Template Rack Issues Due to 1-Ball Size Variance for Used Balls?

ChrisinNC

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I'm having a tough time getting tight racks on our tables using the Magic rack and Turtle rack, but only on some tables with certain sets of balls. The main issue seems to be between the 1-ball freezing to the 2 balls directly behind it. Could this likely be caused from a defective template rack, or from sets of balls that over the years are no longer uniform enough in diameter? I'm using Aramith Super Pro balls that are 12-14 years old, but still look in absolutely great shape. When I tried a new set of Centennials I had no problem at all getting a tight rack, so I guess I can assume the problem is not the template racks, but the sets of balls?

Maybe in particular the 1-balls? I assume with the 1-ball having to take the direct force of the cue ball on 9-ball breaks from hard breakers over many years might make it far more likely the 1-ball may change in diameter more than other balls in the same set? I assume if it's a problem getting a tight rack with a template rack due to the balls varying in diameter, it's going to be equally as difficult, or even harder to get a tight rack with any other kind of rack used. Have others experienced this issue? I guess maybe it's time to replace our sets of balls.
 

hang-the-9

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I'm having a tough time getting tight racks on our tables using the Magic rack and Turtle rack, but only on some tables with certain sets of balls. The main issue seems to be between the 1-ball freezing to the 2 balls directly behind it. Could this likely be caused from a defective template rack, or from sets of balls that over the years are no longer uniform enough in diameter? I'm using Aramith Super Pro balls that are 12-14 years old, but still look in absolutely great shape. When I tried a new set of Centennials I had no problem at all getting a tight rack, so I guess I can assume the problem is not the template racks, but the sets of balls?

Maybe in particular the 1-balls? I assume with the 1-ball having to take the direct force of the cue ball on 9-ball breaks from hard breakers over many years might make it far more likely the 1-ball may change in diameter more than other balls in the same set? I assume if it's a problem getting a tight rack with a template rack due to the balls varying in diameter, it's going to be equally as difficult, or even harder to get a tight rack with any other kind of rack used. Have others experienced this issue? I guess maybe it's time to replace our sets of balls.

Issue is with both things or either, template a bit off and ball sets being mis-matched. Of the templates I tried, the Accu-Rack that Outsville makes is the best for older ball sets. I have also seen some of the Magic Racks be a bit off and not freeze the first 3 balls, or have some other gap in the rack, but that is rare. The cheap Chinese copies are really bad with gaps.

Try the Outsville stuff, it's pretty different, not just the material but it also does not press the balls in as much as the Magic Rack, so it opens up more like a triangle. I think you are a room owner or manager also correct? If you contact him you can get a good amount of racks branded with your logo for pretty cheap.
 

ChrisinNC

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Issue is with both things or either, template a bit off and ball sets being mis-matched. Of the templates I tried, the Accu-Rack that Outsville makes is the best for older ball sets. I have also seen some of the Magic Racks be a bit off and not freeze the first 3 balls, or have some other gap in the rack, but that is rare. The cheap Chinese copies are really bad with gaps.

Try the Outsville stuff, it's pretty different, not just the material but it also does not press the balls in as much as the Magic Rack, so it opens up more like a triangle. I think you are a room owner or manager also correct? If you contact him you can get a good amount of racks branded with your logo for pretty cheap.
I just talked with Chris at Outsville, and he's sending me a few accu-racks to try out. I appreciate the suggestion, and I'll follow up as to how I like them - thanks!
 

Black-Balled

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
When I play at home, I only break with the 1 in front if I am soft breaking. Otherwise, it is the 11-15 and I try to keep it random.

I think it's working, joe.
 

DWreckTheBoss

Registered
Issue is with both things or either, template a bit off and ball sets being mis-matched. Of the templates I tried, the Accu-Rack that Outsville makes is the best for older ball sets. I have also seen some of the Magic Racks be a bit off and not freeze the first 3 balls, or have some other gap in the rack, but that is rare. The cheap Chinese copies are really bad with gaps.

Try the Outsville stuff, it's pretty different, not just the material but it also does not press the balls in as much as the Magic Rack, so it opens up more like a triangle. I think you are a room owner or manager also correct? If you contact him you can get a good amount of racks branded with your logo for pretty cheap.

He is absolutely correct. I play at places with mixed ball sets and/or damaged balls and they really do a great job of ensuring a tight rack. Accu-rack is by far my favorite templates.
 

Black-Balled

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
And when some templates ear, one needs to figure out how the balls want to lean into each other.

In my experience...

That is how they deliver a tight rack, and the rack have been referred to as 'loaded'.

You're loaded.
 

hang-the-9

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I just talked with Chris at Outsville, and he's sending me a few accu-racks to try out. I appreciate the suggestion, and I'll follow up as to how I like them - thanks!

I was trying to work out a thing for one of my regular pool halls where they get a bunch of branded racks to use during tournaments vs the triangles for the more casual players, and buy a few sets to sell behind the counter. Players try them out in the event (maybe with a few racking lessons), then pick them up for themselves.

