Cyclop ball roll

hang-the-9

hang-the-9

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Look at this cueball when it rolls to a stop after the shot. It's mid slate so clearly not hitting a slate line.

http://youtu.be/vfzymZdMlJo?t=20m7s

Looks like its rolling a bit off center and wobbling to me. Does the same thing next shot, almost stops then rolls to the side a bit.
 
The CB could be the culprit but I would think a piece of chalk or other tiny debris is more likely.


Gary
 
I've watched a few racks. The cueball is behaving fine. There may be some flat spots at the centre of the table from the cueball bouncing around after the break. There are some up and down shots where you see the cueball slow down perfectly straight, and stop dead near the rails. There's nothing wrong with the Cyclops balls. They're playing fine.
 
hang-the-9 said:
I thought that also, but it does it again.
Click to expand...

Another possibility is how the cloth is stretched. I've seen cloth pulled so tight that it leaves almost a track for the CB to ride on and follow the weave. Although it's not normal but I have seen it happen especially when the CB is rolling to a halt.


Gary
 
Set an OB 2 diamonds from a corner pocket and the CB at the other end of the table for a straight in shot on the OB. Then roll the CB, trying to make the OB with pocket speed (so the OB barely falls into the pocket). If you do this 10 times you will probably see the CB roll off sometimes and go straight sometimes. I don't believe it's the CB; it's small english errors, plus table tilt, plus cloth stretch variance, plus chalk down in the cloth, plus your ceiling fan, etc...

Happens with me and I'm using an Aramith measles CB

-Jeff
 
For a ball to roll straight it needs to be round and have the center of mass at the geometrical center. Some balls are not round and some have misplaced centers. Some cue balls are really bad for being off-center -- I used to own one of those until I tried a bunch of lags with it. Object balls can be off-center as well. It is easy but tedious to measure whether a ball is off-center.
 
Bob Jewett said:
For a ball to roll straight it needs to be round and have the center of mass at the geometrical center. Some balls are not round and some have misplaced centers. Some cue balls are really bad for being off-center -- I used to own one of those until I tried a bunch of lags with it. Object balls can be off-center as well. It is easy but tedious to measure whether a ball is off-center.
Click to expand...

I thought the 2nd requirement would be spherically symmetrical material density?. Isn't it possible to have the center of mass at the origin and have off center distribution?

And how does the layman find such an asymmetry?

I'm thinking.... hmmm what do we have in the house? How would Walter White/Heisenberg solve this....? How do you move Mount Fuji... The best I've come up with is molasses and a tall narrow flower vase...the wife won't be pleased!
 
hang-the-9 said:
Look at this cueball when it rolls to a stop after the shot. It's mid slate so clearly not hitting a slate line.
http://youtu.be/vfzymZdMlJo?t=20m7s
Looks like its rolling a bit off center and wobbling to me. Does the same thing next shot, almost stops then rolls to the side a bit.
Click to expand...


This, and how they react at impact, are the two major reasons I hate those damn balls.

Aramith all the way baby......

By the way, I see this happen a lot with those balls. So I don't believe this is the table, cloth, or chalk.
 
Cloth is stretched to tight --
Ball tries to settle as it looses speed --
Plus the table is slow from the stretched out cloth --



bill
 
Has anybody thought about rolling the balls on a solid flat surface such as a pane of glass or if you have access, a surface plate? That would take any cloth/table/chalk errors out of the equation and test the balls themselves.
Chuck
 
As far as the Cyclop balls are concerned the cue ball is perfectly smooth. I have a brand new set of the (skittle) balls and a brand new set of super aramith pro (TV pro-cup). Both sets are perfect, both sets are beautiful, I have 0 (zero) complaints with either set.
As far as another company in the biz...I think competition is always good for all of us, better quality, lower prices, more R&D.............total win win for all of us. FYI, I am playing both of these sets of balls on a brand new table that is as perfect as any table I've ever played on. There are no funny rolls with either set. In case your wondering...the table is a Olhausen Montrechet 8' with accu-guard cloth. Maybe you just need a brand new table to test them on...thanks...mark
 
Chuck Fields said:
Has anybody thought about rolling the balls on a solid flat surface such as a pane of glass or if you have access, a surface plate? That would take any cloth/table/chalk errors out of the equation and test the balls themselves.
Chuck
Click to expand...
If you roll the ball on the table in a fairly simple procedure the table is not a factor. There is no reason to invest in flat glass surface. Also, you don't really care about how the ball rolls on glass or at least not directly.
 
