clean billiard balls

[Texas Carom Club]

I recently got my ball cleaner made by a guy on facebook, Robert ingold
He can make them in any configuration
Had it made to hold 2 sets of balls
Had a 15 minute timer switch
Nice construction, but more importantly it does its job
Set it and forget it, I can vacuum while the balls are being cleaned
I noticed the balls at the hall, would glide a bit then spin take over, as I was probably hitting them too hard
It was strange to me because mine I would hit like that but they would not skid

The ball cleaner Is without a doubt a must, as hand cleaning will never get the results a machine would and was very happy too see his on my home table
I use LE MANIFIK cleaner/polish while the machine runs, the balls are separated too so they don't collide and rub against each other while cleaning
And once finished I wrinse the remaining off with water and the microfiber cloth,


Seems they will keep the glide for up to around 5hrs of play,

I vacuum the table every other day, and swap to the other clean set for the next 2 days of play

the cleaner is fairly priced for someone like myself and recommend robert for any of you non diy-ers
Like myself

Also working on a air filtering system with my 2 fans and air filters taped behind, hung on the garage doors rails, the air blast doesn't make it to the play area
because with the new light, and carpet now for comfort, I notice alot of particles in the air, at least more than before, and find myself becoming increasingly anal retintive on the matter

A redundant topic perhaps
But done in the spirit of sparking up some discussion in the carom section

 

[Texas Carom Club]

And I believe I read from mazins own site that ball sets should not be used for more than 6 months

Does anyone have an opinion on that?
Agree disagree?

 

[Bob Jewett]

And I believe I read from mazins own site that ball sets should not be used for more than 6 months

Does anyone have an opinion on that?
Agree disagree?

I think it is more how many hours of play and how the balls are treated. If the table is kept clean and you don't miscue a lot, the balls will last longer. You can figure this out for your own situation since you have two sets of balls. Keep one set out of circulation. After six months polish both sets and see if you can tell any difference. Repeat after 12 months.

I disagree with your comment above about not being able to polish as well by hand as by machine. I think you can, but it is a lot more work.

Does your polish include wax or silicone?

 

[Texas Carom Club]

I think it is more how many hours of play and how the balls are treated. If the table is kept clean and you don't miscue a lot, the balls will last longer. You can figure this out for your own situation since you have two sets of balls. Keep one set out of circulation. After six months polish both sets and see if you can tell any difference. Repeat after 12 months.

I disagree with your comment above about not being able to polish as well by hand as by machine. I think you can, but it is a lot more work.

Does your polish include wax or silicone?

it says on the front no silicone, ill have to look on the back at home to see if it contains wax

yes, more work/exp. involved in cleaning by hand than I care for, or have the knowledge to know when properly cleaned, which I saw that I was not doing it correctly after the first run through the machine

I rarely miscue though

 

[KissedOut]

hand & machine

I like to clean the balls by hand and then polish them with the machine (a BallStar). I keep small plastic containers of Araminth Ball Cleaner and Araminth Ball Restorer in my cue case along with microfiber cloths.

On my cleaning cloth I use two opposite corners when using the Cleaner and the other two opposite corners when I use the restorer. The corners are now so impregnated with the cleaner/restorer, during a game I merely have to put a drop of water on the part of the cloth with the cleaner and the cleaner is "revived" enough to clean the spot off.

At the end of the session I will completely clean the balls by hand, paying particular attention to the chalk spots. Then a dry polish with a clean microfiber cloth and then into the polishing machine for the final gloss.

 

[3kushn]

And I believe I read from mazins own site that ball sets should not be used for more than 6 months

Does anyone have an opinion on that?
Agree disagree?

I would think it depends on how much play they see. In a room like Mazin's the balls are heavily used compared to a home table. In 6 months in a public room the balls can lose 1/2mm in size. That's about the time they need to be changed out.

Holding a set aside like Bob suggests I think would have the same time factor as far as life before needing to buy again. Although if you use more than 1 set you'll find that you have to clean both. I have 4 sets and get lazy and then have to clean all of them. Depending on your thoughts this situation may prevent you from playing cause you have to do the work before the fun can happen.

 

[Texas Carom Club]

I would think it depends on how much play they see. In a room like Mazin's the balls are heavily used compared to a home table. In 6 months in a public room the balls can lose 1/2mm in size. That's about the time they need to be changed out.

