Does the measle cue ball cause more skids

[ShootingArts]

Measles balls have measles so you can see the spin and roll, nothing else.

They sometimes call it the TV cue ball. I think the original thought was to be able to see spin on TV.

I forget the event, I think it is still on youtube with Buddy Hall and Keith using it. Using it was optional, the officials asked if they minded using it. They didn't mind, might have been the first televised use of the measle ball. Keith missed a shot about halfway through the match and laughingly said he musta aimed at the wrong dot or something to that effect. I don't recall any real complaints from the pro's so apparently they deal with any issues.

Hu

 

[Quesports]

Measles balls have measles so you can see the spin and roll, nothing else.

Wasn’t the idea to potentially get more people to watch pool? It was supposed to help folks learn about spin that don’t play pool.
Personally I never liked them nor liked my opponent to know what I was doing with the cue ball. I am old school and learned by actually playing pool. Not by watching YouTube or taking lessons for that matter.

 

[boogieman]

Now we're into the nonsense of why you missed.

Must have been the humidity...

That's my default excuse when I start hearing excuses. It makes people think about humidity and that's really something to think about when on a shot.

 

[Patrick Johnson]

They sometimes call it the TV cue ball. I think the original thought was to be able to see spin on TV.

I forget the event, I think it is still on youtube with Buddy Hall and Keith using it. Using it was optional, the officials asked if they minded using it. They didn't mind, might have been the first televised use of the measle ball. Keith missed a shot about halfway through the match and laughingly said he musta aimed at the wrong dot or something to that effect. I don't recall any real complaints from the pro's so apparently they deal with any issues.

Hu

Measles cue ball harder to draw???!!!!????

A statement was made in the wanted/for sale thread that the measles cue ball is harder to draw because it's heavier. It may in fact be heavier, but it's most definitely not harder to draw. Any opinions?

forums.azbilliards.com

pj
chgo

 

[straightline]

Routine draw shouldn't be a problem with any ball. Even the big ball will draw. ER could've been complaining about his ultra touch not working properly with that ball. Maybe joking too.

 

[GoldCrown]

Yes. That’s why my game sucks. Fkn measle ball

 

[ideologist]

Or bobbles?
By weight comparison, it's 5 grams heavier than the red circle.

Kamui chalk and Toam sticky chalk cause more than any cueball

 

[trob]

They sometimes call it the TV cue ball. I think the original thought was to be able to see spin on TV.

I forget the event, I think it is still on youtube with Buddy Hall and Keith using it. Using it was optional, the officials asked if they minded using it. They didn't mind, might have been the first televised use of the measle ball. Keith missed a shot about halfway through the match and laughingly said he musta aimed at the wrong dot or something to that effect. I don't recall any real complaints from the pro's so apparently they deal with any issues.

Hu

That was exactly the reason why they began use. Tv. They first came with the tv set that had a pink 4 ball so colors were easier to tell the difference on tv.

I have no scientific info to back this I just know that when I play with them they don’t seem to draw like a typical red circle . They play heavy if that makes any sense lol No Idea why.. 30 years of playing pool almost daily tells me something is different. Lol

 

[straightline]

No draw whatsoever.

Sryinadvance...

 

[kling&allen]

Must have been the humidity...

That's my default excuse when I start hearing excuses. It makes people think about humidity and that's really something to think about when on a shot.

That’s my favorite excuse. And barometric pressure. “Must be a front rolling in, balls are really clingy today…..”

 

[pvc lou]

It is possible for two balls to have the same mass, but different moments of inertia (a kind of "rolling mass"). For example, if you take two balls with the same diameter and mass, but imagine one ball is solid with uniform density, and the other ball is a shell...hollow inside with all it's mass contained at the edge. The shell will roll longer than the solid sphere if they both start with the same rolling speed.

Is it possible that the polka-dot ball somehow is less dense at its center than it is out near the surface? Or more generically is it possible that the radial density profile is different for red circle and the polka-dot?

I can imagine how slight density variations in the radial direction might happen as heat escapes from the surface of the ball while the phenolic cures and hardens.

This is pure speculation. What do you physicists think? Dr. Patrick Feynman Johnson?

(Edit: I'm just teasing you PJ with that last piece.
I'm curious what anyone thinks about this guess. In particular, @mikepage, weren't you a prof of chemical engineering or something like that? )

 

[Patrick Johnson]

...I'm just teasing you PJ

No need to apologize to me - it's your obsession to deal with.

pj
chgo

 

[pvc lou]

No need to apologize to me - it's your obsession to deal with.

pj
chgo

Come on physics guy, what do you think? How would you test for variation of moments of inertia between the different cueballs?

