HELP - The Great Rack Shootout

AuntyDan

AuntyDan

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Silver Member
Several recent threads on racking and racks made me think that what we really need is some good, independent review and analysis of the various available designs. There just doesn't seem to be anything like this available in the industry press at all. So I'd like to suggest we could do this ourselves with support from our community.

The way I see it we just need to get together as many competing models of racks as possible in a local Pool hall whose management are willing to assist. We'd need a few freshly covered tables and time to experiment a little. (A commercial-class home table could be used instead, but then you only get one shot at setting up the rack area which might potentially be an issue.)

A local Pro or two would be great to get the best idea of the results possible with a Pro-class break. (You can give me the best rack in the world and I'll never make the balls as consistently as a Pro would.)

Wouldn't you finally like to know the real answer to which rack produces the best results? Or to know for sure that a tapped table with no rack at all is the same or different from using a Sardo?

I'm happy to volunteer my time, my writing skills and my available rack hardware (A Diamond, a Sardo 5000 and a weird wood rack with angled walls I got from Muellers) to the experiment at a suitable location in the Southern California area. I'm hoping I can rope in Abe of Laser Rack too as he's local to me.

Any other volunteers?

Any suggestions for testing methodology?
 
Two other candidates for the list

AuntyDan said:
Several recent threads on racking and racks made me think that what we really need is some good, independent review and analysis of the various available designs. There just doesn't seem to be anything like this available in the industry press at all. So I'd like to suggest we could do this ourselves with support from our community.

The way I see it we just need to get together as many competing models of racks as possible in a local Pool hall whose management are willing to assist. We'd need a few freshly covered tables and time to experiment a little. (A commercial-class home table could be used instead, but then you only get one shot at setting up the rack area which might potentially be an issue.)

A local Pro or two would be great to get the best idea of the results possible with a Pro-class break. (You can give me the best rack in the world and I'll never make the balls as consistently as a Pro would.)

Wouldn't you finally like to know the real answer to which rack produces the best results? Or to know for sure that a tapped table with no rack at all is the same or different from using a Sardo?

I'm happy to volunteer my time, my writing skills and my available rack hardware (A Diamond, a Sardo 5000 and a weird wood rack with angled walls I got from Muellers) to the experiment at a suitable location in the Southern California area. I'm hoping I can rope in Abe of Laser Rack too as he's local to me.

Any other volunteers?

Any suggestions for testing methodology?
Click to expand...

AuntyDan:

Along with the rack products you already mentioned, I'd like to offer the following candidates to the list:

MasterRack:
http://masterrack.com/

Delta-13 Precision Rack:
http://delta-13.com/

The former is an interesting idea, pressing the balls together into a perfect triangle from all three sides at once. IMHO, this product might not be conducive to straight pool, however, because the rack walls are "thick" (to allow space for the rack-sidewall-pressing mechanism, of course), and a very close break-ball might have to be temporarily moved (by a referee) to allow racking of the 14 balls, with the break-ball subsequently replaced to its original position.

The latter appears to be *the* most precision engineered, CNC-milled, aluminum rack that I've ever seen. The upshot of this decision is its very slim-line, conducive to racking even with very close break-balls.

I hope these are good candidates for the list.

Thanks,
-Sean
 
sfleinen said:
AuntyDan:

Along with the rack products you already mentioned, I'd like to offer the following candidates to the list:

MasterRack:
http://masterrack.com/

Delta-13 Precision Rack:
http://delta-13.com/

-Sean
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestions. I have a friend who just got a Delta 13 rack I can probably persuade to lend me for testing.

So here's the list so far:

1) Diamond wood rack
2) Sardo 5000
3) Chameleon rack
4) Master Rack
5) Delta 13
6) Cheap generic maple rack
7) ??? Mueller rack with angled side walls
8) No rack at all/Hand rack on tapped table
9) Don's Pivot rack

I'd like to test both 9-ball and 15-ball racks, ideally with both normal "power" breaks and for 14.1 breaks.
 
Last edited:
Dan...

Yes, you can borrow my Delta-13 rack, but it was a birthday present and is custom engraved with "Mikie's Fun House" and the 5-star logo. How about we get Samm Diep to set one free from the factory? She is the marketing director and player rep for Delta-13 (and a real nice person and a solid shooter).

Mike
 
Thanks Mikie, that's a great idea. Once I can figure out a date/time/place for this I'll contact you to set this up.
 
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