Ky Boy said:
Another possibility is how the cloth is stretched. I've seen cloth pulled so tight that it leaves almost a track for the CB to ride on and follow the weave. Although it's not normal but I have seen it happen especially when the CB is rolling to a halt.


Gary
Click to expand...

I tend to agree with this statement. I have tightly stretched Simonis on my table and when the cloth was new my Aramith and Raschig cue balls behaved like this at times.

The cloth does "settle" in over time. My table doesn't do this anymore.
 
Bob Jewett said:
If you roll the ball on the table in a fairly simple procedure the table is not a factor. There is no reason to invest in flat glass surface. Also, you don't really care about how the ball rolls on glass or at least not directly.
Click to expand...

What Im getting at is that some people have stated that the logo on the cb and the numbers on the ob's protrude from the surface, and cause odd rolls, etc. The people who defend them say that they have never seen these roll offs, or if they have they havent been able to reproduce them. So they then state it must be the cloth, or a crumb of chalk etc etc. If you take the possibility of the cloth being the cause out of it, then the cloth cannot possibly be the reason. Any protrusion on the ball will be very apparent if rolled on a hard flat surface.
What are your thoughts on this?
Chuck
 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I agree completely with the sentiment behind this. If there is a flaw and you were to roll the ball on a hard, known flat, surface then the flaws would most certainly reveal themselves more than on a relatively soft surface like billiard cloth.

I would also think that in all reality you might actually be able to feel or hear this (with a good MIC and a computer recording program that shows waveforms and allows you to amplify them) on a glass surface.
 
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Chuck Fields said:
What Im getting at is that some people have stated that the logo on the cb and the numbers on the ob's protrude from the surface, and cause odd rolls, etc. The people who defend them say that they have never seen these roll offs, or if they have they havent been able to reproduce them. So they then state it must be the cloth, or a crumb of chalk etc etc. If you take the possibility of the cloth being the cause out of it, then the cloth cannot possibly be the reason. Any protrusion on the ball will be very apparent if rolled on a hard flat surface.
What are your thoughts on this?
Chuck
Click to expand...
I think that if you roll the ball down the table on each of six axes you will catch 99% of the problem balls. In addition, you should measure for roundness somehow as with a ball gauge which is a sheet of metal with two round holes at the limits of the permitted ball diameters. Or tighter to taste.
 
Bob Jewett said:
I think that if you roll the ball down the table on each of six axes you will catch 99% of the problem balls. In addition, you should measure for roundness somehow as with a ball gauge which is a sheet of metal with two round holes at the limits of the permitted ball diameters. Or tighter to taste.
Click to expand...

Couple of issues I see though; Testing on tables has been done, albeit possibly not done well, and has so far been inconclusive. The other issue is that not everybody is going to have a go-no go gage for balls, or have the ability to properly and accurately machine one.
Most people can however take a piece of glass out of a picture frame etc and be able to do a quick test on their coffee table. If I had a set of Cyclop balls I would do it myself, but I do not have access to any Cyclop sets.
Chuck
 
Chuck Fields said:
Couple of issues I see though; Testing on tables has been done, albeit possibly not done well, and has so far been inconclusive. The other issue is that not everybody is going to have a go-no go gage for balls, or have the ability to properly and accurately machine one.
Most people can however take a piece of glass out of a picture frame etc and be able to do a quick test on their coffee table. If I had a set of Cyclop balls I would do it myself, but I do not have access to any Cyclop sets.
Chuck
Click to expand...

Funny you should say that - I've got a set sitting on my kitchen counter. Remind me some time and I'll bring them with me.
 
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