Did I ruin my balls?

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Which reminds me: Anyone else getting any head lately?


Jeff Livingston

Not from mr clean :eek::eek:
 
I would have to agree with most posters that they are ruined. No reason to spend the money on new ones because as others have said they look just like some of the marbleized ones other people pay good money to get. If they still serve there purpose, I would continue using them!
 
If you look at them juuussstt right..... they dont look too bad:eek::eek::eek:
Cheeer up, its always nice to have new balls, (my x-wife got my old ones in our divorce, and I guess you could say she got a new set too..... well a new/used set anyway...)
 
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Penicillin.

At least, that's what the doc gave me the last time my balls looked like that.




Maybe a kerosene dip?
 
Don't put them in the dishwasher.
Don't use some other Mr. Clean product on them.
Don't use car care products on them.
I would not use a pool hall's ball machine and if it were my machine I wouldn't let you use it.

Get Aramith ball polish or Chem-Pak ball cleaner and polish. Put on a light coat of polish and let it dry. Rub it off. Repeat.

Those polishes are mildly abrasive and help remove whatever you have gotten onto the surface. The will also remove scuffs and abrasions.

I did something similar to a set I owned: I used wax remover !

Anyway, Bob's suggestion is "spot on." I tried many different solutions and nothing worked well. Aramith used to make two versions of its cleaner. One was more industrial grade for heavily soiled balls. Get that one if you can. Use a ball cleaning machine (probably at your local pool room) because it takes awhile and lots of scrubbing. But it can be done. Have patience and let the machine work. I think I had to clean mine four or five times,

If you look around here on AZB you will find several ball cleaning machines you can make quickly and inexpensively. Later you can use the machine for regular cleaning.

Here is one link to a ball cleaning machine thread. There are others search "ball cleaning machine."
http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=71033&highlight=ball+cleaning+machine
 
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My guess is these aren't cleaned very often and the cleaner's solids left a residue of the normally dissolved solids within all the micro scratches and un-removed grime. If you don't have easy access to Aramith cleaners get some "polishing compound" not "rubbing compound" and go back over them with this and a terry cloth or microfiber cloth.

Here's a copied excerpt from experts in plastics.


Mechanical and Chemical Properties

Phenolics are hard, rigid, heat resistant, and brittle. Fillers are used in order to improve their toughness. They have excellent insulating properties and are heat resistant to 260°C. They are chemically inert to most common solvents and weak acids. They absorb very little moisture. Fillers are widely used in the manufacture of phenolics in order to achieve certain desired charactertics as appropriate for the application of the plastic
 
Phenolic is a hard plastic. Mr. Clean and pine sol will eat away at it if exposed long enough.

This is a trick I learned in the model railroad community. if you want to take the paint or decals off of a rail car, soak it in mr. clean or pine sol for a couple of hours but NOT TOO LONG because it will eat all the way through the plastic if left long enough
 
Soak the pool balls in a solution of white vinegar & water for several hours, even overnite. The vinegar reduces the water's normally higher ph value and thus lowers it to an acidic level......well below 5.0 at a 50% diluted strength of 1/2 & 1/2 mix. You can even use a stronger mix ratio and soak for a shorter period. The soaking allows the new deposited film (solid matter) to relinquish its attachment to the pool ball's surface area. Every solution contains dissolved solids which consists of various, different compounds. Under different conditions, the substances precipitate out of solution (sometimes due to exposure to high heat, cold, age of the product solution, sunlight, etc.). Even under highly diluted solution strengths (>10-15ppm), the dissolved solids in some products will precipitate and bond to hot surface areas the solution comes into contact with, ex., boiler tubing. These tubes are very costly to replace and typically when deposit formation accumulates, the boiler is descaled using diluted acid solutions.

You can use this same principle (vinegar & water) to remove calcium carbonate water spots from glass windows, windshields, mirrors, & shower doors. Use an old newspaper to wipe the surface area afterwards.....yup, an old black & white newspaper page as long as it's clean.......works better than paper towels. Just keep in mind that water or chemical "silicate" based deposits will not be removed unless a very aggressive pH program ( pH range of 1.7-2.5) was used which could wind up damaging the pool balls to become even worse looking and also totally unplayable. That type of program would require using acid and if I had the contents label of the product you used, I could probably recommend which type would work best......again this is a high risk type program when you use very low pH water.

Anyway, you don't have to worry about that with vinegar & water......I can't guarantee the results since I do not know what the product ingredients were that left the balls with surface deposits. But you have nothing to lose and this won't hurt the pool balls, however, the set will smell like salad for awhile. I suspect a couple of applications of Aramith restorer followed with Aramith cleaner should do a pretty nice job of restoring the sheen & eliminate any telltale odor of vinegar. I've previously worked in the chemical industry and I specialized in heat exchange equipment/systems which necessitated that water chemistry was a major part of my job focus.
 
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Don't ever use Magic Eraser.It does clean the balls great and takes the finish off as well.
Those erasers put microscopic scratches on everything from balls to ferrules.
 
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I don't suggest soaking or submerging pool/numbered balls in any liquid, the liquid can penetrate any crevasse or void and cause expansion. It looks like we can see all the click marks from contact. I'd suggest contacting the manufacture to see what they suggest you do.

Rob.M
 
Quick google search brings up other people's comparing 1500-2000 grit. The pack of shaft paper I have runs from 2000-8000 grit.

Don't ever use Magic Eraser.It does clean the balls great and takes the finish off as well.
Those erasers put microscopic scratches on everything from balls to ferrules.
 
If you have a automatic .22 rifle, they are fun to shoot at. Just get someone to throw them up in the air for you and pow.;)
 
If you cant get anything else to work try autmotive polish, has very fine grit and leaves no residue. Do not use wax, that leaves a coating behind.
 
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