Automatic Leveling System

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Level Matic

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Hi everyone. I would like to show the billiard community a project that I have developed and are continuing to develop. It is an automatic leveling system for Valley pool tables, and soon Diamond tables. It can be set up in a few minutes (3-4) and we are consistently leveling tables in under 1 minute to a very high accuracy. Please visit my site at www.level-matic.com for more information. If anyone has any questions I will be glad to answer them on the forum as well. We are currently working on a pricing sheet, as this project is very new and I am trying to get it out to everyone asap. Thanks for your interest!

- Josh
 
ShortBusRuss

ShortBusRuss

Short Bus Russ - C Player
Silver Member
Level Matic said:
Hi everyone. I would like to show the billiard community a project that I have developed and are continuing to develop. It is an automatic leveling system for Valley pool tables, and soon Diamond tables. It can be set up in a few minutes (3-4) and we are consistently leveling tables in under 1 minute to a very high accuracy. Please visit my site at www.level-matic.com for more information. If anyone has any questions I will be glad to answer them on the forum as well. We are currently working on a pricing sheet, as this project is very new and I am trying to get it out to everyone asap. Thanks for your interest!

- Josh
Click to expand...

This might play in the Main forum is you had ever contributed to the forum before, but since this is your first post, I think this would be better posted in either Wanted/For Sale, or the table mechanics forum...
 
GoldCrown

GoldCrown

AzB Gold Member
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Silver Member
Explain more. For a 1 piece slate table? A leg exchange?
 
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L

Level Matic

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Thanks for you question. We do 2 things to the Valley square style leg as modifications. First we add a small, high torque motor to the inside. This motor drives the screw that adjusts the table height. Second, we modify the actual foot so the threaded rod goes up and down inside of the foot versus the stock foot that the base would rotate against the floor. This is so our system will not damage any floor. Diamond leg system is in the design stage, but it seemingly will not need the foot modification. Although the system could level 3 piece slate tables after the slates were shimmed flush, we are really only specializing in 1 piece for now. We did not deem 3 piece as important because the majority of tables the get moved frequently are the bar style tables. The system is geared for bar owners that want to move the tables for the weekend and back for league without having to call a mechanic (any bartender could use it), and also multi-table tournament set-ups, i.e. SBX and Vegas.
 
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garczar

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Are the motors left on the table or are are they removed after leveling? I assume this is aimed mostly at pro installers? Would a home-table owner really need this?
 
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hang-the-9

hang-the-9

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I think this part will limit the market to maybe 8 units "this is ideal for tavern owners and amusement companies that want to offer a high quality gaming experience. "

One of the bars my pool league plays out of has one side pocket an inch to the side of the other side pocket, so they are not actually even with each-other. We won't even talk about how horrible the cloth, rails and ball sets are in many bars. I think a system to level tables would be just over buying a pet llama for them. Interesting product but you will need some great sales people to move it.
 
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garczar

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
hang-the-9 said:
I think this part will limit the market to maybe 8 units "this is ideal for tavern owners and amusement companies that want to offer a high quality gaming experience. "

One of the bars my pool league plays out of has one side pocket an inch to the side of the other side pocket, so they are not actually even with each-other. We won't even talk about how horrible the cloth, rails and ball sets are in many bars. I think a system to level tables would be just over buying a pet llama for them. Interesting product but you will need some great sales people to move it.
Click to expand...
"Pet llama". That's funny as hell.
 
L

Level Matic

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garczar said:
Are the motors left on the table or are are they removed after leveling? I assume this is aimed mostly at pro installers? Would a home-table owner really need this?
Click to expand...

The motors are left in the leg. We are working on a system that the motors are removable. This system would be able to be used on all table manufactures. But due to cheapness of the motors it is difficult to produce a system that can compare price wise to simply installing the motors and leaving them, and aesthetically it is the best choice.

We created this product mostly for amusement company owners that own many tables. The idea is that as they collect coins on a weekly basis they can use the head unit to level the table. Because one head unit will work on all their tables that have the modified legs. When multiple tables are set up for a tournament, the head unit can be leveling the last table as the next one is set up and there is essentially extra leveling time. Although we would appreciate the business, this system was not designed for a home table owner.
 
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L

Level Matic

Registered
"I think this part will limit the market to maybe 8 units "this is ideal for tavern owners and amusement companies that want to offer a high quality gaming experience. "

One of the bars my pool league plays out of has one side pocket an inch to the side of the other side pocket, so they are not actually even with each-other. We won't even talk about how horrible the cloth, rails and ball sets are in many bars. I think a system to level tables would be just over buying a pet llama for them. Interesting product but you will need some great sales people to move it."

