call when getting a table set up...