Speed and quality of play of a table in regard to slate thickness

HaiNhi

HaiNhi

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Morning all.

I’d like to know if there’s any study / proof on the effect of the slate’s thickness to how fast/how good a table plays in carom games.

I know tables with 50/60mm slates would make them rock solid. No one can move them accidentally. But other than that, what are other major benefits compared to 1” slates?

Thanks much
 
Texas Carom Club

Texas Carom Club

9ball did to billiards what hiphop did to america
Silver Member
probably no one can tell
ron kilby also has agreed with me that not many, if any of us, in the usa anyways, could tell a difference,


hard to bump a 9ft table anyways with 1inch slate anyway unless your a clutz

the best benefit is you can move the slate yourself and dont need 4-6 men to help
cost of the slate should be less as well
 
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Texas Carom Club

Texas Carom Club

9ball did to billiards what hiphop did to america
Silver Member
bert van manen told me that a man in belgium or netherlands, cant recal
made a table with a thermoplastic material instead of a rock slate, super strong, super light weight, by comparison to slates

he said the table played fine
 
HaiNhi

HaiNhi

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Haha I’m not. Thanks for the opinions.

I just have a choice to make. Either to get a 1” set of slates for about $150 or 2” for $700.

With the 2” ones, I have to also beef up the frame and make sure the whole things are solid.

Most likely I’ll go with the 1” for this one because it’s not the table I’m aiming to get everything perfect on.


I saw some other opinions posted here as well: https://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=229193
 
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Texas Carom Club

Texas Carom Club

9ball did to billiards what hiphop did to america
Silver Member
hey pm me about those slates, i might get some too

thanks for that link, never saw it, interesting to read
too bad for the 3c guys that a short table takes away options,


and last i asked, glenn said the diamond carom table was 1inch, or 1-1/8
1 piece slate,9ft table
gotta love that, next 6k i got to burn, ill give them a call
 
HaiNhi

HaiNhi

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Yeah, back in Viet Nam where libre games are more popular (3C now gains traction quickly), I think most tables are 9’, non-heated and I’m pretty sure with 1” slates.

Now pool halls have both, with the higher end tables from Korea (Hollywood & Min) in 10’ & heated, presumably 50-60mm as well.

But when really think about it, there must be some very important factors thicker slates are superior. Otherwise they wouldnt spend the money for nothing.

The slates are coming together with the tables in a container.

I contacted that guy you told me about in China and he never followed through with my request for more info.
 
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Texas Carom Club

Texas Carom Club

9ball did to billiards what hiphop did to america
Silver Member
To make tables expensive and create business...thats just my opinion lol

Go out to a pool room
Take a carom ball, hit it hard into a rail see if the table vibrates

See how much you can bump the table
A brunswick goldcrown is solid as hell, 1 inch slate
Your not bumping that table up with your body lol

A pool table i mean

Like someone else said in that link
I believe the frame is more important for rigidity than the slate

But i dont have a laboratory to test this
Nor do i have the desire to know the very minute effects i believe it yields
I just like hittin balls around hahaa

All misses i attribute to my own fault
The table didnt hit the ball, i did
 
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HomeBrewer

HomeBrewer

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
HaiNhi said:
it’s not the table I’m aiming to get everything perfect on.
Click to expand...


Looks like you have your answer, and it makes sense to me.

I guess everyone's situation is different. I waited and waited and saved and saved and did it all in one shot - got the Gabriels I knew would last me for life and a house that had room for a 10 footer.

However, if I lived in an area like Houston that had carom rooms I could go out to play in, or if I was in a house that only had room for a smaller table and I KNEW I'd be in that house 5+ years, I'd have gone smaller/cheaper as needed rather than let perfect be the enemy of good.
 
HaiNhi

HaiNhi

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I honestly want to have the Gabriel’s Rafale because I really love its look. But it’s $10,500 delivered, which is not in my budget for now. In maybe 5 years if I move to a more permanent place where we would stay for long, I’ll get my dream table.

For now, it’s gonna be Jimar table for my house.

I’m doing work to my GC III to convert to Kebler P37 cushion. This table will be donated to my community center for youth members and parents to play with. They play 99% in libre games.

I play there too. That’s why if I can get good parts for it, I would - to have it play somewhat consistent to my home table. If not, no biggy.
 
HomeBrewer

HomeBrewer

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
My advice to anyone is stay in touch with Yura and wait for a good deal to pop up on a name brand table you like, if you're after a name brand table.

I paid *substantially* less than full new price for mine (1 owner before me, I believe) because it was a 'right time, right price' kind of scenario.

I think pool and billiard tables are like trampolines; as many as I see being given away for cheap, I could never buy new if I didn't have to.
 
3kushn

3kushn

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
HaiNhi said:
I honestly want to have the Gabriel’s Rafale because I really love its look. But it’s $10,500 delivered, which is not in my budget for now. In maybe 5 years if I move to a more permanent place where we would stay for long, I’ll get my dream table.

For now, it’s gonna be Jimar table for my house.

I’m doing work to my GC III to convert to Kebler P37 cushion. This table will be donated to my community center for youth members and parents to play with. They play 99% in libre games.

I play there too. That’s why if I can get good parts for it, I would - to have it play somewhat consistent to my home table. If not, no biggy.
Click to expand...

You might get in touch with Yura. He's beefing up Gold Crown's by adding rail bolts. IMO this would drastically improve a GC Carom table.

BTW when Diamond was with Gabriels they did look into slate thickness and determined the thicker slates were better for the heavier balls. I assume much of the testing was how many rails can be achieved although their study went further than just that.

Playing Carom, 1 Rail, Balkline I'm sure closes the gap vs 3 Cushion.
 
HaiNhi

HaiNhi

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Thanks much for the replies.

I already did the beefing up (from 5/16” to 3/8”) and increased the number of bolts for my Olhausen table with Glen’s help: 6 for short rails, 12 for long rails.

All the 1” slates I have are dual purposes: they have pocket cutouts for pool set up as well. So converting to additional bolts pattern and installing cloths are my least favorite things since you have to work around them if you don’t want to do the extra work plugging them off.

So yeah, I’ll see if I can get the the thicker slates without any issues. If I can get them at a reasonable effort, I’ll beef up the frame a little more. If not, 1” slates that is.

:)

This project is still in the planning stage since I’m not full time at it. It’s fun chatting about it though.
 
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