Idk, where the original post went but in response to "hang-the-9"

You're right, many bar owners do not care about their equipment and that makes leagues crappy. But most bar owners do not have the skills required, as a table mechanic, to do proper maintenance. That is where our product helps. Part of the problem is that your league player allow this and continue to play from that establishment. I know that there is not always a better bar or place to play but bar owners that loose league nights fix tables.
 
GoldCrown

GoldCrown

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
Silver Member
Good concept. I hope you get a strong demand. I commend you for being innovative.
While you’re at it work on a system for washers and dryers. BestBuy sent their best hacker to me for washing machine delivery. Guys says We’re good. It’s almost level and leaves.
 
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Celophanewrap

Celophanewrap

Call me Grace
Silver Member
So I looked at your website and I'm not seeing a price.
Do you have a cost per unit, or is it one unit and many motors?
 
sbpoolleague

sbpoolleague

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Level Matic said:
Hi everyone. I would like to show the billiard community a project that I have developed and are continuing to develop. It is an automatic leveling system for Valley pool tables, and soon Diamond tables. It can be set up in a few minutes (3-4) and we are consistently leveling tables in under 1 minute to a very high accuracy. Please visit my site at www.level-matic.com for more information. If anyone has any questions I will be glad to answer them on the forum as well. We are currently working on a pricing sheet, as this project is very new and I am trying to get it out to everyone asap. Thanks for your interest!

- Josh
Click to expand...

Very interesting idea. How durable is your motor / screw concept? As we all know, most 7ft bar tables with ball return systems will eventually get balls stuck due to chalk, etc, and there a plethora of idiots out there that like to lift up and slam the table down when this happens (a special place in hell for those folks). Frequently the legs of our Valley's get broken by these miscreants. Wondering how susceptible your system is to such abuse.
 
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Pacecar

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
The best way to level is to have almost equal weight shared by all 4 legs. With a stiff table, it's possible for the diagonal pair of legs (with the jack) to carry most of the weight. The other diagonal legs without much weight will be close to teeter-tottering (easy to make un-level when a player places his weight on the table). Effectively, the slate frame is being stressed a lot across that diagonal, and a ball would roll differently as it approached a leg holding up almost half of the table weight.
Just imagine putting a brick under one of the 4 legs of your kitchen table. That diagonal pair of legs carries 90%+ of the weight of the table. The other diagonal pair of legs has almost no weight to support.
 
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L

Level Matic

Registered
sbpoolleague said:
Very interesting idea. How durable is your motor / screw concept? As we all know, most 7ft bar tables with ball return systems will eventually get balls stuck due to chalk, etc, and there a plethora of idiots out there that like to lift up and slam the table down when this happens (a special place in hell for those folks). Frequently the legs of our Valley's get broken by these miscreants. Wondering how susceptible your system is to such abuse.
Click to expand...

We are using stock Valley parts for most of the leg modifications, but nothing that is substantially weaker. This means that we have not weakened the leg, it is approximately as strong as it is from the factory. The parts are easily changeable though so if something does happen we can swap out individual parts as necessary. I understand that this is a problem in bars and we have considered it but it is difficult for us to control abuse in bars.
 
L

Level Matic

Registered
Pacecar said:
The best way to level is to have almost equal weight shared by all 4 legs. With a stiff table, it's possible for the diagonal pair of legs (with the jack) to carry most of the weight. The other diagonal legs without much weight will be close to teeter-tottering (easy to make un-level when a player places his weight on the table). Effectively, the slate frame is being stressed a lot across that diagonal, and a ball would roll differently as it approached a leg holding up almost half of the table weight.
Just imagine putting a brick under one of the 4 legs of your kitchen table. That diagonal pair of legs carries 90%+ of the weight of the table. The other diagonal pair of legs has almost no weight to support.
Click to expand...

The programming of the system accounts for adding weight to each leg equally. Without going into too much detail, each foot is lower out of the legs until a the sensor reads that it has adjusted the table height. This means the foot has taken weight and can now be adjusted down for leveling purposes. The table always starts at the lowest point possible (feet as inside of the leg as possible), so the adjustments are always bringing the feet out of the leg to level.
 
L

Level Matic

Registered
Celophanewrap said:
So I looked at your website and I'm not seeing a price.
Do you have a cost per unit, or is it one unit and many motors?
Click to expand...

We are working very hard on getting pricing ready. We hope to have a price sheet by the end of next week and I will bump this thread after I include it on the website. We are going to price on a per head unit basis and then on a per table basis. Meaning if you own 4 tables you would have 4 X the per table price (for leg modification) + # of head units X per head unit price. All head units will work for all modified legs so only one head unit is needed regardless of the number of tables that it is used. Obviously as you increase the number of head units you will decrease your leveling time for multiple tables. Each leg requires a motor for now that will be included in the price per table.
 
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