Dreaming of and designing my own pool table

[MamboFats]

Hi Guys,

I've been fooling around with the corners of the rails.
The design above has cornerblocks which are 30°.
This altered design has cornerblocks which are 45°.

I like these corners better ...
It's like the width of the pocket is virtually transfered to the corner of the table and cut of...

For when I'll be cutting the pockets, I've got this all measured for 4.5" cornerpockets and with the rubber cushion facings, this will bring my pocket size to about 4.25"

see attachments for schematic, it's in metric

 

[rexus31]

Hi Guys,

I've been fooling around with the corners of the rails.
The design above has cornerblocks which are 30°.
This altered design has cornerblocks which are 45°.
View attachment 614629
I like these corners better ...
It's like the width of the pocket is virtually transfered to the corner of the table and cut of...

For when I'll be cutting the pockets, I've got this all measured for 4.5" cornerpockets and with the rubber cushion facings, this will bring my pocket size to about 4.25"

see attachments for schematic, it's in metric

Will the long rail be two pieces?

 

[MamboFats]

Will the long rail be two pieces?

No, the long rail will be 1 piece.
Completely solid wood : top rail is oak 28mm, subrail is rubberwood 18mm.
I've got a nice deal on 12 pieces of perfectly 4-sided planed oak: 10' long, 7.5" wide and 1.1" thick
They will be glued together and I'll reduce the width: I want the total width (top of cushion to outside rail to be 18cm = 7"), within recommended specifications of WPA.
The narrow rails you see on some older models, I don't like.
I really like to have a big surface to place my bridge hand on shots close to the cushion.

I think: eliminating the need to align a 2 piece long rail, is a problem well avoided

A lot of time goes by on thinking how to manufacture these rails, the feet, the frame and so on ...
I've got almost 100 pages of manual sketches and notes on building this all.
The procedure for making the rails is by now a 25-step process ... and counting.
Only the most basic tools I have available at home (the big cuts will be done at the woodshop), so it's a real challenge to figure all out.
2 months ago I visited a French manufacturer Toulet Billards, and they had a 5-axis CNC that turns a piece of planed wood into a rail in about 4 minutes: all the angles, all the holes, all the grooves, complete ... all done in less time than a bathroom visit.
I don't have that at home ... LOL

 

[rexus31]

No, the long rail will be 1 piece.
Completely solid wood : top rail is oak 28mm, subrail is rubberwood 18mm.
I've got a nice deal on 12 pieces of perfectly 4-sided planed oak: 10' long, 7.5" wide and 1.1" thick
They will be glued together and I'll reduce the width: I want the total width (top of cushion to outside rail to be 18cm = 7"), within recommended specifications of WPA.
The narrow rails you see on some older models, I don't like.
I really like to have a big surface to place my bridge hand on shots close to the cushion.

I think: eliminating the need to align a 2 piece long rail, is a problem well avoided

A lot of time goes by on thinking how to manufacture these rails, the feet, the frame and so on ...
I've got almost 100 pages of manual sketches and notes on building this all.
The procedure for making the rails is by now a 25-step process ... and counting.
Only the most basic tools I have available at home (the big cuts will be done at the woodshop), so it's a real challenge to figure all out.
2 months ago I visited a French manufacturer Toulet Billards, and they had a 5-axis CNC that turns a piece of planed wood into a rail in about 4 minutes: all the angles, all the holes, all the grooves, complete ... all done in less time than a bathroom visit.
I don't have that at home ... LOL

I'd reconsider the one piece long rail. You can attach them via dowels which will eliminate any alignment issues when installing. There are many benefits to the two piece design. The one piece design is generally reserved for lower end tables.

 

[Toxictom]

I don't want to bring confusion but I think that, me too, to build up my own frame table a day and concerning the levelling support system, I would glue HPDE pieces 5/8-3/4 inch thick to the slate for fixing long bolts instead to drill holes in slates , It will do a system that work in two ways up and down.View attachment 603983

That stuff is really hard to glue to anything. It might work pretty good for his shim design though.

 

[bradsh98]

The one piece design is generally reserved for lower end tables.

I can't imagine that there are too many that would classify Diamond as 'lower end'.

 

[rexus31]

I can't imagine that there are too many that would classify Diamond as 'lower end'.

Are Diamonds not doweled?

Also, Diamonds are made from resin impregnated wood that is not prone to warping, etc.

 

[muskyed]

I'm sure my Diamond maple wood, cherry finish is not resin impregnated. When I helped the dealer assemble it, I would have noticed it on the underside of the rails.

 

[Geosnookery]

I’m enjoying this discussion. Much beyond my knowledge and capability. Good to see the drawings to give perspective.

