Magic Rack Material Change

Imo this rack should have never made it into the game of pool. It should have been stopped as soon as the first knowledgable person realized it can effect ball roll.

.

It is equal for everybody. I have never seen a cloth unless the table is Brand New,where the cloth or table bed did not have an imperfection. Whether it is a divot where the head ball is , maybe a divot near the side rail where everybody likes to break or if you look hard enough even a rip in the cloth. Even a piece of sand can impact the roll of a ball and how often is a tiny shard of chalk gets left on the table. And let's not even talk about somebody pounding balls in the rack trying to get it tight.

And my favorite, a couple of bangers get the table and dump the balls on the table from about a foot up. You think the next players won't be impacted by the divots the customers before them just did?

There is absolutely no way the rolling of a ball or balls impact a game more then an inconsistent or blatantly bad rack does. If this is the price of progress then so be it.

Every time someone says they don't like it because balls roll funny on it I just look at them and ask what about here,here,here or here.?
 
If it ain't broke ,don't fix it ..

I like the magic rack as it is, I've been using it alot as of late, and very seldomly have had a problem with not being able to remove the magic rack from the table directly after the break..

That issue has came up a few times but its relatively rare..

Imo there's no better rack out there currently, "Magic rack" gives a consistently tight ,and similar rack everytime........
 
What do you do in one pocket or in straight pool when you are using the magic eight ball rack?

Nothing because you'd never use that rack for those games. There is probably a reason they call it a 9/10 ball rack and an 8 ball rack and not an 8 ball/ one pocket/ 14.1 rack.
 
In a nutshell, a racking template is either

A: thick enough to affect a ball
B: not thick enough to affect a ball

If it's thick enough to hold the ball in place for racking, it's thick enough to affect a rolling ball. If it's not thick enough to affect the roll, then it also won't hold balls in place for your rack.

There is no magic in-between... the rack doesn't know the difference between balls it's supposed to lock down vs. balls it's supposed to ignore. "ok, I was supposed to make sure this ball doesn't move, but allow that ball to move freely."

As others point out, it's not a big deal. Most of the time you can remove it. If you can't, you can barely lift the ball, which is something even professionals playing for thousands are willing to do.

It's true that for soft break games it interferes too much... which is a shame. With a 100% consistent rack, I bet guys like corey could intentionally make the corner ball in 1 pocket better than 70% of the time.
 
I am glad the MAGIC RACK exists !

I can get the perfect rack I desire.

If some have a problem with it being so easy to pocket certain balls every time in a 9-ball rack, then maybe those kind of players should have to break from a small zone in the center of the kitchen.

It IS being accepted in all the big events and cuts down on the racking time.

OP is really a very bad idea as some have said it is good the way it is and can't really be improved on ! I agree.

Could it be the Poolwizard was just searching for something thread worthy ?

He does only show a handful of posts since joining the board in 2009 !

If so I say good try and keep looking.

tyvm and have a nice day :cool:
 
What do you do in one pocket or in straight pool when you are using the magic eight ball rack?

I just read the 1st page again to make sure I didn't miss anything.

I wouldn't use the magic rack for these games you mention as they are mostly started with a soft break !

Why would anybody ?

But Poolwizard you have taken the heat very well and I will give you a big dose of green rep.

Me thinks that could be what you would like to see under your name.

Enjoy, and carry on.
 
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I am glad the MAGIC RACK exists !

I can get the perfect rack I desire.

If some have a problem with it being so easy to pocket certain balls every time in a 9-ball rack, then maybe those kind of players should have to break from a small zone in the center of the kitchen.

It IS being accepted in all the big events and cuts down on the racking time.

OP is really a very bad idea as some have said it is good the way it is and can't really be improved on ! I agree.

Could it be the Poolwizard was just searching for something thread worthy ?

He does only show a handful of posts since joining the board in 2009 !

If so I say good try and keep looking.

tyvm and have a nice day :cool:

I wasn't looking for something just thread worthy and just posted something for the sake of posting. It was just a thought I had that for me seem like it had some merit.
 
I just read the 1st page again to make sure I didn't miss anything.

I wouldn't use the magic rack for these games you mention as they are mostly started with a soft break !

Why would anybody ?

But Poolwizard you have taken the heat very well and I will give you a big dose of green rep.

Me thinks that could be what you would like to see under your name.