They wanted to run an 8 or 16 week qualifier for a final tournament that would have $1,000 added by the room, but the balls and racking was a huge issue for good players, the rack was often loose and the 9 would shoot to the corner. Or you spend half the match trying to rack. So I told them why not get the racks done for the room, and at the same time you can use them as basically demos to sell the product. The issue there was that it's not a "players" room or the advertising was bad and we had 5 or 6 people show up for the first tournament, with two of them me and my son. Not a lot of traction there when your family makes up 40% of the field LOL
 
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Bob Jewett

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When I made my own racking template for 9 ball, I quickly discovered that the holes should not be 2.25 inches apart. With most ball sets in pool halls that gives you gaps everywhere ... although that has been proposed as a wired ball preventer. I then generated templates at 57, 56, 55mm spacing and used the largest spacing that worked for a particular set of balls.

If anyone wants to make their own.... I used the kind of plastic sheet you can put through a copier (mylar) and a drawing program to put down dots where I wanted the holes to be. A paper punch can do the holes except all the new paper punches at Staples Depot can't do anything but paper, it seems. Anyway, you just have to be careful when you punch the holes to exactly center on the printed dots. I suppose you could also use paper, but it won't last long.

I imagine you could have paper templates made for about 3 cents each with advertising on it. Give them out to your customers. Have them take them to use in other establishments.
 
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iusedtoberich

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
When I made my own racking template for 9 ball, I quickly discovered that the holes should not be 2.25 inches apart. With most ball sets in pool halls that gives you gaps everywhere ... although that has been proposed as a wired ball preventer. I then generated templates at 57, 56, 55mm spacing and used the largest spacing that worked for a particular set of balls.

If anyone wants to make their own.... I used the kind of plastic sheet you can put through a copier (mylar) and a drawing program to put down dots where I wanted the holes to be. A paper punch can do the holes except all the new paper punches at Staples Depot can't do anything but paper, it seems. Anyway, you just have to be careful when you punch the holes to exactly center on the printed dots. I suppose you could also use paper, but it won't last long.

I imagine you could have paper templates made for about 3 cents each with advertising on it. Give them out to your customers. Have them take them to use in other establishments.

I saw you post about your racks before. I would guess with the naked eye and care, someone could line up the hand hole puncher to about 0.010 inches with the printed center mark. Converssely, someone with less care would probably be off .050" or more on each hole. Did they actually work well? Would you say they were as good as the template racks today?

I believe the reason the template racks on the market today work so well is becaue they have diamond shaped slots, instead of round holes. The diamond shape is effectively a ramp, that forces the ball to roll down from the narrow end of the diamond to the center, where it is widest. As the ball rolls down the ramp, it is stopped by freezing to its adjacent ball.
 

iusedtoberich

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
There are these

https://www.amazon.com/Punchline-McGill-3-175-Diamond-ANMC52300/dp/B0006HX1F8

But I would opt for this. It allows the tool to be placed, then lightly pressed, leaving an indentation to verify alignment. :thumbup:

https://www.ebay.com/p/Leathercraft...6-6mm-X-4mm/1070161008?_trksid=p2047675.l2644

Actually now that I think about it, I tried to make a template about 10 years ago with paper. Either Dr Dave or Bob Jewett had the printout on their site. I had a hole puncher like the one on your first link. The problem I recall is you are punching blind. You can't see very well the working part of the punch to line it up with the printed hole. When I was done, the holes were nowhere near where they were supposed to be, and I never tried again.

I eventually bought the magic brand template rack. I think it was about $14 for 2 of them right when they switched material from paper based to plastic based. They have lasted me about 10 years now. Even after my ex's cat crumbled the shit out of one of them, it still racks fine. ha ha.
 

Bob Jewett

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Actually now that I think about it, I tried to make a template about 10 years ago with paper. Either Dr Dave or Bob Jewett had the printout on their site. I had a hole puncher like the one on your first link. The problem I recall is you are punching blind. You can't see very well the working part of the punch to line it up with the printed hole. When I was done, the holes were nowhere near where they were supposed to be, and I never tried again.

I eventually bought the magic brand template rack. I think it was about $14 for 2 of them right when they switched material from paper based to plastic based. They have lasted me about 10 years now. Even after my ex's cat crumbled the shit out of one of them, it still racks fine. ha ha.
I printed round dots slightly smaller than the punch hole. A standard paper punch allows you to see the back side of the hole if you remove the little catch bin. That allows you to center the punch nearly perfectly.

As for how well my version worked, it's hard to say. I'm not sure that I ever used it with a set of matched balls. As I mentioned above, I was dealing with balls that were maybe 55mm in diameter (starting at 57.2 or so). Also, that was long before Sardo and Corey taught us how important a really tight rack is.

If you wanted to make a lot of templates from paper, I think the right way would be to drill the holes which I think is how they do it for 3-ring binder paper. Once it was set up the cost would be very small.
 
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Bob Jewett

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For those interested, printable racking templates (some from Bob) are available at the bottom of the how to get a tight rack resource page.

Enjoy,
Dave
One caution about printing out templates. Not all ways of printing result in the right dimensions. The effective scaling should be 100%. Some printing systems do "smart" things and scale up or down to make things "fit better" in spite of your "no scaling" request. Also, there is no guarantee that the printer will print a square drawing as a square since the dimensions in the two directions inside the printer are determined by two very different mechanisms.

The templates I made that are at the link above include some very large and small versions so that you can deal with 5% scaling errors in the printer and still get a tight rack as long as the x and y scalings are the same.
 
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