Whenever I’ve built a piece of furniture …A dresser, ‘fancy’ armoire, etc. I have taken an older one and disassembled it down to the bare bone structure. Then taken the ‘skeleton’ and worked from there.

If II was building a billiard table I would have found a good quality ‘solid’ table for free or a couple hundred dollars, taken it apart studying how it was assembled, then reuse the basic base and then start new on top of that….also kept the slate if in decent condition. Even if I didn’t keep any of the old table just good to dissemble and study each piece .

Anyways, admire your determination and skill. As often said, the adventure is as much in the journey as the destination, I built my own house decades ago in my mid 20’s and that was an ‘adventure’. I certainly learned what to do and not do if I built another…which I never did.

Look forward to following your progress.
‘

 

[MamboFats]

...
If II was building a billiard table I would have found a good quality ‘solid’ table for free or a couple hundred dollars, taken it apart studying how it was assembled, then reuse the basic base and then start new on top of that….also kept the slate if in decent condition. Even if I didn’t keep any of the old table just good to dissemble and study each piece .
...

Looking for an old table or donor table is a sensible thing to do, but ...
I live in Belgium where pool has no real history.
The first pool tables got here in 70's and 80's, but the first real pool club opened not before ±1990 (The Bull at Roeselare). They still exist with 9 9" tables of which the main table has been signed at the opening of the club by Mizerak and Butera on a European visit. The owner - Jean Geebelen - was one of the founding members of our first regional and national pool federation.
Having England as a neighbour and lots of english expat in all regions, snooker and snooker clubs were the growing billiards sport in the 80's and 90's.
3Cushion is the most popular billiards game in Belgium in the last century, with still some of world's best walking around. Who remembers Raymond Ceulemans (35x WC, of which 23x playing 3Cushion, first in '63, last in 2001) and Ludo Dielis. And now we have Frederic Caudron, Eddy Merckx (not the cyclist, but he's belgian too), Eddy Leppens. I have the pleasure of to be able to view these players at my local venue, which taught me so much about stroke, english, kicking, ...
Pool in Belgium has always been seen as a pub passtime, not a real sport. Our Belgian government does not acknowledge pool as sport, but only as a game. I spent a couple of years as a boardmember in these federations and this always got me so frustrated.
But I am proud Belgium is home to Aramith pool and billiard balls and Simonis billiard cloth.

My point is, there are almost no tables to be found secondhand (not counting the toy store mini tables)?
And especially no top quality or high end tables, these are simply not around here. Never been in the past.
Clubs in Belgium usually have tables of following brands: Gabriels, Clash, SAM, Brunswick (1 club in the 90's).
In my club we have 6 9" Gabriels pool tables, aged 24 next february, and still going strong (we changes all the rail a couple of years ago).
Last month a local table mechanic - Christophe Danis - got the national contract for importing Rasson.
In the venue where my pool club is housed, the snooker club has ordered 10 new Rasson Magnum II snooker tables. WOW ...

thx all for the support, by giving your opinions and ideas ...

Enjoy pool

 

[garczar]

Looking for an old table or donor table is a sensible thing to do, but ...
I live in Belgium where pool has no real history.
The first pool tables got here in 70's and 80's, but the first real pool club opened not before ±1990 (The Bull at Roeselare). They still exist with 9 9" tables of which the main table has been signed at the opening of the club by Mizerak and Butera on a European visit. The owner - Jean Geebelen - was one of the founding members of our first regional and national pool federation.
Having England as a neighbour and lots of english expat in all regions, snooker and snooker clubs were the growing billiards sport in the 80's and 90's.
3Cushion is the most popular billiards game in Belgium in the last century, with still some of world's best walking around. Who remembers Raymond Ceulemans (35x WC, of which 23x playing 3Cushion, first in '63, last in 2001) and Ludo Dielis. And now we have Frederic Caudron, Eddy Merckx (not the cyclist, but he's belgian too), Eddy Leppens. I have the pleasure of to be able to view these players at my local venue, which taught me so much about stroke, english, kicking, ...
Pool in Belgium has always been seen as a pub passtime, not a real sport. Our Belgian government does not acknowledge pool as sport, but only as a game. I spent a couple of years as a boardmember in these federations and this always got me so frustrated.
But I am proud Belgium is home to Aramith pool and billiard balls and Simonis billiard cloth.

My point is, there are almost no tables to be found secondhand (not counting the toy store mini tables)?
And especially no top quality or high end tables, these are simply not around here. Never been in the past.
Clubs in Belgium usually have tables of following brands: Gabriels, Clash, SAM, Brunswick (1 club in the 90's).
In my club we have 6 9" Gabriels pool tables, aged 24 next february, and still going strong (we changes all the rail a couple of years ago).
Last month a local table mechanic - Christophe Danis - got the national contract for importing Rasson.
In the venue where my pool club is housed, the snooker club has ordered 10 new Rasson Magnum II snooker tables. WOW ...
View attachment 614722

thx all for the support, by giving your opinions and ideas ...

