Are superspeed cushions inherently slower

P

poolfencer

New member
I have an old T rail table that has really seen some abuse over the years. I put super speed cushions on it to try an improve play. I only get one and a half table lengths when shooting the length of the table. I decided to bite the bullet and totally rebuild the rails out of solid oak. It was a pain but it looks great and subrails have been made to specification for k55 cushions and 50 by 100 playing surface. The nose height seems to be spot on. Problem is I still only get 1 and half table lengths. I have seen a number of posts on Superspeeds but nothing regarding their characteristics compared to other cushions. Any feedback appreciated.
 
poolfencer said:
I have an old T rail table that has really seen some abuse over the years. I put super speed cushions on it to try an improve play. I only get one and a half table lengths when shooting the length of the table. I decided to bite the bullet and totally rebuild the rails out of solid oak. It was a pain but it looks great and subrails have been made to specification for k55 cushions and 50 by 100 playing surface. The nose height seems to be spot on. Problem is I still only get 1 and half table lengths. I have seen a number of posts on Superspeeds but nothing regarding their characteristics compared to other cushions. Any feedback appreciated.
Click to expand...
One and a half table lengths doesn't seem right at all. I've never seen one that far off... Short of having completely bad cushions, or rails that are near falling off the table, the worst that I've seen is 2.5 table lengths, but that was also on a table with dirty old shag cloth.

I suspect that something is pretty far off with your table.

Questions:
How thick are your sub-rails?
What is your nose height, with the rails bolted to the table?
Are the rail bolts tight?
What cloth are you using?
 
Well, t-rails are an inherently crappy design for that application.

I had an antique with them long ago and also put super speeds on them and while I can't really tell you what the length was, it was definitely larger than 14 ft if I wanted.
 
The subrails are 1 1/8 by 1 1 5/8 tall. The nose height is 1 13/32 and the rail bolts are very tight. The cloth is the Gorina 2000 tournament
 
if i put 2 shafts together place the collars where the rail and cushion meet and roll the cue ball down the shafts
i only get 1 1/2 table length on my 2 year old gold crown 1 with superspeed rails with 2 year old simonis 760
when i did the same thing at my pool room gold growns with unknown rails and cloth i only got 1 1/4 table length
tables are 4 1/2 x 9 ft
noone that has played on my table has said it was slow for a gold crown
 
I’d like to know how Poolfencer is Calculating his lengths….it should be as hard as you can hit the cue ball….I slide it back handed, which is about my cue speed. I want over four lengths on a table….I’ll settle for less with new rubber and cloth, it’ll speed up with usage.
I just tested one of our Diamond 9-footers, it was almost 4.5 lengths.
It‘s gotta be your bolts, I’ve never seen a table that slow.
 
bbb said:
if i put 2 shafts together place the collars where the rail and cushion meet and roll the cue ball down the shafts
i only get 1 1/2 table length on my 2 year old gold crown 1 with superspeed rails with 2 year old simonis 760
when i did the same thing at my pool room gold growns with unknown rails and cloth i only got 1 1/4 table length
tables are 4 1/2 x 9 ft
noone that has played on my table has said it was slow for a gold crown
Click to expand...
That is only good for checking cloth speed.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bbb
Thanks for the replies. I went back to try again hitting the ball as hard as I could accurately and got 2.5 lengths. This on a 9 foot table. The bolts on the rails are as tight as I can make them. Just as a test I loosened one set of bolts and you can really hear the difference when the ball hits.
 
  • Wow
Reactions: bbb
There is a torque specification for your rail bolts, and it’s not much. No where near “ as tight as I can make them “. There is definitely something fundamentally wrong with your setup. I would stop trying the scatter gun approach and really figure out what is going on.
 
poolfencer said:
I have an old T rail table that has really seen some abuse over the years. I put super speed cushions on it to try an improve play. I only get one and a half table lengths when shooting the length of the table. I decided to bite the bullet and totally rebuild the rails out of solid oak. It was a pain but it looks great and subrails have been made to specification for k55 cushions and 50 by 100 playing surface. The nose height seems to be spot on. Problem is I still only get 1 and half table lengths. I have seen a number of posts on Superspeeds but nothing regarding their characteristics compared to other cushions. Any feedback appreciated.
Click to expand...
MitchAlsup said:
Can you hit a ball hard enough, from one corner pocket to the opposite rail near the opposite corner pocket, to bounce off of 5 rails and get to the longitudinally adjacent corner pocket ??
Click to expand...
poolfencer said:
Almost, i am about 1/4 table short.
Click to expand...
How can you get 5 rails if you cant get 1 1/2 tables
 
Superspeeds are the highest tier pool cushion. You should get about 4.5 table lengths on a modern (post 1960) pool table, without significant ball hop.

I have no idea how the old T rail tables do though, and how much less they bounce.
 
bbb said:
How can you get 5 rails if you cant get 1 1/2 tables
Click to expand...
If I hit the cue ball from the kitchen, it bounces off the foot rail and rests against the head rail, that's two lengths, right? And down and back, stopping at the head rail is 4 tables? I'm wondering if OP is counting differently. It seems like a table that only goes 1 1/2 times would be an extremely different playing experience.
 
tomatoshooter said:
If I hit the cue ball from the kitchen, it bounces off the foot rail and rests against the head rail, that's two lengths, right? And down and back, stopping at the head rail is 4 tables? I'm wondering if OP is counting differently. It seems like a table that only goes 1 1/2 times would be an extremely different playing experience.
Click to expand...
Like some shit that make one stat a thread about tit?!
 
tomatoshooter said:
If I hit the cue ball from the kitchen, it bounces off the foot rail and rests against the head rail, that's two lengths, right? And down and back, stopping at the head rail is 4 tables? I'm wondering if OP is counting differently. It seems like a table that only goes 1 1/2 times would be an extremely different playing experience.
Click to expand...
You are right, I was counting differently. Counting your way I get 3 1/2. Not so bad I guess for a table over 100 years old. Thanks for all the help and sorry for the confusion,
 
Jimmorrison said:
There is a torque specification for your rail bolts, and it’s not much. No where near “ as tight as I can make them “. There is definitely something fundamentally wrong with your setup. I would stop trying the scatter gun approach and really figure out what is going on.
Click to expand...
I think King Cobra stated about 9 pounds torque for T rails or you will pull them out.
 
Tennesseejoe said:
I think King Cobra stated about 9 pounds torque for T rails or you will pull them out.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the information. I had never seen a torque specification. All I have to do now is figure out how to adapt my torque wrench to the weird ass two prong wrench used on these tables. Probably can find a socket adapter.
 
poolfencer said:
Thanks for the information. I had never seen a torque specification. All I have to do now is figure out how to adapt my torque wrench to the weird ass two prong wrench used on these tables. Probably can find a socket adapter.
Click to expand...
It is called a 'Spanner wrench'. But I just guessed to get 9 lbs on my table...lol
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top