Ball Cleaner any comments
- Thread starter GoldCrown
- Start date
Agree. I told my friend I’d put a bucket together for him. Also he has good hands he could do it also. I was surprised he bought the unit shown. Hopefully it works ok. I would not buy one or leave it near a GC 4. It would embarrass the table.
I bought one of these machines last week. I had $400 in Amazon bonus points and figured what the heck. The Diamond is super expensive, the Ballstar is hard to find and cleaning by hand is tedious ...
This one here. Claims it has upgraded parts. It cost about $75 more than the one in the original thread.
The cleaner is fairly heavy, feels solid, works smoothly enuff and isn't super loud. I was surprised how well boxed it was. Came doubled boxed with tight Styrofoam packaging. It was boxed a third time by Amazon for delivery.
I took an older Aramith Superpro set I had bought used for practice. Fairly worn balls with a yellow cast, though still in good condition. I used Aramith cleaner, one drop per ball, to start.
The cleaner got most of the grime, dirt and marks off the balls. The wool rings were actually quite visibly dirty after the first clean.
Some marks remained on a few balls. So back in they went.
This time I gave the set a spin with some Aramith Ball Restorer, one drop per ball. The restorer fluid got out all the remaining marks. Then I ran the machine again with the Aramith cleaner (This time diluted, one part cleaner to 4 parts alcohol).
Final result: Pretty damn good. The balls even had a slightly less yellow cast. Wasn't quite as easy to notice the difference between them and a one-year-old set of new Aramith Superpros.
My guess is if you clean every few weeks, you'll never need a Diamond or BallStar. Now let's see how long the machine lasts. ...
This one here. Claims it has upgraded parts. It cost about $75 more than the one in the original thread.
The cleaner is fairly heavy, feels solid, works smoothly enuff and isn't super loud. I was surprised how well boxed it was. Came doubled boxed with tight Styrofoam packaging. It was boxed a third time by Amazon for delivery.
I took an older Aramith Superpro set I had bought used for practice. Fairly worn balls with a yellow cast, though still in good condition. I used Aramith cleaner, one drop per ball, to start.
The cleaner got most of the grime, dirt and marks off the balls. The wool rings were actually quite visibly dirty after the first clean.
Some marks remained on a few balls. So back in they went.
This time I gave the set a spin with some Aramith Ball Restorer, one drop per ball. The restorer fluid got out all the remaining marks. Then I ran the machine again with the Aramith cleaner (This time diluted, one part cleaner to 4 parts alcohol).
Final result: Pretty damn good. The balls even had a slightly less yellow cast. Wasn't quite as easy to notice the difference between them and a one-year-old set of new Aramith Superpros.
My guess is if you clean every few weeks, you'll never need a Diamond or BallStar. Now let's see how long the machine lasts. ...
My friend did buy this machine. Said he was going to use it today. Thanks for your post.
I suggested Brillianize to my buddy
Bad idea. Most detail sprays contain silicone.
I put a tiny amount of Aramith on each ball. Not even a full drop. Pads look fine, but time will tell. That’s why I created a diluted version of the Aramith cleaner mixed with alcohol. Cleaned three sets of balls, running them through 2-3 times each, and everything seems OK.
This is the one that doesn't recommend Aramith due to gumming but suggest quick detail sprays.
Interesting. That one is several years older and seems half the weight of mine if the specs are right. Also sounded a lot louder in the vid.
My guess is the quick detail sprays won't clean as well, but would be good for regular cleanings. The Aramiths can be trotted out - used sparingly or diluted - for older balls that haven't been cleaned in awhile.
Brillianize works fine. Its 99% water and the silicone is in a very small amount. My buddy uses it with his bucket polisher and the balls look/play great, haven't noticed any undue spin/sliding/etc. He's used this and PlastX and both are good. Did a A/B with Aramith and you couldn't tell any diff. in how the balls play. Don't use 'quik detailers' of any kind, they are a wax and have high 'sillykone' content.
Novus 1 is pretty good also
I have started using Meguiar's Cleaner Paste Wax with good results recently. I was using the Aramith product which gummed up in machine, and got in the cloth facings and cloth of my table.
Sounds like you were using too much.
Just a small drop on each ball, sometimes I hand rubbed the cleaner on the balls and ran through the machine. (duel Platter Diamond Polisher)
I had the ball polisher for 15 years running the same sprockets and carpet pads. 15 years of buildup LOL
I just replaced the carpet padding last week, and I am running the sprockets upside down as Glen Hancock told me that contact area would be new.
