Why you shouldn't move your own table

smittie1984 · Mar 26, 2006

I did a job not to long ago. It was a Gandy. Not sure of the model because it was ghetto rigged big time.

The side blinds where not original but they matched. Unfortunatly the corner peices did not fit the new side blinds. We managed to get the corner peices to stay. They where held on by a homemade bracket we had to alter some more.

The guy got the table for $400 and was braggin to us about it. When we finally pulled the cloth the problem was clear. It was the manufactured type slate and I'm not all to sure how it was broken. But either someone dropping it or under it's own weight. The backing was the only thing holding it together. They admited to moving it 1peice after we told him it would be best for us to move it. But they wanted to save money.

They ended up having to order 3 new peices of slate. Only 1 was broken but it was the manufactured type slate. Not real. With dial pins. So we had to get 3 new peices.

AuntyDan · Mar 27, 2006

smittie1984 said:
They ended up having to order 3 new peices of slate. Only 1 was broken but it was the manufactured type slate. Not real. With dial pins. So we had to get 3 new peices.

Nasty damage! I passed on buying a used GCIII a while ago when I realized it had been dragged in one piece across a room, did not want to wait until the cloth had been taken off to find that kind of damage!

Pardon my ignorance, but what did you mean by "not real" and "manufactured type"? By "dial pins" do you mean "dowel pins"? I know these have been used on older tables, like the GCI and II but are not used on many modern tables.

mechanic/player · Mar 27, 2006

Here's a pic of a broken slate I repaired last year, just returned a few wks ago to recloth it. It held up very well and rolls true.

shooter777 · Mar 27, 2006

So does this mean if I want to move my table from one room to another in my house. (about 20 feet) I will need to hire a mechanic to do it?

My friend told me he moved his by getting 8 guys around the table and simply lifting it up off the ground and carrying it to the new location.

Is this wrong?

ragbug74 · Mar 27, 2006

The main concern with moving a 3-piece slate table while assembled is chipping up the edges of the slate where they butt up against each other. If you ever have to adjust the leg-levelers of a multi-piece slate table, you should lift along the long-rail only. If you should do this on the short rail, the pieces of slate may move against each other and chip the edges. I would guess that if you only had to move the table 20 feet, you could pick it straight up with several guys and move it, but be sure to be gentle when placing in back down on the floor/ground.

Barbara · Mar 27, 2006

Okay, well I've got a question. I need to have my table disassembled while our old oil tank is removed and a new one is put in its place. This will be done in the summer.

How difficult/dangerous is it to do this and then reassemble the table. Obviously I'll have to take the Simonis off to take down the slates, how difficult is it to recloth the slate?

Should I hire a pro? It's a GCI.

Barbara

Jaden · Mar 27, 2006

Barbara said:
Okay, well I've got a question. I need to have my table disassembled while our old oil tank is removed and a new one is put in its place. This will be done in the summer.

How difficult/dangerous is it to do this and then reassemble the table. Obviously I'll have to take the Simonis off to take down the slates, how difficult is it to recloth the slate?

Should I hire a pro? It's a GCI.

Barbara

If you don't have ANY experience doing it then you should hire someone. Not only do the slates have to all be shimmed to be perfectly level with each other and then hot wax or plaster of paris needs to be put in the joint cracks, but you have to make sure all of the rails are perfectly in alignment with each other because the rail bolts will usually have some amount of play in them.

If you feel comfortable doing all of that and reattaching or replacing felt using either a staple gun if the slate has wooden backings or glueing it if it doesn't, then by all means do it yourself.

Barbara · Mar 27, 2006

Jaden said:
If you don't have ANY experience doing it then you should hire someone. Not only do the slates have to all be shimmed to be perfectly level with each other and then hot wax or plaster of paris needs to be put in the joint cracks, but you have to make sure all of the rails are perfectly in alignment with each other because the rail bolts will usually have some amount of play in them.

If you feel comfortable doing all of that and reattaching or replacing felt using either a staple gun if the slate has wooden backings or glueing it if it doesn't, then by all means do it yourself.

Jaden,

I would definitely get a pro to put it back together - what was I thinking!

