Crazy idea?

[1pocketguru]

I have an 8 foot pool table. I'm thinking of making another whole set of rails that sets down inside the table rails that essentially makes it a 7.5 foot billiard table (no pockets) for 3 cushion. Then when I want I can just lift them back out again. I don't need it to perform like a Verhöven, just something to play some carom games with. Do you think this will reasonably work?

 

[Texas Carom Club]

of course itll work, you dont need a 15k dollar table to have fun playing carom

 

[iusedtoberich]

I think the rebound would be much less than the stock pool table rails unless you found a way to really secure the new rails to the slate or the existing rails. I’m thinking 10 times less rebound, not 10% less rebound. If it ended up like that, you’d be way better of playing 3 cushion with the stock rails and avoiding the pockets. IMO.

 

[1pocketguru]

I think the rebound would be much less than the stock pool table rails unless you found a way to really secure the new rails to the slate or the existing rails. I’m thinking 10 times less rebound, not 10% less rebound. If it ended up like that, you’d be way better of playing 3 cushion with the stock rails and avoiding the pockets. IMO.

Thanks for the reply. I'm thinking of a clamp that attaches at the corners under the slate and at the side pockets under the slate. I think I'll try it. It'll likely only cost me about 300 bucks. The rubber is $125 and I'll buy some wood and cheap felt. I've seen "pocket inserts" but they have issues at each point the rails join and they still cost $1000 bucks. I wonder if anyone else has done anything similar and discovered pitfalls and improvements.

 

[ChrisinNC]

I think the rebound would be much less than the stock pool table rails unless you found a way to really secure the new rails to the slate or the existing rails. I’m thinking 10 times less rebound, not 10% less rebound. If it ended up like that, you’d be way better of playing 3 cushion with the stock rails and avoiding the pockets. IMO.

Agreed - It won’t work because you can’t bolt down the rails to the slate. 3-C depends on super lively cushions, which you won’t have.

You’d be far better off trying to figure out how to cover up the 6 pocket mouths with cushion rubbers - good luck!

 

[Black-Balled]

Clamp
Balls
Rubbers
Play
Mouth

AZBro dan b already makes what you need. Search threads created by him...

 

[iusedtoberich]

Thanks for the reply. I'm thinking of a clamp that attaches at the corners under the slate and at the side pockets under the slate. I think I'll try it. It'll likely only cost me about 300 bucks. The rubber is $125 and I'll buy some wood and cheap felt. I've seen "pocket inserts" but they have issues at each point the rails join and they still cost $1000 bucks. I wonder if anyone else has done anything similar and discovered pitfalls and improvements.

That’s a good idea. You’ll have 3 decent clamping points per long rail. Not as good as 6 but better than none!

Maybe the clamp can be a rectangular piece of sheet metal with 2 holes for bolts and nuts. One bolt for the end rail and one for the long rail. This would be a lot more compact than off the shelf clamps, cheaper, and probably work better as well.

Good luck.

 

[Mick]

I think it's a great idea. Easy enough to store on the ceiling around the lights with rope and pulleys too.

 

[cueman]

There is a guy in Florida that make pocket inserts to instantly turn your table into a carom table. I think they run close to $400

 

[alphadog]

OP I would call up V or Dan and go actually play 3c at LosSapitos.

A 3.5 x 7 carom table with slow cloth and iffy rails doesn't sound like a great experience .

 

[garczar]

Just my $.02 here but this sounds like colossal waste of time and effort. Whatever floats-yer-boat i guess.

 

[ghost ball]

This is 2020, do whatever the f you want.

 

[Bob Jewett]

I think the rebound will be fine as long as each section is several pounds and supported stiffly horizontally against the pool rails. It may be enough to have the carom rails pressing against the nose of the pool rails the whole length. You could build a prototype for just one end rail.

One possible problem is that when the ball hits the cushion, it tends to lift the nose of the rail. It's hard to clamp in that direction.

Brunswick many years ago sold tables with two or three rail sets -- pool/carom/snooker. More recently, Gabriels sold a convertible table that had super magnets to hold the rails in place. I didn't play on it but it looked like the rails were on tight.

 

[hang-the-9]

I have an 8 foot pool table. I'm thinking of making another whole set of rails that sets down inside the table rails that essentially makes it a 7.5 foot billiard table (no pockets) for 3 cushion. Then when I want I can just lift them back out again. I don't need it to perform like a Verhöven, just something to play some carom games with. Do you think this will reasonably work?

There are products like this to make a 3C table by blocking the pockets although I can't find them with a web search now. I remember they were just basically plugs for the pocket openings.