Aramith Ball Cleaning Machine

[Black-Balled]

I cleaned a set of oldass dirty balls with dish soap and water once and they came out damn near unplayable, they were so sticky. I think that method removes the finish.

I sure as hell wouldn't do it to my nice balls, though others seem to be happy with it...

 

[vapoolplayer]

Is it just me or does anyone else just prefer to take a towel to the balls and get the chalk/major stuff off and nothing else?

I feel like the balls tend to slide more after they come out of a ball cleaner. Seems to take a lot of the friction away(obviously less stuff on the ball, less friction) but maybe I'm just used to people putting too much cleaner in the machine.

 

[JoeyA]

Some place on this forum or the Billiards Digest Forum there is a post by a chemist (or someone with similar training) who looked into the contents of Aramith ball cleaner. It was found that at least one of the chemicals is wax or something chemically similar. From his comments I concluded that it is wax and that the balls play much better when "cleaned" with Aramith "ball cleaner."

I thought it worth while to run a comparison study and removed all the substances from one set of balls and compared them (through play) with a set cleaned with Aramith ball cleaner.

Incidentally, I did this a few years ago and used floor wax remover on one set of balls and ruined a perfectly good set of balls by turning them an ugly shade of yellow (cost me a hundred odd dollars for that mistake). Bought another set and compared the results and found that balls "cleaned" with Aramith play much better than balls cleaned with only soap and water which were thoroughly rinsed of all soap.

Call it what you will Aramith is a "better" ball cleaner and the balls do not throw as much.

BTW when you use Aramith cleaner you have to wait for them to dry and a haze forms, just like waxing a car. Then you have to wait for an hour or so after polishing for the balls to harden or the balls spot where they collide. It is just like wax drying, polishing and then hardening. A rose by any other name ...

I did not know about the quasi-chemist's report and I did not know about the need for waiting an hour after polishing. Thanks!

Just for the record, I cleaned a set of very old balls at our pool room using an inexpensive product called AWESOME, which is available at your local dollar store. I put all 16 balls in the lavatory sink and sprayed them with the cleaner and scrubbed them lightly with a cloth. Afterwards I just rinsed them in the lavatory and they came out very clean with no visible problems or playing problems.

Yesterday, I dropped off a new set of cloth covers for the ball cleaning machine at Buffal Billiards. Maybe one of the employees will get on the stick and get the balls back in shape.

 

[koolkatt58]

Mike:

I was talking about the Ball Star Cleaning machine that cleans 8 at a time not the smaller one. Just wanted to clarify. It is expensive but for me it was worth it I like not having to clean them by hand anymore. I use to rub them up with Aramith Ball Cleaner is was very time consuming and I figured the machine is worth it in the long run saves tons of time.

 

[JoeyA]

Joey, novus 1 is whacha want. Avoid numbers 1 & 2 though' as these have abrasives for removing scratches. Best stuff I've ever used. I still have half a bottle of the aramith stuff from a couple of years ago when I made the switch.

http://www.novuspolish.com/plastic_clean_shine.html

Jalapus,
I'm guessing that you meant to say "avoid 2 & 3"?

I will check this out. Sounds like good stuff.
Thanks.
Joey

 

[JoeyA]

Jalapus,
I'm guessing that you meant to say "avoid 2 & 3"?

I will check this out. Sounds like good stuff.
Thanks.
Joey

Ooops.
Coated Plastics

Some plastics are coated with a thin film which may be damaged by the abrasives in the polish. NOVUS No. 2 and No. 3 Polishes are not recommended for use on coated plastics or eyeglass lenses.

 

[jalapus logan]

Jalapus,
I'm guessing that you meant to say "avoid 2 & 3"?

I will check this out. Sounds like good stuff.
Thanks.
Joey

Yes, sorry, avoid #'s 2 & 3 was what I meant. Anyway, Novus 1 was recommended by Leonard Bludworth to a friend of mine who bought one of his machines. Several other respected AZB'ers use it and like it too. Dennis, aka dmgwalsh is one.