But can I take it apart myself - with help on the slates, obviously? How hard it that? It would stay in the room, it just needs to be taken down to get to the oil tank.

Barbara

olsonsview · Mar 27, 2006

Not that hard

If your cloth is glued, carefully pull from one corner. take your time and baby it to avoid overstretching any part of it. With staples use a smooth somewhat blunt mini pry bar or other tool to work out the staples without expanding the holes or starting tears. I have reapplied cloth many times like that with success.
The standard slates may weigh in at 250# or so each, and they may be doweled to each other. Older tables may have woodscrews holding the slates down to the table frame, and these may be covered with sealer so you may not see them readily. If you cannot nudge one of the end slates when you think it is ready to lift them off, look closely! Store the slates so they do not get scratched on the honed surface. Slate is quite soft and a scratch can occur easily if one is careless. Let a pro reinstall unless you like to do it yourself. I have done many, but my first one was under the watchfull eye of a retired pro who nudged me in the right directions!

shooter777 · Mar 27, 2006

Ok, thanks for that.

Basically I need to make sure that most of the man power is along the side rails as opposed to the end rails.

THANKS!!!!

driven · Mar 27, 2006

ghetto rigged?????????

How about you go f yourself

I am a white guy, in case you were wondering.
Have a nice day

Jedi V Man · Mar 27, 2006

I've repaired slate busted worse than that nd it rolled so true you would never have known anything was wrong with it.

My buddies Gold Crown III was broken much worse, to the extent we had to Epoxy peices of slate back in plate. After it was ground down and plastered over it rolls perfect.

Just takes some time and patience and a lack of money to buy new slate combinied with a desire to repair what you have to work with....

snyder1 · Mar 27, 2006

driven said:
ghetto rigged?????????

How about you go f yourself

I am a white guy, in case you were wondering.
Have a nice day

Lighten up francis ... "ghetto" isn't a racial term, its a place lower income urban people live.

JS

smittie1984 · Mar 27, 2006

driven said:
ghetto rigged?????????
How about you go f yourself (Very intillectual I see you are)
I am a white guy, in case you were wondering (Nope I'm not).
Have a nice day (I will)

Ease up Slim Shady. I live in Atlanta and many of my friends are black. They use more racist terms than "Ghetto" about themselves than a Klan wizard. And if anybody should be offended by the word "Ghetto" it should be the Jews who where forced to live in a true ghetto. Not a black/African-American person who wanted to "Keep it real". My rant is over.

The table was Ghetto Rigged/Alabama Chromed/Redneck Redesigned whatever it is you want to call it. Let's just say homeimprovidiosoligicaly re-engineered. Or rigged up with whatever they had laying around the wood pile.

I believe "manufactured" slate is something Brunswick tried to come up with a while back to use for slate instead of real slate. It is actually very thick but not heavy at all. And it is very pourus. It doesn't play as well as Itialian or Brazilian slate. I'm not exactly sure what it is.

In this picture this is where the "Dowel" pins are. This was caused by either someone lifting the end peice of slate up. Or their seems slipping while moving it in one peice and the 2 slates shifting.

A lesson in moving slate is when taking it off the table. Do not lift up on it. Just slide it back a few inches to make sure there are no dowel pins. It's easily repaired but you rather not break it. Also unscrew the end peices and leave the center screwed. Outline the 4 corners of the center slate so you can put it exactly back where it was.

If you have a T-rail you definitly want a profesional to do it. You have to mark and number everything.

cueandcushion · Mar 28, 2006

shooter777 said:
So does this mean if I want to move my table from one room to another in my house. (about 20 feet) I will need to hire a mechanic to do it?

My friend told me he moved his by getting 8 guys around the table and simply lifting it up off the ground and carrying it to the new location.

Is this wrong?

It is not wrong. As a billiard table retailer I encourage 8 inexperienced guys moving pool tables. Payment in beer and hard liquor is also encouraged. This usually adds to my yearly retail sales for about 15 new pool tables. An additional 20 tables that are damaged lightly and just need to be rebuilt. And an additional 40 tables than need to be taken apart and releveled. Also make sure your homeowners insurance is paid up. A crushed ankle with the rebuilding surgery and years of rehab usually runs about $150,000. (First hand knowledge of this dollar figure, not pulled out of my ball return)

Well worth the risk to save $200.

