My GC3 project...

Table

ND Fan said:
My diamond cushions are in and the dry wall guy promises me we can paint this weekend, same promise he made last weekend :frown: It's getting closer. I am having a local pool table place get it in the basement and put it together and do the cloth. i am going to attempt the cushion replacement myself, fingers crossed, the K55 are basically the width but stick out further so the playing bed of the table will change about 3/8" all around, not too concerned about as I don't plan on hosting any world championships anytime soon. My goal is to get them on straight and a proper nose height. Should be done painting by next weekend then the flooring. The table will likely be in place prior to finish trim work but I am anxious. :o
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Oh'boy
Im not a rail genie or master but please allow me to give you some advise, if I'm incorrect please let the master rail guys correct me.
You are saying you have monarch superspeed cushions on your GC? Have you removed the old cushions yet? If you have, dry fit the k55 up to the subrail 'pretend fit' and see how they fit/line up. It is very possible that the top of the subrail was sanded down at the factory to far to blend in the tops of subrail/cushion to a smooth fit and shortened the top of the cushion, so you could have today's superspeed cushions on your table.
Sorry so off on a tangent, what I'm saying is if you have the old" no longer avialable monarch cushion you will not want to install the "new style" k55; no matter what brand" in place of the monarchs. You put all that time and effort in to your home and living area to be perfect for your pool table; that it would be a silly idea to / excuse my language / half ass the cushions and rails, everything..well almost everything to do with how the balls come off the rails and play during contact will be so-very nasty at times it will make you sick because you know the ball should of never come off a rail the way it did; and the diamonds" aiming sights" become almost useless.. If the top of the subrail has been sanded down at the top with todays K55 cushion you can redo that;yes with k55, but if you have the old monarch cushions you will want to have the subrails modified and updated to accept new style K55 cushions and it will play properly. I'm assuming your replacing the cushions because they have hardend? If so its a even better chance you have current k55 cushions in which you won't have to send the rails off to be reworked.
I'll post a pic of a GC III that was installed new and never serviced since, you can see the top was sanded/blended a little to much.
And again as others have mentioned and I'm sure glen told you on the phone that even if you install the nose height at 1-7/16" don't mean your rails will be correct, if your subrail angle is not that for new era k55 ; 1-7/16" is not going to be proper for consistent and a accurate play with the old angle from the monarch cushions.

Your nice game area deserves a pro playing table' IT'S A GC! Guys would line up to fist fight each other to own one of the best model tables known today.
It sounds like its going to be- If you don't own the tools needed to do specialized table work you will soon be a owner of some.

Hope this helps.

Rob.M
 

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I am a little concerned about it, my cushions just say superspeed and nothing else. There are the same dimension on the back (glued to the rail area) but if you put them flat backs on a table they are exactly an eight of an inch taller than the original cushions. I'd love to make it perfect but I have a budget to stick to for the table, if it doesn't work out I'll spend the money to make it right. I plan on gluing the cushions and and cutting the pockets and facings. Nose height is most likely the biggest concern losing a 1/4" of playing surface doesn't bother me. It's one of those wait and see things. I am gonna try it my way ( possibly the wrong way) and hope it works out if not well then I guess I got a several hundred dollar fix on my hands. Is it safe to assume that as the rubber hardened it could possibly shrink slightly? because this original rubber is hard and as dead as I have ever seen. I am not covering the rails, our local guy is doing it.
 
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Take a pic of your superspeed rubber where it says superspeed on the cushion and post it...cushions can shrink and so can the wood..

Rob.M
 
810124419_2867264039_0.jpeg


Not exactly sure of date of table but these are for sure the original cushions.
 
Table

ND Fan said:
810124419_2867264039_0.jpeg


Not exactly sure of date of table but these are for sure the original cushions.
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Picture not loading for view..
Do the rails have the floating nut plates or round plates that are screwed in place in at the bottom of the rail?


