Flat pool racks

[Velvet Hammer]

Greetings, I am a good player and teacher, and was thinking of buying one of the flat pool racks that seem to be around now.
My local guy sells the magic rack but is out, I would really like to try one of them before I buy. Actually I'd like to try them all to see what I liked best.
Any thoughts, experience, or advise from the group would be appreciated.
Thanks,
David

 

[td873]

I wasn't happy with anything out there, so I made my own version. I called it the Alpha Rack. It's more of a master template than a magic rack. You use donuts. I think it's pretty good and have had lots of positive feedback.

Someone else's video:

My post: https://forums.azbilliards.com/thre...nitial-impressions.540468/page-2#post-7198074

 

[Bob Jewett]

Some people complain about templates making balls roll off during the break shot. I suppose that if you can place a moving ball within half an inch on the break, you have a right to complain, which means that if you're not Corey Deuel, you have no right to complain. For most people it's all random and it doesn't make any difference if a ball ends up a half an inch from where it would have been without the template on the table.

 

[Bob Jewett]

Another method of racking is what they do on the Eurotour, which is to tap/train the table. Dr. Dave has a video on YouTube about how to do that. It's probably easier with a template, but you don't have to have one. It's basically how the Sardo Rack really works. It's also more or less how a Perma-Rack (donuts on the table) works but without the donuts.

 

[Brookeland Bill]

Greetings, I am a good player and teacher, and was thinking of buying one of the flat pool racks that seem to be around now.
My local guy sells the magic rack but is out, I would really like to try one of them before I buy. Actually I'd like to try them all to see what I liked best.
Any thoughts, experience, or advise from the group would be appreciated.
Thanks,
David

The plastic triangle racks are junk. Not perfect triangles and you have to re-rack over and over.

 

[9BJeff]

Stan Shuffett has been using those paper reinforcements for racking since before there was any product like that.

 

[g0ds gReeN]

I like Turtle racks myself. Cost efficient too: pack of 10 (5 of 9b+10b, 5 of 8b) is $45 + s/h. If you don't need an 8b template, 10 9b+10b templates is $40 + s/h. I would have tried magic racks but I didn't like the price compared to what I would get for buying from Mezz.

When I bought them, I originally went with the combo because I was playing league 8b at the time and the plastic triangles at bars I would practice on would range from ok if you can rack well to begin with to kill me right meow.

Accuracks from outsville worked fine for me in the beginning but eventually I wore the 9b and 8b templates out in 3-4 months. I accidentally left my set at a bar somewhere so that problem took care of itself (although I do like the break spot cloth that came with their combo, I do miss that.)

FWIW, I'm still on my first template of 9+10b 2 years later (which is what I find myself playing more these days.) It's almost about to hit the line of chuck it for a fresh one but I can finagle the 2nd/3rd ball in a 9b rack and the bottom right corner in a 10b rack to get'em touching.

Turtle Rack

Enjoy tight racks in 8 ball, 9 ball and 10 ball quickly and efficiently.

mezzusa.com

 

[telinoz]

Another Turtle rack fan here.
I have tried magic rack and a few others.
But, the Turtle rack is very well made and precise.
Which results in very consistent breaks, no loose balls.
The only effort is making sure it is lined up straight.

After the break, I always remove it.
As others have said, low speed balls will roll off going over it or worse will stop and locate in a hole on the rack.

I don't know anybody who has a perma rack setup.
Surely that can deflect balls as well.

 

[3kushn]

Everybody's forgetting that John Schmidt set his record using the Perma Rack system which uses the donuts mounted on the table surface and just recently Jason Shaw used a similar system by Outsville. I have the Perma rack system on my table.

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I can't imagine using these or the templates. But I don't play the game and have never experienced any of this.
It seems when I watch games the templates are removed ASAP and I suspect for good reason.

These stickers seem to be semi permanent. They should be so thin its difficult to remove them from the paper without destroying before applying.

I'd like to put my level over one sticker and see what's up.

 

[RickLafayette]

I can't imagine using these or the templates. But I don't play the game and have never experienced any of this.
It seems when I watch games the templates are removed ASAP and I suspect for good reason.

These stickers seem to be semi permanent. They should be so thin its difficult to remove them from the paper without destroying before applying.

I'd like to put my level over one sticker and see what's up.

The stickers, whether Outsville's or the page savers, are as thin or thinner than the templates. Also, they get even thinner after a few hours of playing. I have yet to have a problem with any shots. They take a little longer than the templates as they get thinner and I have yet to have one lift off. Dr. Dave has experimented with tapping balls in a rack pattern directly into the cloth and racking on the indents. That seems like something that would have to be repeated over and over as the detents disappear. For me, the page savers were a perfect solution. I've had nothing but compliments from people shooting at my house.

 

[DynoDan]

Another method of racking is what they do on the Eurotour, which is to tap/train the table. Dr. Dave has a video on YouTube about how to do that. It's probably easier with a template, but you don't have to have one. It's basically how the Sardo Rack really works. It's also more or less how a Perma-Rack (donuts on the table) works but without the donuts.

Am I missing something here? Don’t the templates work on a system where the divots are slightly off, so the balls will lean into each other? How could you duplicate that effect by tapping/training without the template?

 

[hang-the-9]

I definitely prefer the Outsville Accu-Rack over the Magic Rack. I feel the plastic of the Magic Rack throws off slow rolling balls more than the felt like material of the Accu-Rack.

It's the same for pretty much all template racks when they roll over them, it's the thickness of the lip that affects the balls. But since the break is random balls bouncing everywhere, all we need to do is put the change of path when a ball rolls against the rack as a normal random break occurrence. It has as much of a chance to end up in the same spot using any rack, so why worry about it?

The only bad template racks I have used were the cheaper generic copies of the Magic Rack, all the others worked well with a small change between the models. I think the Accu Racks from Outsville have the most natural break spread more like a wood rack but still make the racking easier, the Magic and Turtle racks have more of a loaded rack where the 9 ball rack ends up with easier corner ball going in for lower level players. By "loaded" I mean the balls lean towards each other vs sitting next to each other just touching.

 

[Bob Jewett]

Am I missing something here? Don’t the templates work on a system where the divots are slightly off, so the balls will lean into each other? How could you duplicate that effect by tapping/training without the template?

For the Eurotour, they have a template that is slightly small. Balls are tapped one at a time. Or so I'm told; I've never seen it done.

 

[mistamikel]

I use both a template (flat rack as OP called them) and the binder re-enforcemnt tabs to create a "permanent rack".
The reason, when the cloth is new and using a template (or any other rack, as long as the head spot is the exact same) will create divets in the cloth (AKA training the table). When this starts to happen, I use the binder rings to make a permanent rack (usually a 9/10 ball set up).

 

[tomatoshooter]

most triangle racks are so bad

I think that's from people buying cheap ones. If the cloth is in good condition, a good rack will work. I agree the delta rack is nice but noisy. And some racks will get wallered out. A good thing about the Delta is that it is thin so there is less interference if your break ball is close to the rack in 14.1.