I have 3 sets of balls, 1 set is the cheap ball set that comes with the Valley table I have, the only league in my town plays on these tables so I use them during league, my 2nd set is a Dynaspheres Tungsten set, they were stupid cheap because I guess some people didn't like the color of this ball set, they are bigger, but have a similar weight to the Valley table set, my 3rd set of balls are an Arimith Super Pro Cup set, I haven't been using them much because my table is an old coin operated table and I didn't want to beat up a nice set of balls on my cheap table, after owning these balls for more than a year I decided that I might as well use them, these balls play WAY different, they are much heavier and bigger than the other ball sets I own, I've played them for a couple of hours now, I find mistakes in stroke or aim are magnified using this ball set, not a bad thing, just an observation, anyone else have this same experience?
Arimith Super Pro pool balls
- Thread starter SSP
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One tip: you need to break your posts up into readable sentences. This is just rambling babbling. Also: they are not way bigger or heavier. Rexus has pretty much covered the ball size/weight deal. https://forums.azbilliards.com/threads/pool-ball-weights.536976/ Balls can/do get smaller after yrs of use but new balls will be within tolerances.
The regulation size and weight of the balls are as follows: diameter of 21⁄4 in (57 mm), plus or minus 0.005 in (0.127 mm) weight may be from 5+1⁄2 to 6.0 oz (160–170 g)
1/2 oz is acceptable but I can feel the difference in the balls, they do play different.
2.238 and 2.249, very close and within spec, BCA spec is .12of a mm, but it is visible, the spec for weight is 5.5oz to 6.0oz, I thought that was alot as well, I don't have a scale but you can feel a half oz difference pretty easily
The size difference in the pictures is an illusion 0.1mm is the thickness of a piece of paper. 5 grams is only .17oz, not half an ounce. I still say those specs are too small to notice and such claims are psychological.
If you were to be presented two sets of balls with these difference in specs without playing with them you wouldn’t notice any difference.
If you were to be presented two sets of balls with these difference in specs without playing with them you wouldn’t notice any difference.
Also, it is possible that the tolerances on the ball "cups" of the trays may not be consistent, making it appear there is that much difference in ball height.
Measuring ball size while sitting in a plastic tray is not very scientific and quite possibly inaccurate.
5.5 oz to 6.0 oz is 1/2 oz, is it not? I did no measurements until you asked me to, this was something I felt and saw, I have the reduced pocket Penguin rails on my table, I respect the work you do for the sport of Billiards, this post was about what a difference I felt in the ball sets, It amazes me that players can feel the difference in an 11.8mm shaft compared to a 12.5mm shaft, that's not even 1mm.......
I agree with that, but even a slightly larger and heavier ball on tight pockets changes the way they play, I'm glad I did this, this little non scientific experiment has taught me that I should be playing with different ball sets so I can know what to look for in a tournament/ match setting, there many factors in learning to win.
I never blamed any equipment, I said they played different, I may have worded it wrong, I am going to make a habit of changing the ball sets I use more often, learning to deal with less than ideal tables and equipment is a good skill to have, being able to adapt quickly will hopefully come with practice.
I showed up to pool leagues one night and the balls had no wax on them. The bartender wanted to clean them so they ran them through the dishwasher
so sometimes you can blame the equipment because trust me when I say if you never played with balls with 0 wax you don’t want to .. completely changes what you know.
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How well do they stand up in an industrial dishwasher?
How do you know the weight if you don't have a scale? Also, grams is universally used as the unit of measure for pool balls. You have to remember, the balls you are referencing are made from different resins which may make them "feel" and "play" slightly different. I have weighed about 20 sets of balls and all are within 1-3 grams of each other across various manufacturers, except for the vintage sets. No way you are sensitive enough to "feel" a 1-3 gram difference. If you are, you must complain a lot about every single set you play with because it is not uncommon to have that weight variance in a single set. I've never, not will I ever, hear a player say, "The 2B (or whatever ball) plays different than the rest of the set. It must be lighter (or heavier)". A cue ball? Maybe, but not an object ball. I've never seen a phenolic pool ball that had a 1/2 oz. (14 grams) variance from other balls, whether in a single set or from differing manufacturers. That is A LOT of weight variance considering a pool ball generally weighs between 168 and 171 grams. Yes, you would absolutely feel that large a variance but it doesn't exist in quality sets such as the ones you are comparing. Maybe one of your sets is a poly resin counterfeit and not phenolic. Get a scale and weigh them.
I never blamed any equipment, I said they played different, I may have worded it wrong, I am going to make a habit of changing the ball sets I use more often, learning to deal with less than ideal tables and equipment is a good skill to have, being able to adapt quickly will hopefully come with practice
What I read is that BCA regulations say 5.5 to 6.0 ozs, not grams, I did get that off the internet so.....I know one of my ball sets is a poly resin set that is worn down, came "free" with the table, my question has anyone else experienced this, you said you have not and have a lot more experience than I do with this, do I have a counterfeit ball set? Possibly, they were really cheap off the internet, I was simply asking what I consider a good source for some insight and other people's experience, if I had not asked the question I would have not learned anything, my take away from this experience is to change the ball sets I use frequently so as not to get to used to one set of balls and learn to adapt quickly to what you will be playing with in a tournament or match
This ^
The "straightedge" is highlighting the ball dimension and the tray which has no claim to dimensional accuracy.
Set the balls on the table and hold a trusted straightedge across them.