Enjoy pool

you guys have the BEST french fries on the planet. frites,right?? awesome.

 

[MamboFats]

you guys have the BEST french fries on the planet. frites,right?? awesome.

yes, that's like one of the national dishes ...
Fries are not french, they are belgian.

Ok, you got me started here ... ... this topic is going off topic - just this post, I hope

No McD, no BK, no KFC or any other fastfood chain has fries of this quality...
They are most popular to get at a "frituur" or "friethuis" ("friterie" in french). Decades ago, these were small sheds where you could buy freshly fried fries and some meat and sauce specialties. Nowadays, a lot of them have grown something like an american diner. Some even resemble closely to a full grown restaurant.
I live in a small town called Waregem, population about 38,000 and within a radius of 3 miles of my home I have ±10 places to go, I think.
Stop: I just used Google Maps, put my house in the center and did a search for "frituur" => 15 results, and that doesn't include the places that call themselves "snackbar" instead of frituur)
Almost every household here has a deep frier. Homemade french fries are the best. In stores we get to choose between multiple types of potatoes, that give different tastes. We cut them by hand: sometimes slim and long (like McD and others do), I like them more when cut double that size: I want to taste the potatoe inside.
Homemade and frituur preparing is not the same as in McD and others. They use pre-fried that are frozen in a factory, fried once for ±5 minutes. We have a first frie at 135° Celsius until they are soft, let them cool down a little and than a second time at 170° Celsius until they are crisp (I like it when the edges turn golden brown).
At home they are mostly the side dish for roast chicken or steak, accompanied by a mushroom or pepper cream sauce and some salad.
At the frituur you can get a lot of meat specialties like a frikandel, the most popular meat at the frituur. Sometimes accompanied by onions, mayonaise and ketchup: we call it "frikandel speciaal"
The most popular cold sauce in belgium is mayonaise, followed by tartaar, andalouse and ketchup.

I invite you all, when visiting Europe in the future, make a stop in Belgium and go to a frituur ... there's nothing but the real thing.

And while here, you have to taste these other specialties:
* Belgian chocolat and chocolates (better than the Swiss) - buy them in regular foodstores, not in tourist places, half the price
* Waffles from Brussels (in the city of Brussels) and Waffles from Luik (in the city of Luik)
* Mussels (at the Belgian coast) with Belgian fries
* Chicory rolls in ham, with cheese sauce, prepared in the oven
* Asperges (vegetables, haute cuisine)
* Speculoos (cookies)
* Stoofvlees, also called stoverij (a stew, porc or beef)
* Vol-au-vent (a chicken stew )
* shrimp croquettes
* Gentse Waterzooi (in the city of Ghent)
* Paling in het groen (eel in a special green sauce)
* Konijn met pruimen (rabbit with plum)
* Cuberdons (candy from Ghent)
* Beer (we have hundreds of breweries and some of the best beers in the world - check worldbeerawards )
* ...

The list is endless
You can not visit Belgium and leave weighing less then when you entered ... LOL

and for all those party animals: Belgium is home to Tomorrowland and some of the beste DJ's in the world. We know how to party...

Dear boys and girls,
this ends the lecture for today ... LOL
I hope you learned something and enjoyed it

Pool for life

 

[garczar]

yes, that's like one of the national dishes ...
Fries are not french, they are belgian.

Ok, you got me started here ... ... this topic is going off topic - just this post, I hope

No McD, no BK, no KFC or any other fastfood chain has fries of this quality...
They are most popular to get at a "frituur" or "friethuis" ("friterie" in french). Decades ago, these were small sheds where you could buy freshly fried fries and some meat and sauce specialties. Nowadays, a lot of them have grown something like an american diner. Some even resemble closely to a full grown restaurant.
I live in a small town called Waregem, population about 38,000 and within a radius of 3 miles of my home I have ±10 places to go, I think.
Stop: I just used Google Maps, put my house in the center and did a search for "frituur" => 15 results, and that doesn't include the places that call themselves "snackbar" instead of frituur)
Almost every household here has a deep frier. Homemade french fries are the best. In stores we get to choose between multiple types of potatoes, that give different tastes. We cut them by hand: sometimes slim and long (like McD and others do), I like them more when cut double that size: I want to taste the potatoe inside.
Homemade and frituur preparing is not the same as in McD and others. They use pre-fried that are frozen in a factory, fried once for ±5 minutes. We have a first frie at 135° Celsius until they are soft, let them cool down a little and than a second time at 170° Celsius until they are crisp (I like it when the edges turn golden brown).
At home they are mostly the side dish for roast chicken or steak, accompanied by a mushroom or pepper cream sauce and some salad.
At the frituur you can get a lot of meat specialties like a frikandel, the most popular meat at the frituur. Sometimes accompanied by onions, mayonaise and ketchup: we call it "frikandel speciaal"
The most popular cold sauce in belgium is mayonaise, followed by tartaar, andalouse and ketchup.

