Diamond table slate removal

coderman1

New member
I plan on removing my 9ft diamond pro-am slate (1 piece) so I can install sound dampening material on all the ball return feeds . cant believe diamond wouldnt do this but whatever, any advice? I am not a table mechanic and would have a bunch of people over to help lift and set it down on a surface temporarily while I install it.

Thanks!
 
The slate is quite heavy, and the leveling system doesn't allow for full access to the ball return. Also if you put anything in there that slows the balls down, you might create an issue where balls get stuck. This is a 7 footer, but will be similar to yours. When you lift the slate, this is what you'll see:

wUdoJ8M.jpg
 
I plan on removing my 9ft diamond pro-am slate (1 piece) so I can install sound dampening material on all the ball return feeds . cant believe diamond wouldnt do this but whatever, any advice? I am not a table mechanic and would have a bunch of people over to help lift and set it down on a surface temporarily while I install it.

Thanks!
They aren't that noisy to start with. Are you putting the table in a library or what? Even if you did this do you have the skills to re-level it?
 
I plan on removing my 9ft diamond pro-am slate (1 piece) so I can install sound dampening material on all the ball return feeds . cant believe diamond wouldnt do this but whatever, any advice? I am not a table mechanic and would have a bunch of people over to help lift and set it down on a surface temporarily while I install it.

Thanks!
Easiest way to quiet down the ball return tracks is to go under the table, open the leg doors, then stuff sound damping padding inside under the tracks. You have access to both sides through 4 leg doors.
 
Easiest way to quiet down the ball return tracks is to go under the table, open the leg doors, then stuff sound damping padding inside under the tracks. You have access to both sides through 4 leg doors.
Aren't those access points used to free up balls stuck in the track system Glen?
 
Aren't those access points used to free up balls stuck in the track system Glen?
The door access is under the track system. You can free up balls and chalk cubes that fall down into the pockets by removing the ball rack and useing a cue stick ( i recommend a house cue)inside the slot to push objects to the center drop . There's another slot at the other end of the table to get to that half.
 
Lizard Skin makes a sound proofing material that you can spray on with a high density spray gun. You can coat the inside of the plywood box with the Lizard Skin sound proofing, making sure that once done you will still be able to open up the maintenance hatches on your table. Quiet Wrap pipe soundproofing might work. But once you wrap the ball return pipes it will be hard to see where a stuck ball is in the return system. Sound proof cow carries the pipe tape and Summit racing carries the Lizard Skin product.

 
Dynamat self adhesive sound deadening material, along with it's many knock off brands will kill all of the noise from the ball return system. These pieces can be purchased in sheets and a heat gun comes in handy when installing. The 1" cutting grid helps to make things easy.

 
Dynamat self adhesive sound deadening material, along with it's many knock off brands will kill all of the noise from the ball return system. These pieces can be purchased in sheets and a heat gun comes in handy when installing. The 1" cutting grid helps to make things easy.

I still don't know what problem the OP is chasing. I play a fair amount on D'mond's and i think they are pretty darn quiet. Way better than a Valley bb. Must be awfully sensitive to sound is all i can say. That or he's a monk trying to hide his gambling addiction. ;)
 
That or he's a monk trying to hide his gambling addiction. ;)

:)


The large plywood sheet(s) that are used in the plywood boxes construction can act like a sound reflector if vibrations are added to the piece. A gully ball return system might create more vibrations in it's use, then the old spiral wire ball return system that was mostly suspended in the air under the table. Should be easy to insulate the gully ball system from the plywood base of the box using a Dynamat type product or even a neoprene product.
 
:)


The large plywood sheet(s) that are used in the plywood boxes construction can act like a sound reflector if vibrations are added to the piece. A gully ball return system might create more vibrations in it's use, then the old spiral wire ball return system that was mostly suspended in the air under the table. Should be easy to insulate the gully ball system from the plywood base of the box using a Dynamat type product or even a neoprene product.
HUH???? Have you even played on a Diamond before or is this just random guessing??
 
