Diamond Smart Table Maintenance

Crash

Pool Hall Owner
Silver Member
I've got a good handle on keeping 14 old Valleys up and running. I've repaired ESDs and drop mechanisms, cleaned tracks and aligned magnets, etc.. I've decided its time to upgrade. What can I expect from Diamond Smart Tables?
 
Lots of happy pool players!!!!
In the city where I play on leagues if you do not have a Diamond you more than likely do not have a team that wants to shoot for you.
 
My Friend has 4 of them at her tavern and they seem to be prone to chalk wedging into the return track just down stream of the side pockets and impairing the balls. They self clean when the ball hits them and the chalk drops on the floor in most spots but there seems to be a little glitch there by the side pocket. It's a pain in the butt because it's pretty hard to get it out once it's there.

JC
 
I vend several of these tables. You will have problems like John mentioned. The trick is to keep them clean. Every month when I visit the tables I bring a shop vacuum and put it on the blower side and stick it in the pockets, I push it in as far as possible using a 3" hose. After that I take a swifter, remove the triangle and stick it in through that hole, I use two swifters so I have enough extension to reach the far side of the table. John have your buddy clean the tables this way. I also lube the metal mechanism pieces once a year.

My Friend has 4 of them at her tavern and they seem to be prone to chalk wedging into the return track just down stream of the side pockets and impairing the balls. They self clean when the ball hits them and the chalk drops on the floor in most spots but there seems to be a little glitch there by the side pocket. It's a pain in the butt because it's pretty hard to get it out once it's there.

JC
 
I got 13 (7') and one (8') Smart Tables coming March 1st. I don't want it to be a surprise the first time something goes wrong. If what you guys describe is the biggest problem then I can handle that. Just go get a long handle swifter and a shop vac that blows. Thanks for the responses.
 
Donny ... are the Diamond lights hard wired for a breaker or do they have a built-in switch? Diamond and the other halls with Diamonds are closed today and I was just curious.
 
Theres just a ballast in a box, you will need to mount the ballast and do the wiring


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The place I play has had 4 7' smart tables since September. They sit on a wood floor and I think they need some leveling. Is a table mechanic required for this?

Ben
 
I'm finding that getting ready for the lights is proving difficult. The other halls have their lights 40 inches above the playing surface. If I follow Diamonds recommendation they would be 46 inches. My drop ceiling is 90 inches. I'll have to go with 40 inches and shorthen the wire that comes with the light to account for the 3/16 thread turnbuckles and 1.75 inches of the DaLite T-Bar hangars below the ceiling. Tight!!
 
I got 13 (7') and one (8') Smart Tables coming March 1st. I don't want it to be a surprise the first time something goes wrong. If what you guys describe is the biggest problem then I can handle that. Just go get a long handle swifter and a shop vac that blows. Thanks for the responses.

I've had a few problems on mine that have been a bit of a learning experience, but they came tournament used. Luckily, it appears that rubberbands come in pretty handy until i can safely tinker with a permanent fix. It's been mostly the sensor arm and the levers for the ball return. One table always has the most problems at the worst times.

Anyways, would be interested to hear how your tables are doing and if you've had to do anything with them yet.
 
1st thing, I'm not a mechanic. But after one month I've come across these issues that I've fixed myself or with guidance from Aaron at Diamond. Each of these are separate incidents.

1) Sensor was not lighting off and I was getting no power from the batteries. Pulled and reset batteries to fix it.
2) I was getting 12.5 v at the sensor but the sensor would not light off. I had to open the door on the bottom (two 7/16 bolts) to access the connectors to the micro switch, pull and reset the connectors to fix the problem. A very tight fit for a hand so carefully use needle nose pliers.
3) I was constantly adjusting the sensor on a table. A new set of batteries fixed it. I assumed I got new batteries with the tables, maybe not.
4) Chalk gets past the slot on one table and jams balls up. Have to open access door to sensor to free them up. Don't know why its that one table?
5) Coin mechanism locked up in the drop position. Greenwalds are more complicated than ESDs and operate a little rougher at the drop due to a cam and spring behind a plate in the carrier. If the plate gets loose the cam and spring will come off of the nubs that hold them in place and cause the whole works to jam up. Takes about 30 minutes to fix. Hint ... do not bend the flat springs under the coin arms. If you do you will have to knock the pin out to reset them. How do I know this? Don't ask.:angry:
 
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On another note, I raised my Diamond lights to Diamonds recommended height of 78 inches from floor. Makes a world of difference.

78-32 (rail height)+1.5 (nose height)= 47.5 inches above bed.
 
Yikes, sounds worse than what I've had.

On a couple of tables, the bar that knocks the CB down wouldn't reset all of the time. Took a while to figure out why the CB kept going in the side, new batteries or not. Had to use a light rubberband to hold it back and keep the mechanism reset.