GO FOR IT!!!

Okie Al · Mar 28, 2006

Smittie,
I have a question on that "manufactured slate". Does it stay true, or does it have a tendancy to warp or crown? It doesn't seem like slate to me. Slate is metamorphic, and actually layered. This seems to be uniform and almost like marble.

Alan

olsonsview · Mar 28, 2006

Safely lifting

You can safely left the table if you lift by using the part of the table designed for the load: the frame. Never lift even from the long rails if you care for your table, some curtains cannot take the strain and will break off, and holding onto the rails will put the weight on the attachment bolts either through or into the sides of the slate. They were not designed for that! I have lifted tables up to 30 inches off the ground by blocking under the frame then jacking, in order to roll a new one pc carpet under the table. I have also supervised moves where three pcs of 1 1/4 inch pipe maybe 6 ft long were put under the table with the ends sticking out on the long rail sides. Block under the pipes so that the frame only is contacted. Get some strong friends to help lift. I have moved many tables that way. Also you can rent machinery dollys, use four small ones under the four legs. Now one person can roll the table wherever he likes, it is really easy on a smooth floor. When jacking one end of the table up, an auto jack using a timber and blocks under the frame lifts one end at a time effortlessly. And I have never ever damaged a slate even on 100 yr old antiques.

Jaden · Mar 28, 2006

Barbara said:
Jaden,

I would definitely get a pro to put it back together - what was I thinking!

But can I take it apart myself - with help on the slates, obviously? How hard it that? It would stay in the room, it just needs to be taken down to get to the oil tank.

Barbara

Actually, none of it is really hard, it's just if you haven't done it before being walked through it step by step with someone that has, you can do a lot of stuff wrong and if you screw up on the felt, it's not the cheapest thing to replace...

If you can use a wrench, then you can take it apart. In most cases it's just a matter of taking off the rail bolts and felt and then lifting up the slates. and if you have to, taking off the legs from the frame.

Barbara · Mar 28, 2006

Jaden said:
Actually, none of it is really hard, it's just if you haven't done it before being walked through it step by step with someone that has, you can do a lot of stuff wrong and if you screw up on the felt, it's not the cheapest thing to replace...

If you can use a wrench, then you can take it apart. In most cases it's just a matter of taking off the rail bolts and felt and then lifting up the slates. and if you have to, taking off the legs from the frame.

Thanks Jaden,

I just have to take it apart to get the old oil tank apart and out of the basement. I will have a professional mechanic put it back together.

The reason why I have to do this is because NJ homeowner's insurance will not cover any domestic fuel oil spills within a house and I've personally seen one house taken down to the ground and then the soil removed byt hte EPA because of this. Not only did the homeowners lose a $200K+ house, but they had to pay for the cleanup, and that put them in bankruptcy big time.

Barbara

smittie1984 · Mar 28, 2006

Okie Al said:
Smittie,
I have a question on that "manufactured slate". Does it stay true, or does it have a tendancy to warp or crown? It doesn't seem like slate to me. Slate is metamorphic, and actually layered. This seems to be uniform and almost like marble.

Alan

Considering Brusnwick nor many manufactures don't use it anymore I assume it isn't that great. It's very pourus. It'll suck liquid down faster than a frat house.

I'm not exactly sure how it is made or what it is. My best guess is it's almost like a concrete type deal.

Slate can vary. Your best slate will almost have no color variation. Especially in the Brazillian slate which tends to be lighter in color. Itlalian slate is usually the darkest. Both are good.

On your lower end tables such as Leisure Bay, Craftmaster, American Heritage, etc. you'll notice the slate often have white lines through it. Marble looking. Those are veigns and can sometimes break under it's own pressure if you have very thin slate. We always carry those on it's side just in case.

We never move a 3peice as a one peice unless we are doing a dolly move. Where we use a jack and special dollys where we can roll the table.

Moving 1 peice tables is a different situation. We have a special cart that we can move it without damaging the table.

Why you shouldn't move your own table

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