Enjoy, and carry on.

If you mean that green line of dots under you name is green rep, then I just noticed what the purpose of it was. With me posting this thread I was not in search of the "reputation beyond repute" status and WITH ALL THE RESPECT TO THIS FORUM AND ITS CREATORS I dont really care to have any status, I just want to be able to post my thread to recieve comments and whatnot.
Thanks oldzilla for the green rep if it was you that gave it to me.

P.S. If green rep IS NOT that green line under your name then im a clueless bastard and this reply was worthless. lol
 
If you mean that green line of dots under you name is green rep, then I just noticed what the purpose of it was. With me posting this thread I was not in search of the "reputation beyond repute" status and WITH ALL THE RESPECT TO THIS FORUM AND ITS CREATORS I dont really care to have any status, I just want to be able to post my thread to recieve comments and whatnot.
Thanks oldzilla for the green rep if it was you that gave it to me.

P.S. If green rep IS NOT that green line under your name then im a clueless bastard and this reply was worthless. lol

Yep thats it, the green dots. And you are welcome, enjoy !

btw good name poolwizard !
 
hmmmm now why didn't someone think of this.... oh wait what was I thinking =) 8,9 and 10ball template sets will be for sale this month... 20 months R&D has been finished and everything is properly protected from nefarious goings on.

I am trying to get a video up on youtube asap showing the templates in use and how to handle different situations that come up when the ball sets are not the same size.....

I'll have a thread up giving 10sets away in a drawing for anyone interested in providing feedback as soon as the first production run is finished.

The laser is ready to go and the packaging supplies are on order... am waiting now for a material quote in quantity... As soon as that happens I'll be pulling the trigger and moving forward....
 
I have both magic racks and use them everyday. They are fantastic. I don't know if any engineering trade offs could be made would make the racks better. The only problem I can see having is with 8 Ball template. If you don't break well, the potential for lots of balls to be left on top of the rack is high. Other than that, this is what pool has been looking for.
 
The only problem I can see having is with 8 Ball template. If you don't break well, the potential for lots of balls to be left on top of the rack is high.

It has been my experience with the 8-ball Magic Rack template that because the rack IS tighter, then the balls scatter in a way there is rarely a ball inside of/on the template. The rack basically "polices" itself.

Maniac
 
Would it not make sense to make the magic rack have some type of material that mimics or is exactly like table cloth instead of slick plastic?
This would be extremely useful when ball(s) remain on the rack after the break and for some reason you are unable to remove the magic rack (i.e. two or more balls are frozen to each other).

It would also help that the bottom of the magic rack would have some material that would adhere to the cloth better. Im not saying that it should be as strong as velcro but there should be enough adhesion between rack and cloth for a cue ball with any kind of spin, especially follow or draw, to be able to go over the magic rack without the magic rack slipping and therefor changing the path of the cue ball.

With a rack that remains on the table during the break you would think that the creator would want it to be nearly invisible with respect of object/cue ball path.


That would truly be a magic rack.Wave your magic wand wizard.
 
In a nutshell, a racking template is either

A: thick enough to affect a ball
B: not thick enough to affect a ball

If it's thick enough to hold the ball in place for racking, it's thick enough to affect a rolling ball. If it's not thick enough to affect the roll, then it also won't hold balls in place for your rack.
...
Well, yes, but the question then is whether the amount that it affects the path of a ball is enough to negate the advantage of having tight, consistent racks.

As for the original question, it may be that the material needs to be changed. They were having a lot of trouble with it at the last Mosconi Cup (IIRC) and eventually went back to a regular rack and I assume a tapped table. I suspect that the problem was the TV lights heated the material and it expanded. An alternative would be to move the holes a little closer to pre-compensate for the expansion.
 
The Renfro here on azBilliards has already come up with a great alternative to the magic rack. He is currently trying to get some major tournaments to use it, it will cost about the same as the magic rack, but is a cloth-like material that can be rolled, folded and adjusted to take any slack/gap out of a rack of balls that may even have different sized balls in them. I have played both the 8 Ball & 9 Ball Accu-rack by Outsville racks with him, they are "the cat's ass". I'm hoping he sees this thread and can elaborate on it, there's just no way for me to do it any justice. GREAT PRODUCT!Oops, I just saw that Chris chimed in with a plug above.
I'm still waiting for my rack Chris...
 
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