Just the other day, the wire and spring disconnected from the lever that drops the balls. Reconnected them that night, only to have the problem return. Went back to unlock the table for the night because the key wouldn't work with that problem. Next morning, picked up a few things to hold the stuff in place - used glue. Unfortunately, the glue went down the lever and stuck it in place. Went back, loosened the lever and off i went. Returned again, found that the lower lever/cable wasn't resetting and installed a few more bands for a little helping hand.

Gotta go check on another table eating CBs today.
 
If the sensor lit off at least the micro switch and circuit board are working. Sounds like the solenoid is/was the problem if the arm wouldn't reset. I'm going to study mine a bit closer this weekend.

When you say "the wire and spring disconnected from the lever that drops the balls" I assume you're talking about the slider of the Greenwald coin mechanism? Springs are cheap and probably one from an old ESD would work or Home Depot/Lowes/Ace. On my old Valleys customers got used to pulling the sliders back when the springs came off.:grin:

For LuckyStroke ... This link doesn't help much but it does explain leveling a Diamond at the legs only.

http://www.tatbiliard.ro/img/produse/1711/masa-biliard-diamond-smart_fisa_tehnica.pdf
 
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If the sensor lit off at least the micro switch and circuit board are working. Sounds like the solenoid is/was the problem if the arm wouldn't reset. I'm going to study mine a bit closer this weekend.

When you say "the wire and spring disconnected from the lever that drops the balls" I assume you're talking about the slider of the Greenwald coin mechanism? Springs are cheap and probably one from an old ESD would work or Home Depot/Lowes/Ace. On my old Valleys customers got used to pulling the sliders back when the springs came off.:grin:

For LuckyStroke ... This link doesn't help much but it does explain leveling a Diamond at the legs only.

http://www.tatbiliard.ro/img/produse/1711/masa-biliard-diamond-smart_fisa_tehnica.pdf

I believe that for the arm bar, i need to tighten a screw inside so that it doesn't swing as far. When it doesn't go back, it can't get hit by the trigger again and lets the cb go by.

The spring and cable from the key connect to a lever inside, where you get to from the underside. Somehow those both came loose from the lever. Since it wouldn't pull the lever back, the other side(coin mech cable) didn't do anything either, because they're all connected to the same thing ultimately and if it can't reset, nothing will happen.
 
I believe that for the arm bar, i need to tighten a screw inside so that it doesn't swing as far. When it doesn't go back, it can't get hit by the trigger again and lets the cb go by.

The spring and cable from the key connect to a lever inside, where you get to from the underside. Somehow those both came loose from the lever. Since it wouldn't pull the lever back, the other side(coin mech cable) didn't do anything either, because they're all connected to the same thing ultimately and if it can't reset, nothing will happen.

have you contacted the factory about your issues? Also, I can email you a manual, just need you address. I can't really help you because I don't know what system you have, they changed it in 2010. When you open the coin door and to the right where cable starts the newer system with have an adjustment to shorten or lengthen the cable, does yours have this? If not the adjustment is done on the ball chain through the door on the bottom.

The sensors are pretty simple, if the batteries are good. There's two adjustment: how close the sensor is to the balls when they pass through and density adjustment which is the adjustment to calibrate which balls go to the head of the table. Any other problem might be part malfunction and you should contact the person you bought the tables from or the factory.
 
have you contacted the factory about your issues? Also, I can email you a manual, just need you address. I can't really help you because I don't know what system you have, they changed it in 2010. When you open the coin door and to the right where cable starts the newer system with have an adjustment to shorten or lengthen the cable, does yours have this? If not the adjustment is done on the ball chain through the door on the bottom.

The sensors are pretty simple, if the batteries are good. There's two adjustment: how close the sensor is to the balls when they pass through and density adjustment which is the adjustment to calibrate which balls go to the head of the table. Any other problem might be part malfunction and you should contact the person you bought the tables from or the factory.

Pretty sure they're all newer tables - they've got the cable adjuster by the coin box and slots at both ends of the table to see inside. It wasn't a problem with the sensor, but the bar. I'll open up a table and get some pics up later. I'll even upload some pics of things I've done as temporary fixes, I'm sure a few people will get a chuckle.

Is there an actual manual? The standard one just covers the basics.
 
Banks ... did you get things taken care of? Still looking for pics.

The bugs have worked out for awhile on mine. The one table quit choking on chalk. So far the micro switches, circuit boards, solenoids and connections have settled down. I bought a backup Greenwald to swap out if one jams. Life is good.
 
I didn't get the pic of the CB arm bar thing, but here's a couple of others, including the lever mechanism.

geterdun2.jpg

That was done before I knew how to tighten the wire. That bulbous thing is a little foot bumper for a chair.

geterdun1.jpg

This one may need a new wire assembly, since the wire itself is getting stuck. Until then, I'll check it periodically to make sure it isn't about to give.
 
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