1993 7' Valley Panther Coin-Op Refresh

Mr. C

Mr. C

Registered
I've inherited a 7' Valley bar box from my dad. Although the table itself is in relatively good shape to be 23 years old, it could stand a little TLC.

Cloth

First, the table currently has a low grade burgundy cloth that was poorly installed and has a 2 inch tear from a miscue on a break. To address this, I've ordered Simonis 860 cloth in "Tournament Blue".

Rails

Second, I'm not sure when Valley upgraded their factory rails to dual density, but I'm thinking about ordering a set of standard edition Ridgebacks. I welcome feedback on this.

Balls

There are two sets of balls, but both seem to be mix matched sets and are pretty beat up regardless. I've ordered a set of Aramith Premier balls with a Aramith tournament magnetic cue ball. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the ball maintenance debate.

Mechanical

A previous owner had disabled the coin-op mechanics to make it free play. I haven't really gone through it to see what's there and what's missing yet, but I would like make it (in the words of Brent Spiner as Data) "fully functional".

I welcome any tips, pointers, or sage advice that you feel might be helpful in my undertaking.
 
gutshot

gutshot

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Simonis is the best choice for cloth. I would definitely go with Ridgeback rails and have them custom made so that the pockets play tighter. I would go with Centennial balls with a red circle cue ball and forget about making the coin mechanism functional and needing to use a magnetic cue ball. It's more convenient to just have the balls come down to the end and not be trapped in the ball chute and having to play with a pos magnetic cue ball.
 
Johnnyt

Johnnyt

Burn all jump cues
Silver Member
The Ridgebacks are the nuts for an old Valley. 4.125" corners along with the Ridgebacks will make your Valley play almost as tough as a 7' Diamond. You really can't make it play much tougher than this because the pocket shelves are cutout more on the Valley VS the Diamond. Simonis is too fast for a BB IMO. Johnnyt
 
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bdorman

Dead money
Silver Member
When you've got the slate off to recover it, you can reroute the ball return chutes to bypass the coin-op "collection spot", and send them directly to the ball return. I'd also recommend taking out the coin pusher mechanism...bruised many a knee on those devils.
 
realkingcobra

realkingcobra

Well-known member
Silver Member
bdorman said:
When you've got the slate off to recover it, you can reroute the ball return chutes to bypass the coin-op "collection spot", and send them directly to the ball return. I'd also recommend taking out the coin pusher mechanism...bruised many a knee on those devils.
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Where in the heck did you come up with that information? Valley has a set track ball return system, that means it's fixed in place.
 
Mr. C

Mr. C

Registered
Luckily, all of the pieces for the coin-op were in the belly of the table. I reassembled it and successfully tested it. I'll be leaving it as free play, but it's nice to know it's all there if needed.

Here's a few pics of the old cloth ...

The main tear ...

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Pockets ...

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This may be a hint as to why the cloth was so loose ...

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A ton of what appears to be crazy glue was used at one end ... the rest of the cloth was held on with this ... :shakehead:

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Mr. C

Mr. C

Registered
Making some progress ...

Table has been covered and started on the rails :cool:

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Mr. C

Mr. C

Registered
New balls have arrived and table has been recovered ... time to rack'em. :cool:
 

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Gorramjayne

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Wow those pockets look nice. What I wouldn't give to have played my bar league on a Valley like that. Usually when I see a Valley bigger than 6', they also increase the size of the pockets. I remember one particular 8' Valley where half the balls seemed to always drop on the break no matter who was hitting them, it was utterly ridiculous

Nice change to your table. When the pockets are too big it messes with my brain, the target is so big I have a hard time setting a definite line to the pocket and then I get fuzzy on how my CB is coming off, not that precise position matters on a table like that when you know if you just send a ball off enough rails it will probably find its way into one of the six buckets.

I didn't know a Valley could look that good, nice work on that.


Edit:

For free to play did you just take the coin slot out so you can manually lift the lever or did you disengage the lever by locking it in the up position so the balls always roll through the return?
 
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realkingcobra

realkingcobra

Well-known member
Silver Member
Gorramjayne said:
Wow those pockets look nice. What I wouldn't give to have played my bar league on a Valley like that. Usually when I see a Valley bigger than 6', they also increase the size of the pockets. I remember one particular 8' Valley where half the balls seemed to always drop on the break no matter who was hitting them, it was utterly ridiculous

Nice change to your table. When the pockets are too big it messes with my brain, the target is so big I have a hard time setting a definite line to the pocket and then I get fuzzy on how my CB is coming off, not that precise position matters on a table like that when you know if you just send a ball off enough rails it will probably find its way into one of the six buckets.

I didn't know a Valley could look that good, nice work on that.


Edit:

For free to play did you just take the coin slot out so you can manually lift the lever or did you disengage the lever by locking it in the up position so the balls always roll through the return?
Click to expand...
I don't know what the Valleys in your ar3a look like, but all Valley tables come with 4 1/2" corner pockets, don't matter what size table it is. Next time you play on a Valley table, place 2 balls side by side in the pocket opening and check it out.
 
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Gorramjayne

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
realkingcobra said:
I don't know what the Valleys in your ar3a look like, but all Valley tables come with 4 1/2" corner pockets, don't matter what size table it is. Next time you play on a Valley table, place 2 balls side by side in the pocket opening and check it out.
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I don't know... do you mean the throat of the pocket is 4.5 in? At the points I've never seen a Valley/Dynamo in a bar where two balls would not fit comfortably, I don't even know how many matches I won in my old bar leagues putting the 8 right past another ball sitting in the pocket. It just seemed to make sense for bars to prefer big buckets for pockets. Less drunken temper tantrums, and when two drunk bambis who have never played pool before in their life hack away at the table, they eventually make balls so the game moves along and the coins keep falling into the table. I played on on an old Valley last week and I was just appalled at the shots that were falling compared to Diamond Pro-Ams.
 
S

Skippy27

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
realkingcobra said:
Where in the heck did you come up with that information? Valley has a set track ball return system, that means it's fixed in place.
Click to expand...

They do have a non-coinop tables exactly like the coin op so I am sure the free to play track can fit in there just as it does the other with a couple minor adjustments.
 
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Skippy27

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Gorramjayne said:
I played on on an old Valley last week and I was just appalled at the shots that were falling compared to Diamond Pro-Ams.
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Pocket size is only a part of the equation. Angle and shelf are another. How stiff the rail edge affects ball entry as well.

You could have 2 tables with the exact same 4.5" opening and one play much harder than the other because just one of those things are different.
 
Mr. C

Mr. C

Registered
2twoball said:
Gosh almighty dang, look at the tags on that wall.
Oh, damn nice job on the table too.
ROLL TIDE ROLL
~ Johnny Rosato, B'ham, Al
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've been around. (Tags)

Thanks, now if I could just learn how to use the thing .... :grin-square:
 
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