Building a "Practice Surface" table substitute

iusedtoberich

iusedtoberich

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Hi guys,

I dont have room for a table in my home. I'd like to build a surface where I could practice shooting into a pocket. Something that I can attach to a wall on one end, and have a foot supporting it on the other end. I'm thinking something with a playing surface about 2' wide and 6' long.

I'd use birch plywood covered in plastic laminate with simonis that a room owner gave me from one of the tables he just had recovered. I can make the table into a box-beam construction to give me reasonable rigidity and light weight (I want the ability to store this when I'm done practicing).

I need help with the pockets and rails. I'd like to have 2 corner pockets so I can practice cuts in both directions. I'd want the pockets to be realistic. The rails won't matter. They can be junk rails off an old barbox. Their only function would be to keep the balls from landing on the floor. I even thought of using just blocks of wood to keep the balls on the table. But near the pockets, I'd like the real cushion material so that the pocketing of the ball is a true experience.

I KNOW this will not be a true table. I know it will not be super solid. I'm just looking for a way to practice pocketing balls at home.

I'm an accomplished woodworker with plenty of equipment. I will be able to build this to the level that its "good enough" to practice pocketing balls on.

I'll make some sketches in the coming days for what I envision this to look like. I know pictures are worth a thousand words...

Can anyone offer any advice on where to get old rails and pockets, that can work together?

Thank you.
 
Suggestions:

1. Playing surface: Use 3/4" MDF (not particleboard or plywood). use this diagram to design your pockets:

http://www.bestbilliard.com/catalog/products/docs/CLB107x57UF.pdf

Get some plastic drop pockets from a billiard supply store.

2. Use either 1.5" or 2" square steel tubing 1/8" thick for your frame. The place where you buy it will cut it to size for a fee.

3. To make your rails, get some really good 2 x 6" stock from your local big box store. Cut them into 4.5' sections. Using your favorite adhesive, bond a 1/8" strip of hardboard to one side of the 2 x 6, leaving about 0.5" uncovered where you will be cutting the cushion bevels (this is so you can staple the cloth to the wood, not hardboard. Now you have a 1-5/8" thick rail core.

4. Using either a circular saw (and reliable straightedge) or a table saw, mill your rails to this spec, for the 1 5/8" core:
http://www.champbilliards.com/view_k66.html

You can use a router to cut the featherstrip dado, or since it is a practice surface, you might want to skip the featherstrips and staple the rail cloth to the top of the 2 x 6" rail.

You can get some nut plates from Rockler that will accept a 3/8" bolt to attach the rails to the playing surface.

Good luck with your project.
 
Thank you! Great information and links.

Reason I am thinking birch plywood instead of MDF is its lighter. I will have to rethink that, because I know MDF is a much flatter and consistent product.

Is the only reason you suggested gluing the hardboard onto the 2x6 to get a 1 5/8 thickness? The link you have also has a drawing on 1 1/2 inch rails. Any reason not to use that rail height? I do have a planer so I can make the rails any thickness.

One thing I saw missing from the rail drawings is the location of the rail bolts, measured from the nose cushion. Or another way to state this information is where should the nose of the cushion be in relation to the centerpoint of the pocket radius cutout in the slate? this would control the slate shelf depth.

Finally, I would have no trouble building the rails as shown in the link you provided. But, are these rails something I can buy or find on an old table? I could weigh the cost of these compared to the cost and time involved in making the rials from scratch.

Thanks again.
 
iusedtoberich said:
Is the only reason you suggested gluing the hardboard onto the 2x6 to get a 1 5/8 thickness? The link you have also has a drawing on 1 1/2 inch rails. Any reason not to use that rail height? I do have a planer so I can make the rails any thickness.
Click to expand...

Yes, the hardboard is basically a spacer, but it does save a router cut to create a space to staple the cloth. K-66 cushions require a 1-5/8" or 1-3/4" rail to play right.

[/QUOTE]
One thing I saw missing from the rail drawings is the location of the rail bolts, measured from the nose cushion. Or another way to state this information is where should the nose of the cushion be in relation to the centerpoint of the pocket radius cutout in the slate? this would control the slate shelf depth.
[/QUOTE]

The shelf depth is governed by the offset of the circle center, and the radius of the pocket circle. You can choose thses to suit your purposes. When looking at the slate schematic (9'), the chief factor governing rail placement is that the cushion noses will be 50" apart transverse, and 100" long axis. Everything else is justified to this

[/QUOTE]

Finally, I would have no trouble building the rails as shown in the link you provided. But, are these rails something I can buy or find on an old table? I could weigh the cost of these compared to the cost and time involved in making the rials from scratch.

[/QUOTE]

You could call a dealer in your area who has been in business a long time. Ask what they have in terms of used rails. They would probably be happy to unload them, assuming they don't just chuck the ones from unsellable used tables.
 
rails

I had old rails and cut and trimed em to fit other tables..hang out and keep this on top and I'm sure one of us have a set of old rails or will come across a set soon that would work out for u to make up something...".its the season for table work"...
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Rob.M
 
The MDF is going to be heavy (I have MDF soffits in my theater) but as you said, is going to be much better. If that weight is too much, I would explore non-wood products. You could even make your "slate" two or three piece.

I wonder if you could make a thin metal with a light bracing work...

You have me wanting to make a collapsible bumper pool table!
 
practice surface

i would go with mdf board . it very hard & flat rolls like slate. plywood
will make a board sound you don't want to have that. i like do it yourself
projects, built my own pool table from scratch used mdf for playing surface.checked the price on slate , would have cost to much for a diy
home project.i designed all the plans . after a lot of time and hard work
have a good playing table. after i learn to do pic. will post . i am changeing
the cushions for better roll . what i have will work good for what you are
doing . muellers has rail liners for cushions will put nose at right height.
if i could contact you i will help you.i have no use for the old rubber,
i will give it to you free . i allso have rail liners left over, i will send.
i will check back let me here from you. good luck john
 
john107 said:
i would go with mdf board . it very hard & flat rolls like slate. plywood
will make a board sound you don't want to have that. i like do it yourself
projects, built my own pool table from scratch used mdf for playing surface.checked the price on slate , would have cost to much for a diy
home project.i designed all the plans . after a lot of time and hard work
have a good playing table. after i learn to do pic. will post . i am changeing
the cushions for better roll . what i have will work good for what you are
doing . muellers has rail liners for cushions will put nose at right height.
if i could contact you i will help you.i have no use for the old rubber,
i will give it to you free . i allso have rail liners left over, i will send.
i will check back let me here from you. good luck john
Click to expand...


Thank you very much for your generosity. I will send you a PM with my email address. If I have the rails first, I can design the playing surface to work with them. Also, no rush, and its ok if you can't send them in the end for whatever reason. This project will be going on for a few months I'm sure, as I will be working on it in my spare time.
 
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