Ballstar polishers

illusivetrout

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Does anyone own one of the new Ballstar polishers (not the old crockpot style)? Any comments pro or con would be appreciated.
 
I assume that you mean this one:

http://www.89billiardz.com/bsbc.html

yhst-15240533473286_2134_38527560


I have a couple of friends that have them and I just received mine today.

They tell me that they work great. and other threads say to use it with http://www.brillianize.com/ and it works even better.
 
I've purchased one scince then.It's a little expensive but it looks well made,is very heavy and when you use the liquid polish that comes with the machine you can see your reflection in the balls.This is a heavy duty machine built for daily use at a pool hall.One important note.If you play three cushion as I do, order the machine with the six blade impeller rather than the standard eight blade impeller.I've had it a year now with no problems.Talk to Mark Gehrke at billiards.com.If you can afford an expensive cue,you can afford this machine.
 
I've had one of these for about seven months. Works fine with the included polish or with Brillianize. I've found that it's necessary to keep the polishing pads clean, as they suggest.

When I use Brillianize, I replace the polish pad with a piece of carpet. Two moderate squirts of Brillianize on the carpet and the balls come out really nice, without the super slickness often found with Brillianize.
 
I do not have the instructions for mine...how do they recommend cleaning the polishing pads? Thanks
 
I assume that you mean this one:

http://www.89billiardz.com/bsbc.html

yhst-15240533473286_2134_38527560


I have a couple of friends that have them and I just received mine today.

They tell me that they work great. and other threads say to use it with http://www.brillianize.com/ and it works even better.

Brian: Brillianize is good for the balls, but I take the cue ball and do it by hand with aramith or some other cleaner. If the cue ball gets too "brilliant", your force follow will sit there spinning rather than plowing through the rack and your english coming off the rails will not take as well. I learned the hard way. :)
 
Thanks Dennis. My instructions that came with it are pretty weak.

A few questions for those of you in the know.

How much polish needs to be put in per cycle?
How long do the pads last?
How do you clean or change the pads?

Does anyone use the blue stuff that came with it? or just use Brillianize?

Anything else I need to know?



I assume that I'll clean once a week, or more if the balls need it. I cleaned the balls last night and they look FAR better, but I haven't had a chance to play with them yet. Perhaps tonight.

Also, my balls were really dull before, now they look pretty good. I was thinking of getting a new set of Aramith Tournament Balls (the new Duramith ones), not sure if I need new balls anymore. Your thoughts?
 
I just spray (spritz... mist) some Brillianize over the whole batch and start the machine. It has worked fine.
 
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400 bucks!! For a home polisher? No thanks... I'll keep useing the bucket polisher I made with help from this forum. It cost me 40 bucks and about 15 mins to make and I can do the whole rack at one time. It works just as good as the diamond polisher they have at the club.
 
I have a used Ballstar "crockpot" polilsher. I said I spray the balls with Brillianize and it's probably more accurate to say I "spritz" them.... I just use a fine misting adjustment on the spray bottle. I use a mens hair spray bottle and get a fine mist that works great. I do love the Brillianize.... but will take heed of Dennis Walsh's admonition to not use it on the cb as it makes it too slick.
 
EPBF uses the same polisher in Eurotours and European Championships. When we refs have to clean the balls every day, we put the polish on every third rack or so (we have to clean 20-50 sets at one go, sheesh :) ). You don't need to use the polish every time you change balls. I think it works great and it's also quiet compared to other polishers I've seen/used.
 
I used a ball star for about 3 years, I recently sold it and purchased a diamond polisher. The ballstart is good, but the diamond is better. what I liked about the ball star was it was small and fit in a milk crate, which was great for me since, I'm a billiard mechanic, I could take it to customers houses. what I didn't like about it was, although it didn't break, it didn't seem as durable and the balls bounced around alot during cleaning.
 
Professionally, I'd get the Diamond as well, but the price scared me down to the BallStar.

Relative to the balls banging around, mine is new, but the balls don't bang around at all.


Now, how to I REMOVE what I put on the Cue Ball? Alcohol?
 
I love my ballstar. I have the crockpot version and the balls always come out like new!
 
diamond ball cleaner

Although I am biased (affiliated with Diamond), I have not seem the newer model of Ball Star.

But if they are $400 and only do 6-8 balls at a time, the Diamond is a much better deal.

The Diamond is VERY quiet. The double platter does 16 balls at a time We do 240 sets a night at our nationals in Vegas (with 2-3 machines).

mJannti - you should get one from Diamond and you would be a big believer. Contact me and maybe I can helpo get one over there.

I have been around pool halls since late 1960's and Diamond is by far the best EVER. I don't think you can wear out the Diamond. Everything is on carrier bearings. The thing can run for 24 hours and not overheat!

The other thing is that the Diamond 'tumbles' the balls so they don't get a cleaning track. Most previous ball cleaners (Bludworth - Porper etc) would turn the balls in the same track so the ball really does not get clean. Not sure how the Ball Star is.

Mark Griffin
 
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Our community room is on its Second or Third Ball Star CROCK POT. Does a good job, but not if you have to clean 25 SETS A DAY. I think the Unit is Ok maybe for 4-6 Set of Ball being Cleaned Daily, or Home Use. But Honestly for home use, I think a Rag, and Polish do a darn good job with hand power..
 
COCO - buy a Diamond

You would be money ahead with a Diamond. And I think get a better job. I have never heard of a Diamond wearing out.

Mark Griffin


Diamond
812-288-7665
 
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