broken cue ball

A

AmericanArchon

New member
On a break the cue ball chipped... a piece about the size of a quarter... it was apparent it was defective. In 54 years this is the first time I have seen or heard of such a thing. In a pro tourney how would that be adjudicated? The reason I am curious is there were many "discussions" of what should be done. Who knows maybe the beer guzzling league junkies care more than a pro but I would guess it could cause some grumbling.
 
Phenolic tips are known to wreck cueballs - Aramith ferrous ones anyway. Turns out those have a smaller numbered ball inside of a normal appearing cue ball shell.

The call might be a redo or some kind of reset if it couldn't be determined a disallowed tip caused it.
 
straightline said:
Phenolic tips are known to wreck cueballs - Aramith ferrous ones anyway. Turns out those have a smaller numbered ball inside of the normal appearing cue ball shell.
Click to expand...
Phenolic tips are fine, its the G10 tips that leave the little 'half moon' defects. A chip out of a ball most likely came from hitting a stone/cement floor or something as hard(thrown in a bar fight?) A ball with a clearly defined chip should be removed from play.
 
garczar said:
Phenolic tips are fine, its the G10 tips that leave the little 'half moon' defects. A chip out of a ball most likely came from hitting a stone/cement floor or something as hard(thrown in a bar fight?) A ball with a clearly defined chip should be removed from play.
Click to expand...
I believe a lumberjack with a phenolic tipped breaker would do the trick. Always thought it was phenolic tips that were banned.
 
straightline said:
I believe a lumberjack with a phenolic tipped breaker would do the trick. Always thought it was phenolic tips that were banned.
Click to expand...
To be honest i've seen VERY few defects caused by any tip, G10 or phenloic. G10 damage i have seen was both half-moon inclusions and scratched surface. I've used a WhiteDiamond for years and its makes as much ball speed but with control and zero damage to ball. Never a fan of phen or g10.
 
I have a hard time wrapping my mind around the ban of phenolic tips. My logic question is, how is the collision of the cueball to head ball different?
I have seen cueball and even 1 ball failures. The ring game tables were high mileage and saw some powerful breaks. The occasional trip to the concrete floor or cinder block wall helped initiate failures.
 
Last edited:
Back in the day, when the table was a quarter, it was a quarter for the jukebox if a ball hit the floor. The bouncing ball always drew a chorus of QUARTER .
 
AmericanArchon said:
.... In a pro tourney how would that be adjudicated? ...
Click to expand...
The ref and the TD would get together and figure out what they feel is an appropriate solution. The general idea is that the player should not suffer from lousy equipment.

However, I've seen a tournament table where the ball return would spring balls back onto the table if struck hard, and I think the ruling was that the sprung shots didn't count. Pockets are kind of a known hazard, though. At snooker, I think if the head falls off a bridge (rest), it's on the officials, not the player.
 
Bob Jewett said:
The ref and the TD would get together and figure out what they feel is an appropriate solution. The general idea is that the player should not suffer from lousy equipment.

However, I've seen a tournament table where the ball return would spring balls back onto the table if struck hard, and I think the ruling was that the sprung shots didn't count. Pockets are kind of a known hazard, though. At snooker, I think if the head falls off a bridge (rest), it's on the officials, not the player.
Click to expand...
thats the tickle.. I can see one of those 90k tourneys with a hill hill then on the break the chip lands on the table the 8 comes around and misdirected off the chip into a pocket. It isn't either players fault. I would hate to be the ref that had to make that call.
 
garczar said:
To be honest i've seen VERY few defects caused by any tip, G10 or phenloic. G10 damage i have seen was both half-moon inclusions and scratched surface. I've used a WhiteDiamond for years and its makes as much ball speed but with control and zero damage to ball. Never a fan of phen or g10.
Click to expand...
I've used a one-piece phenolic for ~20 years. I break pretty hard and haven't seen any issues with chips or broken balls.

Never knew phenolics were banned, but it appears they aren't now. I recently got a White Diamond installed on a backup break shaft and I am getting better breaks than with the phenolic.
 
I have seen a few cue balls break over the years. Saw one with a smaller numbered ball inside, that isn't real common I think. Saw a weighted cue ball break. It had what looked like a pipe coupling in it and it was much closer to the surface than I would have expected.

In general I think the right decision when it is an equipment failure not either player's equipment or fault, replay game. Pretty much my stock answer to anything really unusual happening that isn't the fault of the player.

I had a numbered ball break almost half in two once. Nothing special about the shot, something happened earlier or the ball just failed after so many hits. The slightly larger part went in the intended pocket and after some argument my version of things carried, the majority of the ball was pocketed, counted as a pocketed ball! Should be noted this was in a bar and there was a certain amount of might makes right involved. Had I been a referee I wouldn't have made the same ruling, replay would have been the call although that seems a bit unfair to the shooter. Sometimes there is no way to make a perfectly fair decision.

Hu
 
gregcantrall said:
I have a hard time wrapping my mind around the ban of phenolic tips. My logic question is, how is the collision of the cueball to head ball different?
I have seen cueball and even 1 ball failures. The ring game tables were high mileage and saw some powerful breaks. The occasional trip to the concrete floor or cinder block wall helped initiate failures.
Click to expand...
Dissipation probably. Direct and concentrated impact vs glancing secondary impact.
 
I may be mistaken, but I believe the various phenolic materials used for break tips were all similar. The phenolic is like an epoxy used to make the material, and the filler could be various things, such as paper, canvas, fiberglass, etc. Those filler materials were what made the "grain" on the break/jump tips from the 2000's. I think the G10 one that was banned and DID cause half moon indentations on the CB was the phenolic that used fiberglass as the filler material. The fiberglass would scuff up the CB and damage it. Pool balls made of phenolic don't have that filler material. That's why pool ball to pool ball contact causes no damage.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top