I got a table finally. But it's wood not slate. So I have an idea. Help please.

Don't go buy that slate just yet. Someone who knows more than me will chime in soon. I have a cheaper CL Bailey slate top table and there are bolt holes in the slate that align with the frame.

If the slate you want to buy is from an AMF table, it might--MIGHT--work.

Be patient and someone who knows for sure for sure will yea or nea you.

Guess it all depends on how handy you are...and wbat kind f tools you have.

Nothing's impossible, except dribbling a football.

It is possible

Nothing is impossible, but a few questions come to mind.

1. What kind of frame/legs do you have and will it support slate? You may find it will not support it or you may never be able to get the slate level. A possibility would be using the frame/legs from the slate table and retrofitting the top of yours to it.

2. Is it possible for you to rework the wood top and take out some of the warps/dips? This will require some woodworking skills and possibly setting up a jig to make it true. You can try it by hand but you may hurt more than help. Another possibility is to buy a new MDF sheet and either set it on top of existing or replace the wood bed all together. The thicker the better but this can get costly and expensive in time and materials.

I have done all of these types of "Repairs" in the past at the owners request but in the long run it may be easier and cheaper to wait and buy a different slate table in the future.

Good luck to you!

You're talking about placing something that weighs 500-600 lbs on top of a frame that was built to support 30-40 lbs. That's just not going to work, at all, without some SERIOUS modifications. If it's "cool" that you are after, it might be easier to do it the other way and try to adapt the skirts/rails of the "cool" plywood table to the frame/support of the "uncool" slate table.

Black-Balled said:

Guess it all depends on how handy you are...and wbat kind f tools you have.

Nothing's impossible, except dribbling a football.

Click to expand...

A lot easier if you let some air out of it. Johnnyt

Throw your mistake away and save for a slate table. Johnnyt

Black-Balled said:

Guess it all depends on how handy you are...and wbat kind f tools you have.

Nothing's impossible, except dribbling a football.

Click to expand...

I can dribble a football.
Nothing is impossible, Black-Balled. :smile:

I'm surprised to hear that he found an AMF table with a wood top. Any chance the original slate top was damaged and simply replaced with wood?

Maybe the OP has a table that could handle the slate if that's the case.

Maybe the slate is upside down, the wood is the backer board.

pool table

Do yourself a favor, buy a used bar box or a 9 footer that has a slate and not wood.

You can a buy Valley coin operated bar boxes all day long for 400.00 to 500.00 bucks...

Your looking at expensive junk, the last owners gave it away because it was beyond economical repair ( BER )
Now you are going to invest hundreds of dollars and your time plus tools and materials to fix up a cheap @ss plywood topped pool table.

So you put a slate top on top a cheap @ss table just to find out the rails suck @ss too.
Or the rails need to be moved up or down


Maybe we should take up a collection for you not to fix this table up.
Because in the long run it would be worth paying you money in stead of watching you torture yourself .for months screwing around with a cheap modified what was once was a plywood topped pool table .

SuperMoverBros said:

I got this cool looking AMF Pool Table on Craigslist for free. It has 2 issues.
1. There was a 1/4" deep burn in the middle of the table.
It went through the felt and burned the wood. Cigar sized burn. So I melted beez wax and problem fixed pretty much.

2nd issue: after leveling, I noticed that it's just uneven in some areas, warped.

I really like the table. Cosmetically, it's super cool looking and in very good condition.

I found a 1 piece slate complete pool table on Craigslist for $200. It's not great looking, but it's the same 8x4 measurements. The slate is in perfect condition. I want to swap it. And keep my cool looking table.

Is this possible? Can my frame support a slate piece?

Click to expand...

Toss out the first table, install the second table. Get some molding, wood veneers and paint and make the second table look "cool".

BasementDweller said:

I'm surprised to hear that he found an AMF table with a wood top. Any chance the original slate top was damaged and simply replaced with wood?

Maybe the OP has a table that could handle the slate if that's the case.

Click to expand...

Often, a billiard store will have demo tables with wood instead of slate...
....you get the slate when you buy the table.
So that table may be able to handle slate...
...but I agree with JohnnyT....toss it

Why do I suspect this is a troll on Glen?

If not, toss that thing. You can likely find a serviceable slate table for 2-5 hundred. I did.