 

[Bob Jewett]

The Aramith spotted balls were first introduced on the pro carom tour about 1998. That was the BWA or Billiard WorldCup Association. I think the spots were partly to follow the spin on the balls but also for branding. The BWA also used blue cloth for the first time that I know of -- more branding.

For the first several years the balls were in very short supply and were only used on the pro tour. I was told that there were manufacturing problems. I think the carom balls became readily available about 2002. I believe spotted pool cue balls followed in a couple of years.

The spotted cue ball was also made for snooker sets but it did not catch on. I think I've seen video of a pro event that was using it. For English Billiards, which is a form of 3-ball billiards on a snooker table, the top events use spotted cue balls for spin visibility:

 

[pvc lou]

The Aramith spotted balls were first introduced on the pro carom tour about 1998. That was the BWA or Billiard WorldCup Association. I think the spots were partly to follow the spin on the balls but also for branding. The BWA also used blue cloth for the first time that I know of -- more branding.

For the first several years the balls were in very short supply and were only used on the pro tour. I was told that there were manufacturing problems. I think the carom balls became readily available about 2002. I believe spotted pool cue balls followed in a couple of years.

The spotted cue ball was also made for snooker sets but it did not catch on. I think I've seen video of a pro event that was using it. For English Billiards, which is a form of 3-ball billiards on a snooker table, the top events use spotted cue balls for spin visibility:

I tried googling the manufacturing process for pool balls, but only found very superficial descriptions. I got the impression that the ball manufacturers are very serious about protecting trade secrets.

Do you know any specifics about the manufacturing problems or process?

 

[Bob Jewett]

Come on physics guy, what do you think? How would you test for variation of moments of inertia between the different cueballs?

The easiest way is with half-ball follow shots. That's also a practical way since it applies to a lot of position shots and will be where the difference would be most noticeable.

Because the total mass of the cue ball has to match the mass of the object balls, a major design goal in manufacturing is to have the plugs the same density as the rest of the ball. That could be tested destructively by cutting the ball apart.

But inset plugs of a slightly different density are going to have a very minor effect on the moment of inertial.

 

[Bob Jewett]

I tried googling the manufacturing process for pool balls, but only found very superficial descriptions. I got the impression that the ball manufacturers are very serious about protecting trade secrets.

Do you know any specifics about the manufacturing problems or process?

I've picked up bits and pieces. You can also figure out some of the process by cutting balls apart. For example the "eyes" on balls are cylinders of white material that go all the way through the balls and the colors are all the way through as well. I think the numbers are milled out and back filled with black material. This may have changed in the last 20 years since the designs look much sharper now -- better defined edges.

 

[pt109]

I think the measle ball was a failure….I had a few of them that would settle on a red spot on our counter.
I contacted Griff through AZ because I heard he had a bag of them he deemed unusable.
He told me that Aramith wouldn’t answer his phone calls or emails….he changed to the Cyclops because of this.

Some people claimed the flat spots came from breaking with hard tips, using a red spot as a target…….
……but I saw a clip of a measle 3-cushion ball settling on a flat spot ….the video was taken off…should’ve copied it.
So the new ones are fine, but they don’t wear well…if they feel heavy, the problem is older object balls….
…..also new balls tend to slip.

 

[pvc lou]

The easiest way is with half-ball follow shots. That's also a practical way since it applies to a lot of position shots and will be where the difference would be most noticeable.

Because the total mass of the cue ball has to match the mass of the object balls, a major design goal in manufacturing is to have the plugs the same density as the rest of the ball. That could be tested destructively by cutting the ball apart.

But inset plugs of a slightly different density are going to have a very minor effect on the moment of inertial.

Ok, that's one way. I can think of an easier way: let the balls go from a shallow ramp. If there is a difference, the ball with a smaller moment of inertia will get to the bottom of the ramp first. See the animation here:

Moment of inertia - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[pvc lou]

I've picked up bits and pieces. You can also figure out some of the process by cutting balls apart. For example the "eyes" on balls are cylinders of white material that go all the way through the balls and the colors are all the way through as well. I think the numbers are milled out and back filled with black material. This may have changed in the last 20 years since the designs look much sharper now -- better defined edges.

How do they put the measles on ?