Cue Balls

Pigcarver

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Dr. Cue's Protege spawned this question with his quest for the 6 circle ball.

Can anyone tell me the difference between cueballs?

I know the basics....the heavy ball/magnet cue ball/mud ball

And, I know the difference between balls made out of phenolic resin, and plastic, and clay, and such.

I'm talking about the "aramith" balls.

What makes a red circle different from a blue circle, different from a 6 spot, different from a ball that comes with a standard centennial set....other than the way they look?

Can anyone help with some answers? Links to websites explaining the differences would be great.
 
Pigcarver said:
Dr. Cue's Protege spawned this question with his quest for the 6 circle ball.

Can anyone tell me the difference between cueballs?

I know the basics....the heavy ball/magnet cue ball/mud ball

And, I know the difference between balls made out of phenolic resin, and plastic, and clay, and such.

I'm talking about the "aramith" balls.

What makes a red circle different from a blue circle, different from a 6 spot, different from a ball that comes with a standard centennial set....other than the way they look?

Can anyone help with some answers? Links to websites explaining the differences would be great.

In article <20040217130437.22671.00002075@mb-m18.aol.com>,
jamalloy@aol.comnojunk says...
:|:Shawn Putnam claims he "grew up on the red-circle cue-ball," and he likes it
:|:because it is lighter than the blue-dot.
:|:
I have a digital postal scale, so here is what I get:

OZ GM
5.6 161 red circle (older)
5.7 164 red circle (old, but not as old as the other red)
5.8 167 blue circle (oldest)
5.7 163 no circle Arimeth (newest)
5.9 168 plugged (bar box ball)
5.8 166 1 ball Arimeth
5.9 168 1 ball centennial
5.8 165 9 ball Arimeth
5.9 168 9 ball Centennial

I bought the Centennials in 1998, I bought the red circles at
different times after that (as well as the plugged, which I do not
use much, if ever). I bought the Arimeth green box set last year
around September or so. The blue and red circle balls are obviously made of
different material and are different color. I have seen posts about
different resins before. I think it was Tom Simpson who posted this
after asking Saluk about it.

Conclusions:
The older, more used red circle weighs less, it's worn, most likely

The newer red circle and the Arimeth weigh pretty close

The blue circle weighs a little more than the other cueballs, but
about the same as the Centennial balls

The Arimeth cueball and ball set weigh about the same

The Arimeth set weighs less than the Centennials

Whether the cueball is lighter than the rack balls may well depend on
which brand of balls you use, and in any case, the differences are
small.

Frank
 
Wow, thanks....definitly didn't expect such a thorough answer the first time through.

Let's here it for Frank's amazing knowledge of his balls.

Sorry, couldn't help it. Thank you again, I am now educated.
 
Pigcarver said:
Wow, thanks....definitly didn't expect such a thorough answer the first time through.

Let's here it for Frank's amazing knowledge of his balls.

Sorry, couldn't help it. Thank you again, I am now educated.

You're welcome. I have answered that before. We hashed it out on RSB a while back. BTW, years ago you could not buy a blue circle ball alone, only with the set. The red circle was the replacement. It is made of the same resin as the carom balls. It's physical characteristics are a little different, but the weight is pretty much the same for "new" balls. The cueball shrinks after time, as do all the balls, but the cueball and the one ball shrink the quickest.
 
Different cue balls

Similar to Frank...
I have been measuring and weighing cue balls and object balls for a "long" time, starting back in the 70's when I heard many players complaining about the balls...started the comparisons and not too many complain about that topic, at least when I am around.
...there used to be also > yellow dot/ green dot / which were liked by the nine ball players because they were light and you could suck um a long way, real easy...
 
Also I might note that old worn cue balls will play differently than new high quality cue balls. We experimented with these and the old ball had terrible draw, where the new cue ball worked just fine. (Several different players testing draw on both balls.)

And some magnetic cue balls used in coin op tables are not balanced and will play differently than good quality balanced magnetic cue balls.

Of course the "oversized" cue balls on some coin-op tables will play a *lot* differently that magnetic cue balls which are the same size as the object balls.

I went to a tournament recently where they replaced the house magnetic cue balls with tournament good quality cue balls before the tournament began.
 
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