Rob.M
 
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dontlitethat said:
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Oh'boy
Im not a rail genie or master but please allow me to give you some advise, if I'm incorrect please let the master rail guys correct me.
You are saying you have monarch superspeed cushions on your GC? Have you removed the old cushions yet? If you have, dry fit the k55 up to the subrail 'pretend fit' and see how they fit/line up. It is very possible that the top of the subrail was sanded down at the factory to far to blend in the tops of subrail/cushion to a smooth fit and shortened the top of the cushion, so you could have today's superspeed cushions on your table.
Sorry so off on a tangent, what I'm saying is if you have the old" no longer avialable monarch cushion you will not want to install the "new style" k55; no matter what brand" in place of the monarchs. You put all that time and effort in to your home and living area to be perfect for your pool table; that it would be a silly idea to / excuse my language / half ass the cushions and rails, everything..well almost everything to do with how the balls come off the rails and play during contact will be so-very nasty at times it will make you sick because you know the ball should of never come off a rail the way it did; and the diamonds" aiming sights" become almost useless.. If the top of the subrail has been sanded down at the top with todays K55 cushion you can redo that;yes with k55, but if you have the old monarch cushions you will want to have the subrails modified and updated to accept new style K55 cushions and it will play properly. I'm assuming your replacing the cushions because they have hardend? If so its a even better chance you have current k55 cushions in which you won't have to send the rails off to be reworked.
I'll post a pic of a GC III that was installed new and never serviced since, you can see the top was sanded/blended a little to much.
And again as others have mentioned and I'm sure glen told you on the phone that even if you install the nose height at 1-7/16" don't mean your rails will be correct, if your subrail angle is not that for new era k55 ; 1-7/16" is not going to be proper for consistent and a accurate play with the old angle from the monarch cushions.

Your nice game area deserves a pro playing table' IT'S A GC! Guys would line up to fist fight each other to own one of the best model tables known today.
It sounds like its going to be- If you don't own the tools needed to do specialized table work you will soon be a owner of some.

Hope this helps.

Rob.M
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I gotta second what dontlitethat says. The biggest problem with the cushions being slightly taller (to shrink playing surface) is the table will no longer be twice as long as it is wide. If they are an 1/8 taller the playing surface will be 49 3/4 x 99 3/4. I faced that dilema with my GCII, it had Monarch Superspeeds which are no longer made so I had to bite the bullet and spend the money on subrail recalibration. I am glad I did it and it was money well spent. A table like yours deserves to play its very best.
 
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ND Fan said:
Screwed down
810172058_2867416195_0.jpeg
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99% chance you have the old style cushions that need the wood of the rail modified to accept today's k55 SS cushions...
If not... your making for headaches, please let me make you an example, let's say u have a old pristine Gus or Gina cue and the tip needs replaced do you go to Walmart to get a press on over the ferrule tip combo that gonna play and feel like crap when u hit a ball with it~ it will work but is the tip hitting balls the way a pool player wants it to? Heck no!
Do yourself a favor and do it right, your basement remodel deserves it.



Rob.M
 
What is the approximate cost of doing this? Is it possible to perform this myself, keeping in mind I was a machinist for many years and have access to virtually every type of metal and wood working equipment known to man. I am assuming there is some material to be removed. Not sure of the angle but it makes sense to me that the removed material should match the height difference in the cushions. If I send out rails where to send them? I really don't trust our local guy that much for this type of work.
 
You need to remove material from subrail & change the angle, the area where cushions glue to. I am not sure what those numbers are though, several of the good mechanics here do. Josh at Absolute Billiard Service did mine, I shipped them to him, table plays very nice. In fact I played on a Blue label Diamond for the first time Sunday nite and it plays very, very similar to mine.
 
There are a handful of guys from this forum, all across the country that could modify your subrails for you, but it will be costly. If you are/were a machinist, you should be more than capable of doing this work yourself. Glen (RealKingCobra) has created a few threads on how he does it, along with the dimensions you'll need. It's not too difficult of a job, so don't be scared by the comments that people may make in regards to it.

On a side note, you should be aware that subrail modification is somewhat newly popular, since the creation of this forum. There are only a handful of mechanics across the country, that will even do it. There are GC's, all across the country, that have had the original Monarch cushions replaced by K55 profile cushions, some even with k66. They play well enough for the locals that shoot on them. Granted, the play area is not a 2:1 ratio, and the banks are slightly slower, thereby not playing quite up to today's standards of a "perfect" table. But, you already said that you're "not looking to host tournaments" there, so does it really matter?

