Got my table in the house today.

Gravey39

Gravey39

Active member
Finally got my table today. It’s an old beater. But the slate is in good condition. I’m excited to have a table at the house. Anyone in the Omaha area wanna teach someone how to level one??? I have a baby on the way and once I seen the $1000 price from a company to come level it. That’s a big fat no go. I have a machinist level. Got it given time from an uncle of mine. So I’m thinking about just doing it myself.
 
pocket

pocket

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I can't offer anything except, if you are somewhat handy. Go for it. Plenty videos on YouTube to help you along the way. Just don't do anything permanent.

But the only way to get it truly dialed in would be with a table mechanic who knows what they are doing, and that will cost some.

Good luck!
 
ideologist

ideologist

I don't never exaggerate
Silver Member
Gravey39 said:
Finally got my table today. It’s an old beater. But the slate is in good condition. I’m excited to have a table at the house. Anyone in the Omaha area wanna teach someone how to level one??? I have a baby on the way and once I seen the $1000 price from a company to come level it. That’s a big fat no go. I have a machinist level. Got it given time from an uncle of mine. So I’m thinking about just doing it myself.
Click to expand...

Can you post some photos? I can talk you through the bulk of it, but you'll want to pay for the cloth install
 
J

JayB93

Member
I’d be surprised if you cannot find a mechanic who will set up your table - esp since you already moved yourself - for well under $1000. Maybe try mechanics out of Kansas City and be willing to wait until someone is headed your way for another job so you don’t pay for all their travel expense.
 
M

mrpiper

Registered
Congratulations on the baby on the way! Hope you enjoy the table in your home. I have had one for many years and my daughter was raised playing pool!
 
Rodney

Rodney

hot7339
Silver Member
I leveled my GCIV with a 4’ Stabila level. Been playing on it for hundreds of racks and have yet to see it roll off. Take your time and when you think it’s level check it again and make sure it is! The cloth is a different story. Even with the Simonis videos I still didn’t get mine perfect. It’s pretty good but I need to remove the rails and re-stretch 2 corners.
 
rexus31

rexus31

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Gravey39 said:
Finally got my table today. It’s an old beater. But the slate is in good condition. I’m excited to have a table at the house. Anyone in the Omaha area wanna teach someone how to level one??? I have a baby on the way and once I seen the $1000 price from a company to come level it. That’s a big fat no go. I have a machinist level. Got it given time from an uncle of mine. So I’m thinking about just doing it myself.
Click to expand...
What's the make and size of the table?
 
dquarasr

dquarasr

Registered
Single slate or three-piece?

Either way, I didn’t find it that difficult to level it myself. Getting the seams right is a challenge but trial-and-error and patience can save some $$.

I agree with installing the cloth, rails and cushions. Have that done by a pro.

Best of luck.
 
classicjay17

classicjay17

Registered
If you already have a machinist's level, I would say to give it a shot yourself. In the "Talk to a Mechanic" forum, there's a sticky post which is RKC's guide to leveling 3 piece slate tables. About 7-8 years ago I set up a 9 foot 3 piece slate table myself (My Avatar pic), and his guide worked like a charm. Just follow it to the letter and it will work out.

As far as cloth, believe it or not that's something you can do yourself as well. I have the official Simonis install DVD's that two of the forums best table mechanics (RKC and Jay) made years ago. They should still be available for about $20 each on Seybert's billiards website. There's a rail cloth & bed cloth install dvd. They cover both the staple down and glue down methods. I followed them with the staple method for the old table, and just did the glue down method on a 7' about a week ago. Both turned out great. The Simonis install DVD's will work for Simonis, as well as other similar worsted wool cloths.

I would suggest reading a bunch of threads in the talk to a mechanic section and going for it. It will add to the satisfaction you have playing on the table knowing you did it yourself.
 
xX-Wizard-Xx

xX-Wizard-Xx

Well-known member
he said its an old beater ... take this opportunity to learn... put new rubber on it ... cloth .... level .... if the pockets are big extend the rails
 
Buzzard II

Buzzard II

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Do it yourself, for three reasons.

1. Since it's your table you will do a better job than the "mechanics" doing table installation for Costco.

2. Where you do goof up will give you that inside knowledge of where there's table roll off or a weird pocket. Don't tell your friends.

3. It gives you the time to save some money so years down the line you can have a real pro set it up right. By that time you will know who they are and not the Costco guy.

I once played on a Valley in a motel lobby in Bridgeport, WV. It was the worst POS ever. There's lots of bars and rooms competing for that title. Don't worry about it.
 
Gravey39

Gravey39

Active member
ideologist said:
Can you post some photos? I can talk you through the bulk of it, but you'll want to pay for the cloth install
Click to expand...
Well the old man used to build tables back in the 60’s. So he took the upper frame of a old table and built a legs to it all from free spare parts. Kind of a mix of things. The slate was in really good shape. And he just replaced the rubber a year ago. He let me shoot on it for awhile when it was still set up and the table played really damn well. I’m putting new leather pockets on it just got some ordered, it was missing side skirts so I’m going to build some and give this thing a nice paint job. But I own a tile company and have done construction work for a long time, I usually do woodwork back in the garage for fun. I also have some machinist background on my plate too. So I’m pretty confident that I could get it with the proper guidance, I’m always open to getting as much knowledge from someone as possible. So I thank you for that. I have the framework pretty much set up and ready to go for the slate. Going to move the slate onto the table tonight. Here is a picture of the framework. And one of my employees that helped me move the thing. If you notice at the bottom we went ahead and replaced two pieces of wood that was in pretty rough shape. Just need to cut them flush then wrap it.
7B9AC093-05FF-41D7-B46D-68F1114A5C71.jpeg
 
Gravey39

Gravey39

Active member
dquarasr said:
Single slate or three-piece?

Either way, I didn’t find it that difficult to level it myself. Getting the seams right is a challenge but trial-and-error and patience can save some $$.

I agree with installing the cloth, rails and cushions. Have that done by a pro.

Best of luck.
Click to expand...
Three piece slate. I’m probably going to try the cloth myself. I have re upholstered several chairs and couches for fun in the garage. So I’m pretty confident I could get it correct. Going to have some videos playing while I attempt it. There’s wood backing under the slate so I can use the staple method.
 
Gravey39

Gravey39

Active member
rexus31 said:
What's the make and size of the table?
Click to expand...
The old man called it a Frankenstein table. He took the frame from a scrapped table when he used to build tables in the 60’s then purchased some furniture legs to attach to the frame.
 
J

JayB93

Member
I watched a lot of my new table getting set up. They stretched the cloth over the slate a lot further than I would have expected and did so with a cloth puller - special jaws pair of pliers. You can likely do that well enough by hand, but the pliers gave added leverage to at least make it easier. He did it solo, maybe having a helper would offset the mechanical advantage of the pliers. My old table was a diy cloth job and the balls didn't know it and we enjoyed it for several years before upgrading. Good luck!
 
Jedco

Jedco

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
If you can't get it done yourself, I can give you the name of a the guy who did mine. He won't be free but he won't be $1,000, either. He's out of Lincoln, but I know a couple people in the Omaha area, as well.
 
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