Leveling / Shimming 3 Piece Slate Question???

Use a straight edge

In the past I have used a heavy, square steel bar (don't know where it came from) but by laying it flat across the seams you can look for light. Also you can slide the end of it back and forth across the seam (gently) to see if it "catches".

Remember to use wax

on the seams once you get them as level as you can to fill any small gaps. you can remove the excess with a razor blade.

CamposCues said:

I'm putting my new (used but new to me) Gold Crown. Once I bolt the slate down snug I can tell that there is a small lip where slates meet. I believe I need to shim the low slate. The question I have is how do you know when it is perfect or how perfect does it have to be? Is there a way to detect if it still needs shimming even if it feels good to the touch? Maybe someone could do a quick and dirty rundown on the process? Any help would be appreciated.

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The proper way to set up a Gold Crown or any table for that matter is when first setting the table up you level the pedestals as level as possible. Next step is to put the frame on and leveling that to the pedestals and bolted down firmly. once this is done all three slates are layed onto the frame and they should be almost perfectly level. To make it perfect you take your level and check all four corners of each slate. When you find the highest corner on the highest slate you now have a starting point. You now need to shim the other three corners of this highest slate so that it is perfectly level. You then go to the next adjasent slate and butt it up to the leveled slate. You need to shim the edge of the slate so that it perfectly melds with the leveled slate. There cannot be any ridge here as if there is a ball will jump when it crosses this ridge. You now level the other two corners of this second slate and then proceed to the third slate and repeat these actions again.

The proper way to shim a slate is to put a shim on both sides of the hold down screws and to tighten these screws as tightly and then checking for level. If the slate is to low loosen the bolts and add more shims or take out a little if to high. You should be awhere that slate can bend and sag if not properly supported.

Anyway once the slates are perfectly level and the seems match well you need to fill the slate seams. I usually use hot beeswax but others may prefer a hard setting plaster used in plumbing. I don't recommened plaster nor bondo as bondo can hold to tightly and chip your slates when dismantling and often if you vacuum your table the plaster can be sucked out of the seam and be trapped between the slate and the cloth making hard bumps.

Dick

Use two strings. put on the screw on to the first and third slate. tight the string on the outer most screw on the first slate and run it across and tight it on the third slate. do it on the opposite side too. Now you will two strings running parallel from breaking area toward the spotting area. the two string must be real tight. Put a coin on it each edge underneath the string. So they should be four coins (two string so 4 edge). next is get another coin of the same size and run it arcoss the three slate underneath the string. if the coin touches the string when you running the coin across, this mean the one of the slate is not leveled properly. Hope you do know what I just said. Hope this help.

I leveled my table by running a ball across it in every direction. If it consistently curved in the same direction, I shimmed accordingly until it rolled true. This, got my troubled 9' Gold Crown playing very nice. A level alone may not find all of the problem areas, especially if you have an old table. The ball "level" is the best indicator. In fact, my table now plays much better than it did when the "professional" installed it.

I tighten the slate all the way down. Then where ever there is a low spot where the slates meets I loosen the screws slightly on the low slate then gently hammer a shim in under the slate untill the low slate is just a smidgen higher now. I then tighten the screws untill it pulls the slate dead nut level. I also use a hand screwdriver to avoid stripping the screw out.