How to check if a table is setup correctly
- Thread starter fuggles
- Start date
Shoot balls up the rails slowly. Shoot balls from diamond to diamond slowly. Looking to see if balls roll of. Not being level. Also check the height of table. If you have head ball dot on table make sure it is center with a rope line. These are the things that I do on my tables. But I put my own together with squares and straight edge. And levels. Make sure when shooting into all the rails that ball is not jumping of the table after striking the cushion. And make sure your balls are clean.
Good suggestions. Thanks.
Check the "X" measurement to make sure the rails are square.
Good one. I am wondering if I need to check if the rails are parallel. I guess it would depend on any slop in the bolt holes for the rails.
I’m not a table mechanic, but common sense will tell you the most important things – is it level, which can be best determined by rolling balls on the table slowly, in all directions, assuming you are using a good quality, newer ball that is round!
Secondly, are the side rails / cushions aligned perfectly past the side pockets, which is easy to tell by squatting down and eyeballing with your dominant eye / vision center along the cushion nose from one corner pocket down the long rail to the other corner pocket, in both directions, to assure that a ball running down the long rail virtually frozen on the cushion will pass by the side pocket in both directions, both long rails.
Thirdly, I would go around with a ratchet wrench to ensure that all the rail bolts (18 or 24) have been tightened up significantly tight, but not over tightened..
And of course, in terms of the cloth recovering job, did he do a good job with the feather strips where the rail cloth is flush or just slightly raised above the rail top, is the recover job clean and neat around the pockets, the facings, covering up the slate / wood backing in the pockets, no wrinkles, stretched significantly tight, etc.
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Some cloth lines can be caused by the new cloth being folded up for a period of time and will disappear after a short time, if the cloth has been stretched properly.
These are good suggestions but but but....Tell the installer BEFORE the work is started that this is what you will be looking for.
If you hit the ball and it goes where it should go, then it's set up properly…
You can also go by carefully eyeballing overhead each corner pocket to assure that the slate radius is squared up properly in each corner pocket, and that the measurement of the shelf depth for all 4 corner pockets is identical. If they are, generally that should mean all 4 sides of your table should be perfectly squared.
This is generally done while the rail bolts are still loose and still have some play in them and can still be bumped/adjusted, so all the rail bolts should not be tightened up until all 4 corner pocket slate radius’s are squared up and both long rails on both sides of the table are aligned perfectly across the side pockets.
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One trick I've seen and use is to drop a ball grazing the cushion nose. Goes perpendicular, no spin.
My last buying experience. I told the salesperson I want a set up that is tournament grade. Set up for "players" not casual bangers. I was assured it would be done right. Worst job ever. Horrible cloth job and missing bolts.
It's fair to say you will get what the installer is capable of doing and no better.
If they come back it will be the same job as the 1st time. Try to know who you are dealing with before getting started.
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This is probably the best advice of the lot -- pay for the best mechanic in your area.
And just because a company or installer has been doing it for years that is no guarantee of a good job, they may just be doing them all wrong, lol. Ask at your local room who the best guy is and get him.
Lou Figueroa
This! Yes! Check for missing rail bolts too! They just decided to delete a few rail bolts on my install. You know the great thing about getting one of the mechanics here on the forum to do the work is that you don’t have to follow up on them.
Where I live the closest room is 50 miles away and the guy who does their tables doesn't like to travel. lol.
The guy I'm buying from is a known dealer but lives 400 miles from me, so this will likely be a one shot deal.
I think that this is by FAR the best advice in having a table set up- you simply MUST be knowledgeable on all aspects prior to the install and make sure that you and the installer are on the same page in terms of plans and expectations otherwise expect problems - items of note- expectations in terms of cloth, cushions, alignments, tightness, leveling, pocket size and pocket set up, ball movement off the rails, etc. etc.
The more that I become educated on this topic and from my own history of installs back when I had home tables in the Northeast- the more I realize that there are actually very few people who can install a pool table to the specifications of the most discerning pool players. In fact, most pool table installers that I have encountered actually know little about how a perfect table should play. Their knowledge of proper pocket configuration and cushion speed/ set/up is usually severely lacking.
I think I've seen all possible misalignments of the side rails. One forward of the other, middle ends in or out and combinations of those. Stretching a string along the nose of the cushion and close to it is another way to check.