Holding a set aside like Bob suggests I think would have the same time factor as far as life before needing to buy again. Although if you use more than 1 set you'll find that you have to clean both. I have 4 sets and get lazy and then have to clean all of them. Depending on your thoughts this situation may prevent you from playing cause you have to do the work before the fun can happen.

I'll end up with a few more ball sets, I want the new prestige pro cup, and a traditional
With more sets I'll use them till they are dirty then use the next, so i won't have to clean the ball sets but once or twice a month,less work for me

But no cleaning will keep me from playing however

 

[Texas Carom Club]

1 more thing

the first use with freshly cleaned set
the balls are extra "slippery" and I have a tough time make shots,
the second use they still skid well but not that freshly cleaned slip to them

any of you have this problem, do you just have to adjust to them and get through that period?

 

[Bob Jewett]

... they still skid well ...

A small point here.... "Skid" is used in billiards to mean something completely different from what you are describing. It is better to use the word "slide" or "slip" in your context.

 

[Texas Carom Club]

got it, im still very new to billiards,
I don't know any players other than the guys at the hall so I don't get hardly any information
theres so little discussion here, even on kozoom forums

something I pondered creating a thread on was it seemed way back that pool and carom went hand in hand and now most pool players have never even seen a carom table
why is carom so far away from pool now in the public

 

[Texas Carom Club]

1 or 2 hits in my new kamui tip is marking but freshly cleaned and polished ball's,

Suggestions?

These are smudges that take alot of work to take off and it's pretty frustrating when it happens right out of the cleaner machine

 

[Bob Jewett]

1 or 2 hits in my new kamui tip is marking but freshly cleaned and polished ball's,

Suggestions?

These are smudges that take alot of work to take off and it's pretty frustrating when it happens right out of the cleaner machine

Tips should not do that. If the tip is covered with chalk, I'm don't see how it can do that. In any case, I'd sand off a few thousandths of the playing surface of the tip and rough it well. If it keeps doing that, cut it off and use some other brand of tip.

What kind of chalk are you using? Did you change recently?

 

[Texas Carom Club]

Tips should not do that. If the tip is covered with chalk, I'm don't see how it can do that. In any case, I'd sand off a few thousandths of the playing surface of the tip and rough it well. If it keeps doing that, cut it off and use some other brand of tip.

What kind of chalk are you using? Did you change recently?

still master, only ever used master

ill try scuffing it like you said and hopefully it will be resolved
also since im out of the cleaner i use, im going to try a different type now, was using tiger la manifiq


because when i play at us billiards, that doesnt happen
i even asked how they clean the ball, they use some generic brand but he said he has the waitress`s clean by hand and use the machine to polish only,
said they use windex to clean the balls by hand

i also noticed him cleaning the table with a damp rag, says he hardly uses the vacum

 

[ChopStick]

I have had kamui black tips mark up a ball that way. I have since stopped using them.

This is the ball cleaner I use. Professor Qball showed it to me. I like it better than the Aramith cleaner. It does a great job hand cleaning.

 

[Texas Carom Club]

I have had kamui black tips mark up a ball that way. I have since stopped using them.

This is the ball cleaner I use. Professor Qball showed it to me. I like it better than the Aramith cleaner. It does a great job hand cleaning.

THATs the exact one they had at the hall, thanks for posting this ill be looking for it

 

[Texas Carom Club]

funny thing i noticed, im out of polisher, so ive only been cleaning the balls by hand, with aramith cleaner

and they play so great, i was making some fun shots last night, not as much chalk on them either, hardly any now that i think on it

im gonna keep doing this until it i see the need to do anything different

 

[3kushn]

THATs the exact one they had at the hall, thanks for posting this ill be looking for it

Your Mechanic recommends 3M™ Finesse-it™ Polish - Extra Fine It contains no wax or silicone.

Prof. QBall may be moving away from that other cleaner. He's searching for a better product as well. I showed him the 3M product and gave him a bottle of Aramith Restorer which is hard to find at brick & mortar stores.

 

[Texas Carom Club]

why dont you want wax or silicone in the mix?

 

[Bob Jewett]

why dont you want wax or silicone in the mix?

It makes the ball slide as if on brand-new cloth. Some people like that. It is sometimes used for fancy shots such as masses.

 

[3kushn]

The balls should have some slide but if you wax the balls the amount of slide changes as the wax wears off. Depending on table condition the change can be pretty significant within 1 game.