Diamond Smart Tables achilles heel

[Crash]

Almost a year ago I sold the Valleys out of my Pool Room and got all Diamond Smart Tables. This resulted in very happy customers. They play better than the Valleys but they have a quirk.

In one word "chalk". Most of the time a small brush on the end of a long handle through the rack slot or inspection port at the head of the newer tables will clear things up. But every time I've gotten a call about one of the tables completely out of commission it is chalk that got by the gully and jams up the balls requiring the sensor door be opened to remove the chalk. That’s easy. Most you mechanics are aware of this but I think I've got a new one for you.

The other day I didn't know that chalk got all the way down the teeter jamming the balls just before the ball return. It took a mirror to find the problem and a girl with skinny arms to remove the offending cube. That mirror is now part of my tool kit!

 

[Crash]

New Lesson

I just got a new Smart Table lesson ... a ball did not return. A search of the cue ball return, the rack slot and inspection port could not find the ball. Opened the sensor door and still no ball. Got the creeper out and went under to open the cover by the teeter. There it was. It had jumped the inside of the "curb" just after the sensor.

 

[realkingcobra]

I just got a new Smart Table lesson ... a ball did not return. A search of the cue ball return, the rack slot and inspection port could not find the ball. Opened the sensor door and still no ball. Got the creeper out and went under to open the cover by the teeter. There it was. It had jumped the inside of the "curb" just after the sensor.

That's a first I've ever heard:thumbup:

 

[Crash]

The table I'm talking about is a brand new 8-footer (almost a year now). Balls will occasionally get jammed up in a pile against the cue ball just past the sensor. Its as if the solenoid is not kicking the cue ball out fast enough and it locks up in a space between the chute to the cue ball return and beginning of the curve to the teeter. Happens about once a week and this table gets so much play I had to have to have the factory 860 replaced with 860HR at 6 months!

 

[realkingcobra]

Send me a picture of where the balls get locked up, at the turn. 702-927-5689

 

[Crash]

If I don't get any tonight it will be Saturday. Thanks Glen

 

[realkingcobra]

If I don't get any tonight it will be Saturday. Thanks Glen

That'll work George.

 

[Crash]

Glen found the problem. Hint, two different tables. Who can tell what it is ... sorry Glen, you can't answer.

 

[pocket]

Could be perspective, but that looks like an oversized cue ball.

 

[pocket]

And what's the speaker wire looking thing that is missing on picture 2?

 

[Crash]

Could be perspective, but that looks like an oversized cue ball.

Nope, standard 2 1/4 balls.

 

[Crash]

And what's the speaker wire looking thing that is missing on picture 2?

Battery connections. Just out of picture on the first. But your getting warmer!

 

[pocket]

AHA! Missing the support L bracket above the box in photo 2 causing it to sag and trap the balls! You can see it off canter in the photo.

 

[Crash]

AHA! Missing the support L bracket above the box in photo 2 causing it to sag and trap the balls! You can see it off canter in the photo.

Saw that but that table doesn't jam the cue ball.

 

[tjohnson]

Top photo has gap between black wood and curved wood where cue ball gets stuck. Bottom table doesn't have gap. Gap bad.

 

[Banks]

Top photo has gap between black wood and curved wood where cue ball gets stuck. Bottom table doesn't have gap. Gap bad.

That was the first thing i noticed. Who sticks a piece of wood in the middle of the cb return path? Mine have the traditional housing from the second pic, so i can only guess that's some different return thing that was aligned by someone that needs glasses real bad.

 

[Crash]

Answer thanks to Glen

Top photo has gap between black wood and curved wood where cue ball gets stuck. Bottom table doesn't have gap. Gap bad.

OK, here it is. The factory put a 7-foot return in an 8-foot table ergo the gap. It works 99 times out of a 100 but when it jams its jams real good. That's how an object ball "jumped the curb" and wound up in the bottom of the table like a Valley. Must have been Friday at the factory. To their credit, DIAMOND is coming to fix it. There are so few 8-foot smart tables I would imagine this is an uncommon problem.

 

[pocket]

Dangit. I thought I had it solved!

 

[Crash]

Dangit. I thought I had it solved!

Wide angle lens through you off. :thumbup:

 

[Crash]

FYI, DIAMOND drove down from Indiana and fixed it with a new "box" that the cue ball is kicked into. Took less than 10 minutes.