I really like it as it leaves no residue whatsoever and gets the cleaning job done. Priced nicely as well.

Cheers,

JL

 

[Black-Balled]

I did not know about ...the need for waiting an hour after polishing. Thanks!
...get the balls...

I did not know that either, thanks JoeW.

I always play with them immediately and I do feel they get dirty too fast, compared to the pool room's sets.

 

[alstl]

I need to get a machine or make one, I'm too cheap to spend a lot of money. My current system involves Aldi brand had soap gel and paper towels.

My concern with some of the products mentioned is getting that substance in the cloth. Seems like a wax product could cause skids and other problems.

 

[JoeyA]

I need to get a machine or make one, I'm too cheap to spend a lot of money. My current system involves Aldi brand had soap gel and paper towels.

My concern with some of the products mentioned is getting that substance in the cloth. Seems like a wax product could cause skids and other problems.

I think the wax does just the opposite and so do a couple of champions.

 

[wendyb]

Has anyone tried this ball cleaner? If so just wondering what your opinions are and if its a worthwhile investment.

Mike


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Aramith-Pow...279?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item337ed56c97

The machine you are looking at on ebay is a joke and a waste of money,
go with the 5 gallon bucket and 10 inch orbatal polisher, It works super, I collect all viraities of pool ball sets and it cleans them all super squeaky clean and brilliant , The clay ball sets dont get all brilliant but they get cleaner!
I use the Aramath restorer and cleaner products. I get the 10 inch polishing pads at harbor freight, the have inexpensive but good terry cloth pads there,
The bucket method can polish a while set at a time, sometiome I only do 10 at a time, but I got a second 1o inch polisher I put on top of the balls so they are polished from 2 sides at once.
It the way to go, I put books underneith the polisher so when the rug part gets gookey and dirty, I just put another book and it moves it all higher to the clean part of the carpet, I didnt think this up on my own, its John Schmitts polisher and his idea!
Works super!

 

[Bumpa]

And here is how not to do it. Below is my note from two days ago on another thread.

Rick
------------------
So yesterday I took my newly-made bucket pool ball random orbit buffer cleaner/polisher to the assisted living center where I volunteer to play and teach pool.

I put the first eight balls and a light sprinkling of TR-3 Resin Glaze Auto Polish on the balls and turned on the buffer. It was noisy, and the balls really got agitated. For about three minutes. Then the orbiting stopped, and the rpms dropped. I turned off the buffer and removed four balls. Turned on the buffer, and the pad spun slowly for maybe another two minutes and then stopped.

I saw smoke and smelled the nasty, acrid aroma of something electrical burning. I immediately hit the off switch, unplugged the buffer, and was really disappointed.

I wiped off the balls with a dry towel. If 10 is new, and 1 is old and beat-up, the first eight balls went from a 3-4 to maybe a 6-7 in just the short time. You can really see the difference.

When I got home, I disassembled the buffer. The buffing pad is secured to the foam pad by a string. I had cinched up the string, tied a bow knot with a second bow knot leaving maybe an inch of free tags on each end.

Sometime during the first two minutes, I think the eccentric weight that creates the orbiting motion snagged one of the bows. A free tag about 6" long was wrapped around the weight and the motor shaft. This stopped the orbiting and eventually the spinning, and the motor burned up before I shut it off. What a dumb sh#t move on my part to not tie a square knot and cut the free tag ends short.

So now I get to buy another buffer and try again. Aside from being upset with myself, I am impressed with the results so far and am looking forward to making all the balls look almost like new.

Rick

 

[rich337]

dont waste your money i bought 1 and it a cheap POS but if you really want 1 ill sell you mine with the box and i might still have the extra pad for $20 :grin-square:

 

[3andstop]

Here is the easiest of all ball cleaners. Perfect for the lazy guy (like me).

Go buy a galvanized automotive oil change pan. Glue in a piece of carpet on the bottom and the sides.

Throw the balls in there, and just use a buffer on them. Yeah you have to hold the buffer, but it only takes a minute.