Nope, it uses the gearing from the drill press. Here's a pic of the guts:
Ball cleaner project
- Thread starter Tlchas
- Start date
You obviously know next to nothing about intellectual property law. First, is there any protected, or protectable IP in the Diamond machine? Also, did you know that making something for yourself does not violate anyone's IP rights. Holy cow.
You are a little late to the game. Might not be any popcorn left. You have obviously missed the entire point of the post. Not surprised. Not a very bright group in these forums and certainly not very moral. I know I can’t win either of those arguments or change who you are so just read and enjoy. Reading is fundamental. RIFF for those old enough to remember that program.
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What a colossal tool. BTW, most countries only ban 'commercial' use of a patent. In the US you have to employ 'ALL' of the elements granted in a patent claim to be in violation. I SERIOUSLY doubt that the OP's machine violates all(if any) of Diamond's patent, if they even have one. Ball machines like this have been around FOREVER.
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In most places personal use is totally fine but in the US the waters get a tad murky on this. To be in violation one must copy ALL of the elements granted in the patent. A buddy made a golf gizmo a few yrs ago and got sued by maker of a similar device. Case was quickly thrown out because there were enough differences that a suit was not warranted.
Nobody ever mentioned patents. Boy, even when requested to read, you still don’t.
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Then why don't you just quit, delete your account here and go elsewhere?
Bored? Don’t worry. Soon I will be gone. Useful information has been narrowed down to stealing ideas and watching knuckleheads contribute useless information because they are bored. I think it’s great that people steal others ideas only to find out it costs more to make things like a ball cleaner than to just buy one. Then watch the idiots defend it. It really puts a smile on my face.
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Pricing out the project, one can be built for half the cost of the Diamond unit. Perhaps the desire to build one is aesthetics. I don't really care for the black box so my desire to build my own is aesthetical; I want it to be Gold Crown themed to match my table, light and cue rack.
I can't believe how much of a stink you made about this. Chasing off the OP too who did such a nice job on his project. Did you call up Diamond and tell them they ripped off Bludworth when they made their ball cleaner? Did you call up Diamond and tell them they ripped off Brunswick when they introduced their Professional table in the late 80's? Did you call up every cue maker who uses 4 points and tell them they ripped off Brunswick? Or do you call up every cue maker who buys a pin or a blank from Prather, and tell them they are ripping off Prather's design? Did you call up Chevy and tell them they ripped off Ford for using 4 rubber wheels? Did you call up Android for ripping off iPhone?
Where you chose to make your stand on this issue is head scratching. A guy uses his personal skills, time, and woodworking knowledge, along with purchased parts from Diamond, to make an outstanding project and share it with us.
Agree 1000%. The guy is a tool.
The OP did a beautiful job. Thanks for sharing!
I was wondering what other kinds of ball cleaners/polishers exist. What the OP built is what we in the product and invention field call the "dominant design." It's the same, basic thing that almost all ball polishers embody, a turntable with ball partitions, all carpeted, usually holding eight balls. But wouldn't it be fun to learn of other designs that don't follow this? Maybe like a conveyor-based, multi-station thing, where each station accomplishes some particular step, like rinse, soap, rub, rinse, polish, rinse, dry. Maybe a turret-like arrangement, like a progressive ammo reloading press.
I've never seen anything else, except for the Aramith single ball cleaner.
I was wondering what other kinds of ball cleaners/polishers exist. What the OP built is what we in the product and invention field call the "dominant design." It's the same, basic thing that almost all ball polishers embody, a turntable with ball partitions, all carpeted, usually holding eight balls. But wouldn't it be fun to learn of other designs that don't follow this? Maybe like a conveyor-based, multi-station thing, where each station accomplishes some particular step, like rinse, soap, rub, rinse, polish, rinse, dry. Maybe a turret-like arrangement, like a progressive ammo reloading press.
I've never seen anything else, except for the Aramith single ball cleaner.
see cleangleem.com for a unique design
Thanks! Interesting. Still doesn't really appeal to me.
I wonder what percentage of table owners have ball polishers?
I don’t think I chased him off. He is merely ramping up production. May want to PM him to make one for you. I am considering replacing my Diamond dual platter ball cleaner with his product. Seems he found a way to make them at a fraction of the price. So I can probably sell my ball cleaner for $800 and purchase his for a fraction of the cost and use the difference to donate to my country to help offset our deficit. I applaud this member for copying Diamonds ball cleaner. More people should do this. Oh wait, China is already doing that.
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Never ceases to amaze me with the depth of your vocabulary. At least you included %1000. Is that more than %100?
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Imitation - copying - is the way that technology and tools, art and architecture, engineering, medicine, music, and virtually everything that separates man from beast, advances throughout the ages. This even occurs in the animal kingdom. It is perfectly natural, and absolutely necessary to our life on earth.
(I have five U.S. patents and have been on the corporate intellectual property committee of two major corporations.) The concept of a person or company owning an "idea" is very new, and an invention of governments. Governments created patents to allow companies or persons exclusive use or ownership of inventions in return for disclosure of the invention and its details. This was done to encourage development of new inventions and to foster further invention through the disclosure. This was done very early in the government of the U.S. *Article 1, Sec. 8, clause 8: "The Congress shall have power . . . To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries." Of the two major types of patents, the utility patent is characterized by the following requirements:
1. It must be useful;
2. it must be novel (new);
3. it must not be a simple combination of previous inventions;
4. it must be non-obvious to one skilled in the art;
5. it must have been reduced to practice.
(The other type of patent is the design patent, a "look and feel" patent.) Note that I said "idea" previously. One cannot patent an idea. It must satisfy the criteria outlined above, being an invention. Note also that the protection of a patent is limited in time; it used to be 17 years, now it's 20.
Many product features and concepts are not patentable, i.e., protectable, because they are commonly know to folks in that business.
Many companies, including Brunswick, have made and sold rotary billiard ball polishers, for many, many years. I saw Brunswick machines in a pool hall in Rhode Island that were older than me (60+), operating on the same principle as the Diamond machines, and made long before the Diamond company existed (founded 1987). Other companies make these machines, according to this "dominant design," and there's apparently no protectable intellectual property involved.
The idea that someone building their own polisher along the lines of the Diamond is stealing Diamond's idea is ridiculous. It's not even Diamond's idea! (Let alone invention.) And even if it was, it's perfectly legal and moral to do this for one's own use.
Absolutely! I am with you. I promote copying. Nothing like stimulating new ideas and promoting this sport like copying.
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