Trouble Breaking 9-ball (Slug Racks)

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pw98

Registered
I have trouble breaking 9-ball where about 85% of the time 4-5 balls don't spread out past the foot spot and usually the rest don't make it halfway up table except the 1 ball. I'm using a magic rack with Super Pro Aramith balls that have about 1 year of heavy use on them.

When I rack 10-ball with these same balls and magic rack there is never a slug rack. I have tried racking with a triangle and about half the time with 10-ball i get a slug rack and almost all the time with 9-ball i get a slug rack. The cloth is Simonis 860 which is as old as the balls.

Now the question: Is it my break or are the balls probably worn and not racking tightly? They seem to slug regardless if the hit was square or not and whether I hit it hard or not.

Ive tracked which balls don't make it past the foot spot and normally its some of the bottom 6 balls doing it.

This is very irritating as I am better at the ghost in 10-ball than 9-ball which shouldn't be the case?
 
mikemosconi

mikemosconi

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Are the balls hitting the cushions and then not rebounding well? Maybe you have some loose bolts holding down the rails, or some dead spots in the cushions where the nine ball racked balls normally make first contact? Just a suggestion.
 
P

pw98

Registered
Yea there are dead spots in that rail

I never thought about the dead spots in the rails being a possible cause. :confused:

The foot rail does have some dead spots in it. :frown: However, overall the foot rail seems to play okay. And yea I know for sure that the bolts on the rails aren't very tight as I've had them fall out while playing and i just reinstalled them by hand and without a wrench. I'll torque them down tomorrow and see if it helps.

The reason I don't think its the rail is because the balls that slug seem to come off the rack pretty slow, they do seem to make it to the rail and bounce off it though.

The foot slate is also out of level and has a heavy roll towards the foot rail which ruins a lot of runs where the ball comes in fast towards the foot rail, but I don't think that has anything to do with it. :angry:

Basically the table needs some work done to it. I talked to a good mechanic recently and he said all rubber made these days is garbage except Artemis which he can't get anymore and lasts 1 year because the Chinese put dirt from the ground in it as filler and that it would be better for him to just re-glue the rubber because it seems to have lasted 18 years so far.

I'm going to take a better look at the films of the slug racks and check the spots the balls hit to see if they are the dead spot.
 
S

straightline

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
pw98 said:
I never thought about the dead spots in the rails being a possible cause. :confused:

The foot rail does have some dead spots in it. :frown: However, overall the foot rail seems to play okay. And yea I know for sure that the bolts on the rails aren't very tight as I've had them fall out while playing and i just reinstalled them by hand and without a wrench. I'll torque them down tomorrow and see if it helps.

The reason I don't think its the rail is because the balls that slug seem to come off the rack pretty slow, they do seem to make it to the rail and bounce off it though.

The foot slate is also out of level and has a heavy roll towards the foot rail which ruins a lot of runs where the ball comes in fast towards the foot rail, but I don't think that has anything to do with it. :angry:

Basically the table needs some work done to it. I talked to a good mechanic recently and he said all rubber made these days is garbage except Artemis which he can't get anymore and lasts 1 year because the Chinese put dirt from the ground in it as filler and that it would be better for him to just re-glue the rubber because it seems to have lasted 18 years so far.

I'm going to take a better look at the films of the slug racks and check the spots the balls hit to see if they are the dead spot.
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Take a look at the racking area too. Chances are you got tiny divots approximating the rack for you. If you have no recourse with the rack, you could change the rule to "break and first shot" ; a little like bowling but at least you get a shot at running 'em.

Another option would be giving up the break but you rack. At least you'll get some feedback on how your racks work.
 
M

mjdoutdoors

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Slug rack

For 9 ball, check to see if the 2 balls behind the 1 are frozen to the 9 ball. If not, this is a slug rack. For 10 ball check that the back row is frozen to get the two balls behind the one going to the side pockets. Contrary to popular thinking, frozen balls toward the back of the rack are more important than the first three balls at the top of the rack. Defiantly true for 8 ball as well. Frozen to the center of the rack gets energy going into the rack then out. If the back balls are not frozen then the energy gets checked inside the rack.
 
Bob Jewett

Bob Jewett

AZB Osmium Member
Staff member
Gold Member
Silver Member
Blue said:
try racking the 1 ball slightly lower..
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I would go for half a ball higher or lower if you are going to rack at the same end. That gets as far away as possible from craters in the rack area.
 
T

The ProRailbird

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
stevelomako said:
Uhhhh

Try racking at the other end of the table and see if it’s the same.
Click to expand...

If you do this and get the same results, take those balls and magic rack to a different table and try again.

If you get the same results, consider hiring a quilified coach to help you out.

If your results noticeable improve, consider hiring a quilified table mechanic to fix your table. I personally would be leary of one that doesn't know where to purchase cushions.

There are several instructors and mechanics here on AZB.
 
MattPoland

MattPoland

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
If you’re getting slug racks with a magic rack, I would either get a new rack or new balls. Are the balls from different sets? Some shiny and some dull? Some have numbers on the stripe and some not? If so, try to identify the odd balls and favor putting them in the bottom of the rack.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
angluse

angluse

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
+1 for Outsville. Or Turtle Rack.

I've seen worn out magic racks. Turning the turtle around 180* helps, but I don't know if that works with others, depending on the angle of the diamond-shaped holes.

Assuming you mean, brand name Magic?

Avoid knockoff magic racks. Especially the combination 8 & 9 ball one, some of those are just awful. Worse than (paper) knockoff turtles, IMO, which are usually not bad, until the diamond hole gets a little worn out.
 
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