Was the author justnum by any chance????
PSA: Don’t do this to your balls!
- Thread starter DeadStick
- Start date
Speak his name and he appears.
What the hell happened?!!
Sorry that happened to you! IMO, this is a flawed design. There should never be anything metal on the cleaning surface. Unfortunately, accidents can and will happen. If the platter was mounted to the underside vs through, you wouldn't have several ruined balls. I'm also of the opinion these machines spin waaaaay too fast. There's no need for it. The Diamond polisher and the one I built spin at 438 rpm which is plenty fast to clean a set of balls.
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Agreed. With the ball hole piece on, balls can’t contact the metal screw.
But yeah, it’s too fast. Mount a propeller on it and it would take off.
See chrisinNC's post prior to mine.
Literally the same thing, though I only did it once!
I almost bought one of those. Glad I just stuck with my trusty homemade bucket polisher now.
SeniorTom
Well-known member
Have one of these at the pool hall I go to and when used properly they work very well. They do spin very fast so you have to be careful and let it go through its cycles, or turn the on-off switch to off before you open the lid and retrieve the balls. I don't know how they last over time, but they always seem to do a good job on the pool balls where I play.
It works great. Just don’t open it mid-cycle.
I turned around sheepishly to see if my wife was still sitting in the living room, 35 feet away in clear view of where I was, and unfortunately she was. She had witnessed the whole event, and was staring at me with this look on her face that told me she knew she had married an idiot.
Thanks for the hearty belly-laugh!!
Seriously, good that you or anyone nearby did not get injured. There should be an "Interrupt" that turns off the power if you open the lid in mid-cycle.
Thanks for the hearty belly-laugh!!
Seriously, good that you or anyone nearby did not get injured. There should be an "Interrupt" that turns off the power if you open the lid in mid-cycle.
After you play, take a damp paper towel, and wipe down the balls. That's all you ever have to do. No ball machines, no nothing. Keeping it simple is the best answer.
That assumes you start out with new or next to new balls. If a very worn set, maybe an application of Aramith Ball Restorer would be in order, but I've never had to do that. Damp paper towel only.
By the way, before you play in a pool room, take about four paper towels, wet them, ring them out about halfway, then wipe the table down to get that chalk dust out. That's why your balls are dirty. Then, if you're really ambitious, playing on a Gold Crown, same wet paper towels, get under, and clean the tops of the ball return rails. Other tables too. You've never done any of this, but it makes the biggest difference in the cleanliness of your balls.
All the best,
WW
That assumes you start out with new or next to new balls. If a very worn set, maybe an application of Aramith Ball Restorer would be in order, but I've never had to do that. Damp paper towel only.
By the way, before you play in a pool room, take about four paper towels, wet them, ring them out about halfway, then wipe the table down to get that chalk dust out. That's why your balls are dirty. Then, if you're really ambitious, playing on a Gold Crown, same wet paper towels, get under, and clean the tops of the ball return rails. Other tables too. You've never done any of this, but it makes the biggest difference in the cleanliness of your balls.
All the best,
WW
Balls get dirty for a myriad of reasons other than chalk dust. I'm pretty fastidious about keeping my Gold Crown I clean and regularly vacuum the playing surface (every 2nd or 3rd session) and wipe it and the ball return tracks down with en extremely wrung out microfiber towel about once a month. There is no chalk dust on my table as evidenced by clean hands after a session of play, yet the balls still get dirty. IMO, the #1 reason balls get dirty is from the oils in your hands transferring to the balls, especially if you are playing with someone who gets sweaty hands. Since water and oil don't mix, you need something with a little more cleaning power to get the job done. Could they be cleaned by hand using said solution? Sure. That being said, a proper ball cleaning machine can do a better job vs. hand cleaning in less time. If you have a table at home, a proper ball cleaning machine is a sound investment.
SeniorTom
Well-known member
Using wet paper towels is not that inviting, when you can just put them in a machine push a button and wait two or three minutes and they will be done very well. Wet paper towels don't polish balls, they may clean off 70% of the crud, but not all of it. Besides it can be a wet mess with paper towels and a waste of paper towels. This machine works perfectly well when used properly, and is very simple. Not trying to dis s the op but he shouldn't have opened it mid-cycle. As another person mentioned, an interrupt would be a good option on these type of machines so even when they are opened up mid-cycle they will shut off.
And they don't need to operate at such a high speed.
SeniorTom
Well-known member
I think that is a matter of debate. Personally, it probably is at the speed it is most effective. Just do the wrong thing like opening the unit up while it is still operating. I will admit a safety switch would be a good option to prevent an accident like this, but there really isn't a good substitute for common sense when operating machinery.
My machine spins at a much lower RPM and cleans the balls perfectly.