Bar Box Purchase - My Changes

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BarTableMan

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I recently bought a 7 foot Valley from a tavern for my basement. Here are some of the things I did to make it nice. I will recover it later.

1. Really scrub the outside of the box and rails. Then polish with Pledge.
2. Cleaned the cloth twice with a spray of carpet cleaner and micro cloth it off. You will be amazed at the dirt on the cloth.
3. Removed the catch bar so the balls always roll to the racking end. (2 easy screws)
4. Removed the coin mechanism so your knees stop wacking it!
5 I removed the one piece slate and then lined all the tracks with spay adhesive and then applied table cloth. This really deadens that noisy clunking inside the table and keeps the balls in great shape and shiny.

(New rails and cloth coming soon.)
 
I read #4 and almost spit my drink out. I've done this many times and wondered if others have done it too. If I wack the coin slot just right, it has about floored me a couple times....
 
I just bought one last night and I'm in the process of getting all this done myself. #5 seems a little strange. It seems like the balls will end up getting stuck over time.
 
nice!

i must be the only person here who actually enjoys the sound of balls clunking, the louder the better
 
BarTableMan said:
I recently bought a 7 foot Valley from a tavern for my basement. Here are some of the things I did to make it nice. I will recover it later.

1. Really scrub the outside of the box and rails. Then polish with Pledge.
2. Cleaned the cloth twice with a spray of carpet cleaner and micro cloth it off. You will be amazed at the dirt on the cloth.
3. Removed the catch bar so the balls always roll to the racking end. (2 easy screws)
4. Removed the coin mechanism so your knees stop wacking it!
5 I removed the one piece slate and then lined all the tracks with spay adhesive and then applied table cloth. This really deadens that noisy clunking inside the table and keeps the balls in great shape and shiny.

(New rails and cloth coming soon.)
Click to expand...

Good thinking on the 5 things to do after buying a used Valley. Here is one more. Make sure the 2 bolts in each corner (take pocket liner out to get at. I think they are 9/16) are tight and all 8 are there. Johnnyt
 
Just did all this but line the ball track with the spray cloth wish I had thought of that good idea
 
Johnnyt said:
Good thinking on the 5 things to do after buying a used Valley. Here is one more. Make sure the 2 bolts in each corner (take pocket liner out to get at. I think they are 9/16) are tight and all 8 are there. Johnnyt
Click to expand...

Good call Johnnyt, im shocked how mant table hacks don't do this or even check.
 
Has anyone else lined the ball return with cloth? I'm really thinking about taken my slate back of and doing it if it works?
 
Remember the cloth application has to be done with precision. Cut nice and neat and glued without ripples. Also put cloth on all ricochet spots that the balls bounce into on the way down.

The section in the window is tricky. Be careful not to add cloth to the last "V" track that sends the balls to the end of the table. Here there is not much pitch angle.

Hope this helps. I should have taken pictures of mine.
 
BarTableMan said:
Remember the cloth application has to be done with precision. Cut nice and neat and glued without ripples. Also put cloth on all ricochet spots that the balls bounce into on the way down.

The section in the window is tricky. Be careful not to add cloth to the last "V" track that sends the balls to the end of the table. Here there is not much pitch angle.

Hope this helps. I should have taken pictures of mine.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tips gonna do it soon ill try too take some photos :thumbup:
 
This is genius! I wake up the old hen here at night and she clucks at me for the ball return being too loud, says it's louder than the break..

I've modified my 8' dynamo the same way basically but instead of cleaning and polishing with pledge I have it taken apart and am refinishing the panels black to match the legs and the chrome corners black aswell. One thing I did notice that was causing damage to the balls was the loosened nails holding the pockets in. It's only the side pockets so it wouldn't bother Earl none. :)


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1,2 barbecue
 
My table had cracked slate so the table was in place in my house, though without slate for a month.

This gave me plenty of time to throw balls down the pockets at differing speeds and see the points of impact with the ball return. I put a small/thin piece of rubber stretched tight over the metal and super glued.

The main part is at the end of the long stretch where the balls drop and take a sharp turn. I loaded these areas up with rubber and the sound was minimised by a whole heap.

Other areas to sound proof are:
The back of the pocket. (never had a ball pop back)
The wooden part of the ball holding area, though the side window. (the area where the metal rail is removed). This is the loudest and longest annoying noise of the ball return.
Rubber pad the whole ball resting area at the head of the table.

One in 50 games ill get a ball stuck in the middle. I send a spare cue ball down with speed and they both always come out.

In short, follow the path of the ball through the system and if it hits something at speed, you can rubber it.
 
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