:)


The large plywood sheet(s) that are used in the plywood boxes construction can act like a sound reflector if vibrations are added to the piece. A gully ball return system might create more vibrations in it's use, then the old spiral wire ball return system that was mostly suspended in the air under the table. Should be easy to insulate the gully ball system from the plywood base of the box using a Dynamat type product or even a neoprene product.
I believe the gullies from each pocket are a hard plastic down to the main gully. I would want to put any soft I the main gully as it may create a stuck ball. You can put something like a thin yoga mat at the mouth of the ball return to cushion the the balls as they stop. Some have done that.

As for dynamat maybe on the outside of the gully box if you could get to it but not the inside.

I honestly don't see the problem in the first place.
 
Never had balls get stuck in the tracks!
I got mine at the end of November. I had balls start hanging in the side pocket. Apparently the competent gentlemen that installed it bunched up the rubber in the ball track under the ball trough. I fixed it by prying on the ball trough through the access door while a buddy pushed the rubber underneath with a pool cue.

I'm about to contact them to actually come and re-level the slate. They didn't do shit with the levelers, maybe touched 4 of them. They stretched cloth amazingly though, but damn they did a shit job leveling the 3 piece slate. I can even see the balls change direction over the seams. They leveled the cabinet by placing a machinist level over the plywood leveling piece at the center on each side. At lag speed the ball will just wallow around the table like a drunk, you can see it moving on each slate seam. It's pretty pathetic. I'm going to ask them if I re-level it myself if they will re-stretch the cloth. I don't even feel like giving them a second chance seeing how poorly they leveled it to begin with.

TBH I didn't expect much but I was hoping a new diamond would be properly installed. These guys didn't even wipe the gravel road dust out of the ball return. My first rack and the balls all had dust stripes on them. Hell, how much work would it be to wipe the dust out of the ball return with an old rag?
 
HUH???? Have you even played on a Diamond before or is this just random guessing??

The Diamond ball return system is a gulley ball system that has the top of the chutes lined with rubber from the looks of the video here. You can easily add Neoprene to the underside of the ball return system to help quiet the ball return system even more. Starting at the 2 minute mark of the video you can see the rubber pieces being glued down to the inside of the ball return system and the thin White sound insulation that was installed in the bottom of the plywood box. Luthiers seem to understand the wood/sound relationship better then most.

 
The Diamond ball return system is a gulley ball system that has the top of the chutes lined with rubber from the looks of the video here. You can easily add Neoprene to the underside of the ball return system to help quiet the ball return system even more. Starting at the 2 minute mark of the video you can see the rubber pieces being glued down to the inside of the ball return system and the thin White sound insulation that was installed in the bottom of the plywood box. Luthiers seem to understand the wood/sound relationship better then most.

AGAIN, have you EVER played on one????
 
Yes I have played on one, but it was in a noisy environment with a jukebox blasting and plenty of activity in the room, so any noise the ball return system might have produced I sure couldn't hear. But that was in a business environment and not in a home setup. There are some people that after spending 9K plus on a table for their home want to hear no noise from the ball return system. I sure can't blame them for that, especially if they have their high dollar stereo system in use while knocking the balls around. Victor tables 60 years ago came up with a truly silent ball return system that worked very well and needed very little maintenance. Victor did produce a good table.

victor.jpg
 
Last edited:
Yes I have played on one, but it was in a noisy environment with a jukebox blasting and plenty of activity in the room, so any noise the ball return system might have produced I sure couldn't hear. But that was in a business environment and not in a home setup. There are some people that after spending 9K plus on a table for their home want to hear no noise from the ball return system. I sure can't blame them for that, especially if they have their high dollar stereo system in use while knocking the balls around.
I have yet to see a ball return system that is whisper quiet. A little noise is to be expected and if you don't like it, drop pockets are always an alternative.
 
Back
Top