Automatic racking of balls
- Thread starter ceebee
- Start date
Hey! This could be a fun concept to play around with.
It could definitely be useful to have a ball return.
In addition to that replace the normal ball holder with a case that'll hold all the balls. This case could be a triangle that stands vertical, where the 5 balls in the back of the rack would be lowest, and the 1 ball on top would be highest.
Then, you'd have some options for the next part.
Option A: Have the whole case lift up, and move the rack to the table at the correct spot. Slide out the now bottom side of the case, which was between the balls and the table. Now, the balls should be on the table felt in its correct triangle shape and position. Would probably want a bar at the back where the 5 balls are, that would push the balls tightly towards the head ball. Then lift up the triangle case and reset it back to the ball return.
Option B: Have a triangle plane, which acts as one side of the vertical triangle case. Have something which would hold each ball individually in its triangle shape (i.e. suction cups...). This suction cupped triangle of balls would then rise up and move the rack to the table at the correct spot. Release the pressure of the suction cup device, and raise and return back to the ball return.
This contraption might be a small effort to design for some engineering minded individual. Once created, racking would simply be to lift the ball set in one grand motion from the ball return to the table, set the balls and then return the contraption to the ball return.
The only issue would be to set the 8 ball into its correct position.
With a little simple creativity, Option A could be made in such a way that when the balls are moved to the table, the top side would be open, so that the 8 ball could be manually moved, before setting and removing the rack from the balls.
Example given above for 8 ball rack only. Could easily make an attachment for 9 ball rack, by simply blocking off the back 2 corners of the rack, so the balls would still naturally fall into 9 ball rack position.
Still would be the issue with putting the 9 ball into correct position.
Some die hard traditionalists will undoubtedly knock the whole concept without truly giving it a chance or understanding its real value beyond simply a novelty item. This could be easily done with traditionalist viewpoints like, liking the feel of the balls in your hands, or liking the negative ramifications of having the loser do the work to rack, .... Or any other excuse. The point though was just to play around with a concept that could conceivably facilitate the racking process. If done right, it could be a useful simplification.
It could definitely be useful to have a ball return.
In addition to that replace the normal ball holder with a case that'll hold all the balls. This case could be a triangle that stands vertical, where the 5 balls in the back of the rack would be lowest, and the 1 ball on top would be highest.
Then, you'd have some options for the next part.
Option A: Have the whole case lift up, and move the rack to the table at the correct spot. Slide out the now bottom side of the case, which was between the balls and the table. Now, the balls should be on the table felt in its correct triangle shape and position. Would probably want a bar at the back where the 5 balls are, that would push the balls tightly towards the head ball. Then lift up the triangle case and reset it back to the ball return.
Option B: Have a triangle plane, which acts as one side of the vertical triangle case. Have something which would hold each ball individually in its triangle shape (i.e. suction cups...). This suction cupped triangle of balls would then rise up and move the rack to the table at the correct spot. Release the pressure of the suction cup device, and raise and return back to the ball return.
This contraption might be a small effort to design for some engineering minded individual. Once created, racking would simply be to lift the ball set in one grand motion from the ball return to the table, set the balls and then return the contraption to the ball return.
The only issue would be to set the 8 ball into its correct position.
With a little simple creativity, Option A could be made in such a way that when the balls are moved to the table, the top side would be open, so that the 8 ball could be manually moved, before setting and removing the rack from the balls.
Example given above for 8 ball rack only. Could easily make an attachment for 9 ball rack, by simply blocking off the back 2 corners of the rack, so the balls would still naturally fall into 9 ball rack position.
Still would be the issue with putting the 9 ball into correct position.
Some die hard traditionalists will undoubtedly knock the whole concept without truly giving it a chance or understanding its real value beyond simply a novelty item. This could be easily done with traditionalist viewpoints like, liking the feel of the balls in your hands, or liking the negative ramifications of having the loser do the work to rack, .... Or any other excuse. The point though was just to play around with a concept that could conceivably facilitate the racking process. If done right, it could be a useful simplification.