I invite you all, when visiting Europe in the future, make a stop in Belgium and go to a frituur ... there's nothing but the real thing.

And while here, you have to taste these other specialties:
* Belgian chocolat and chocolates (better than the Swiss) - buy them in regular foodstores, not in tourist places, half the price
* Waffles from Brussels (in the city of Brussels) and Waffles from Luik (in the city of Luik)
* Mussels (at the Belgian coast) with Belgian fries
* Chicory rolls in ham, with cheese sauce, prepared in the oven
* Asperges (vegetables, haute cuisine)
* Speculoos (cookies)
* Stoofvlees, also called stoverij (a stew, porc or beef)
* Vol-au-vent (a chicken stew )
* shrimp croquettes
* Gentse Waterzooi (in the city of Ghent)
* Paling in het groen (eel in a special green sauce)
* Konijn met pruimen (rabbit with plum)
* Cuberdons (candy from Ghent)
* Beer (we have hundreds of breweries and some of the best beers in the world - check worldbeerawards )
* ...

The list is endless
You can not visit Belgium and leave weighing less then when you entered ... LOL

and for all those party animals: Belgium is home to Tomorrowland and some of the beste DJ's in the world. We know how to party...

Dear boys and girls,
this ends the lecture for today ... LOL
I hope you learned something and enjoyed it

Pool for life

You're killin me. Need to open some of those shacks over here. BTW, you also have the best F1 track in Spa.

 

[rexus31]

Belgium's single greatest contribution to society: Hoegaarden Belgian Witbier.

 

[fastone371]

Belgium's single greatest contribution to society: Hoegaarden Belgian Witbier.

I would say 2nd best, right behind Spa Francorchamps. We are about 30miles from Road America, arguably the premier road course in the US and I still think there is nothing that compares to Spa.

 

[garczar]

I would say 2nd best, right behind Spa Francorchamps.

Havin' one of those beers with some fries at Spa for the race followed by some 3-cushion. That would be a good day.

 

[Geosnookery]

Belgium’s greatest contribution was Eddy Merckx. I’m Canadian but spent much of my teens living on the French/German border. …both in Alsace and in the Black Forest.

When the Tour de France came to our region we would all sit on our 10 speeds and watch the cyclists go by…Merckx was the superstar we all wanted to be like. After they went by we would cycle and follow the route for a few kms.

My dad was in a Canadian tank regiment thst went through Belgium in WW2. One holiday he took us boys and we traced his route from Normandy through France, Belguim and Holland into northern Germany. His heaviest fighting was in Belgium at the Battle if the Scheldt. Their Sherman tank was twice knocked out of action and cobbled back together.

 

[garczar]

Belgium’s greatest contribution was Eddy Merckx. I’m Canadian but spent much of my teens living on the French/German border. …both in Alsace and in the Black Forest.

When the Tour de France came to our region we would all sit on our 10 speeds and watch the cyclists go by…Merckx was the superstar we all wanted to be like. After they went by we would cycle and follow the route for a few kms.

My dad was in a Canadian tank regiment thst went through Belgium in WW2. One holiday he took us boys and we traced his toute from Normandy through France, Belguim and Holland into northern Germany. His heaviest fighting was in Belgium at the Battle if the Scheldt. Their Sherman tank was twice knocked out of action and cobbled back together.

1969. The guy behind him is Rudy Altig from Germany. Eddy was the greatest.

 

[EL Picos]

You need to add 6 cross members to this design, not a great thing to do, but it will strengthen the job X 3.

 

[MamboFats]

You need to add 6 cross members to this design, not a great thing to do, but it will strengthen the job X 3.
View attachment 614859

at this moment, I am thinking of something like this:

I like the idea that all slate pieces are equally supported and also for the slate levellers to be placed in a way symmetrical on both axis.
I drew the dimensions of the outside of that frame to be exactly 100" by 50" (254cmx127cm)
So the levellers on the side would be directly beneath the border of the playing field. I see no reason to put levellers on the complete outside of the slates, the wider they are put apart, the more possibility of bending. (theory of airy points)
I'm now thinking of 8 levellers for each slate, with an extra one in the middle for a total of 27 levellers.
Just a reminder for everyone: I'm designing with one word in mind = overkill.