Guys, no need to search all over Google and Ebay for a suitable “ball marker” or “cue ball place-holder” as I refer to mine. And no need to even spend a dime to have one that works as good as the best commercial ones.
Anyone with a handsaw or even hacksaw, and a bare minimum of woodworking skills can make the perfectly accurate one shown in my attached sketch in about a half-hour.
The scrap box of any lumber seller or plastic supplier will yield a workable small remnant of hardwood (or ideally -- acrylic).
I’ve made at least a dozen of these cue ball place-holders over the past 20 years and given one to the counterman of every room I’ve regularly played in, to keep on hand behind the counter for the times that the cue ball needs to be cleaned during in-house league or tournament play (also in the case of my favorite use: during casual, but meticulous 14.1 practice games).
No need for fussy workmanship or even fine finishes (although I do both of these things for the personal one I always carry in my cue case). Just be sure to fully round off all crisp edges (except for the very top edge of the 90 degree “V”) so no one’s concerned about the place-holder damaging the cloth, or a ref’s pocket).
All you’re really after with any place holder is ensuring either full semi-circular contact with the cue ball, or in the case of my homemade design -- two widely-separated tangential, repeatable contact points . . . which you’ll see is just as accurate down to the last millimeter when properly placed and held during the act of cleaning the cue ball.
None of the dimensions are fussy except for establishing a relatively crisp top edge (which should actually be very lightly broken with a piece of sandpaper, fingernail file or emery board). As you’ll see when you finish making the place-holder, the top edge is the only portion of the “V” walls that actually contacts the cue ball because the lower hemisphere of the cue ball curves away from the 2 tangential contact points.
Hope you like the version of my immodestly named “Arnaldo cue ball placer-holder” that you may choose to quickly and easily produce at home as I always do.
Arnaldo
Anyone with a handsaw or even hacksaw, and a bare minimum of woodworking skills can make the perfectly accurate one shown in my attached sketch in about a half-hour.
The scrap box of any lumber seller or plastic supplier will yield a workable small remnant of hardwood (or ideally -- acrylic).
I’ve made at least a dozen of these cue ball place-holders over the past 20 years and given one to the counterman of every room I’ve regularly played in, to keep on hand behind the counter for the times that the cue ball needs to be cleaned during in-house league or tournament play (also in the case of my favorite use: during casual, but meticulous 14.1 practice games).
No need for fussy workmanship or even fine finishes (although I do both of these things for the personal one I always carry in my cue case). Just be sure to fully round off all crisp edges (except for the very top edge of the 90 degree “V”) so no one’s concerned about the place-holder damaging the cloth, or a ref’s pocket).
All you’re really after with any place holder is ensuring either full semi-circular contact with the cue ball, or in the case of my homemade design -- two widely-separated tangential, repeatable contact points . . . which you’ll see is just as accurate down to the last millimeter when properly placed and held during the act of cleaning the cue ball.
None of the dimensions are fussy except for establishing a relatively crisp top edge (which should actually be very lightly broken with a piece of sandpaper, fingernail file or emery board). As you’ll see when you finish making the place-holder, the top edge is the only portion of the “V” walls that actually contacts the cue ball because the lower hemisphere of the cue ball curves away from the 2 tangential contact points.
Hope you like the version of my immodestly named “Arnaldo cue ball placer-holder” that you may choose to quickly and easily produce at home as I always do.
Arnaldo
, why don't we just hold the cueball down with our index finger and draw a circle around it with a Sharpie