Bottom line is: do the work if you feel comfortable doing it. You'll be glad you did. Otherwise, pay someone else to do it. OR, go ahead and install the k55 cushions now. If you don't like the way it plays, modify the subrails when you change the cloth.

Good luck.
 
I can tell you this... I know nothing about pool tables, I've played on many and the only thing I can think of that I never really cared for was the ultra fast rebound of accufast cushions on an Olhausen home table. I am sure during the course of many years thousands of room owners have replaced the cushions on their GC's with K55 or K66 and the table played within acceptable measure. I am not a tournament player or that serious about the game. I do love it, although I love 3 cushion more so than than pool having a carom table would be pointless for me as I only know a few people in our area that play any where near my level and I don't necessarily wish to invite them into my home. So a pool table it is... I'll get it together the best I can and see how it turns out. If there is something radically disfigured or unplayable about it I'll have someone do it right. I think my motivation is as much my own sense of accomplishment and also I just cant justify spending a couple more grand on a piece of equipment I just want to beat balls around on with my friends who wouldn't know a perfect table from an executive desk micro table. I appreciate all the advice, especially Glen for speaking to me at length on the phone, I may be calling back sometime, hopefully my drywall guy gets his $hit together and finishes things up soon. Just something I want to try. If I thought for one second I would irreparably screw up this table I would stop, but "do no harm" is my first goal. In the end I hope to have a table that plays to "my" expectations. I realize there are many people who might think anything less than perfection is pointless. I would completely agree if that were my goal. We'll try it out and see what becomes of it.

Don't take any offense to any of this, I do appreciate your feedback and I trust what everyone is saying. I am just one of those guys that have to frack things up myself to prove y'all right. I wished I had the extra money but if I did I would have just purchased a new one. It'll work out and I may have to have the rails re done when it's completed but I'll keep you informed along the way. I work for a drug testing company but I don't even know where to find some meth, I like to get some on my way home and give to my dry wall guy. He'd be done in no time :)
 
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bradsh98 said:
There are a handful of guys from this forum, all across the country that could modify your subrails for you, but it will be costly. If you are/were a machinist, you should be more than capable of doing this work yourself. Glen (RealKingCobra) has created a few threads on how he does it, along with the dimensions you'll need. It's not too difficult of a job, so don't be scared by the comments that people may make in regards to it.

On a side note, you should be aware that subrail modification is somewhat newly popular, since the creation of this forum. There are only a handful of mechanics across the country, that will even do it. There are GC's, all across the country, that have had the original Monarch cushions replaced by K55 profile cushions, some even with k66. They play well enough for the locals that shoot on them. Granted, the play area is not a 2:1 ratio, and the banks are slightly slower, thereby not playing quite up to today's standards of a "perfect" table. But, you already said that you're "not looking to host tournaments" there, so does it really matter?

Bottom line is: do the work if you feel comfortable doing it. You'll be glad you did. Otherwise, pay someone else to do it. OR, go ahead and install the k55 cushions now. If you don't like the way it plays, modify the subrails when you change the cloth.

Good luck.
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All very valid points indeed. If I had it to do all over again I would still spend the money on modifiying the subrails, and nobody will ever confuse me for a pro player.................... or even a good player for that matter:rotflmao1: But I dont really fish so I never spent $$ on a bass boat, I already tried the snowmobile thing, it was fun but cold and I still hate winter, and I pretty much quit racing so I spent a few bucks on my table and I am happier for it.
 
Getting closer to pool table table time....

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being out of town next week delays things a bit but I figure as long as we're done by thanksgiving I am happy.
 
Looks very nice, I am very jealous. My table might be nice but I have the Turkish Prison motiff going on right now in my basement. Big plans to spiff it up but thats all it is right now are plans, just not enough hours in a day, especially when you own a 100 year old farmhouse.
 
Table goes in tomorrow, 10 AM WOOHOOO!!! Been a long road and doing the work myself has been a ***** at times, a little worrisome but in the end everything looks great thus far. Plumber will be there tomorrow as well to install everything and I still have the crown molding to put in and a built in cue rack and a new light but I'll be hitting balls without them for several days! Photo to follow when set up is complete.:thumbup:
 
Will do, but it's a mess right now, I get some in the morning before set up. Can't wait! about 14 hours till the first break!
 
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