My GC3 project...

[fastone371]

I hope your table plays good for sometime for you, it sucks to do all that work then have someone shortcut on the table set up. I just cant believe they were ok with leaving rail bolts out, if they all were not needed they would not have been there in the first place. These installers obviously have no idea of the vibrations that can be involved of a ball hitting a rail at 20 mph. I would have to assume these installers are not pool players otherwise you would think that they would make sure they did everything they could to make your table play well. This is the reason why I ended up setting up my own table, I was not trying to save money, I didnt want to wait a long time to try to get one of the AZB guys here, and I did not want to use a local guy because of all the tables I looked at in the area including the ones at the pool hall none of them looked like they were set up by someone who did quality work.

 

[jtompilot]

IMO contact cement is crap for rubber. The scotchweld 3m10 work amazing. Sorry for your disaster install, but you were warned.

In the end; the cheap comes out expensive!

Contact cement holds rubber de-icing boots on aircraft. 3M 1300L

 

[jtompilot]

This post is not helpful to this thread in any way.

This gentleman asked us for help, so that he could do the work himself. In the end, he decided to have the best mechanic in his area, someone the OP has known for many years, do the work instead. It is not the OP's fault this job didn't go according to plan.

Further, as lumberman stated, 3M-10 IS contact cement, but it is not THE ONLY neoprene contact cement available. There are alternatives that work just as well, and cost less. So, to suggest that not using 3M-10 is the cause of this issue is just silly.

In some respects that post was right on target.

There were three doors to choose from. Only one door produced the grand prize. The other two doors came with the normal results.

Here in Detroit area I've seen to many owners spend good money on tables and they play like $hit. That's why when I finally get around to doing my rails they will be done by someone who recalibrates rails regularly and is known to perform this type of job properly.

You have a great table for a great price. Save some money and in a year or two have a real pro do your rails.

 

[fastone371]

In some respects that post was right on target.

There were three doors to choose from. Only one door produced the grand prize. The other two doors came with the normal results.

Here in Detroit area I've seen to many owners spend good money on tables and they play like $hit. That's why when I finally get around to doing my rails they will be done by someone who recalibrates rails regularly and is known to perform this type of job properly.

You have a great table for a great price. Save some money and in a year or two have a real pro do your rails.

Very well said. I just don't understand buying a nice professional table, expensive felt, and then trying to save money on table set up. My GC was in extremely nice condition when I bought it and I probably could have gotten away just putting cloth on it but I wanted the table to play very nice even though I am far from what you would call a good shooter. I could have put cushions on without sub rail mods but it would have bugged me to no end knowing my play field was not the right size, IE., twice as long as it is wide. With the modified sub rails, Simonis, Artemis, and tight pockets my table now plays very similar to the Diamond bar boxes, more so the Blue Labels, not as springy as the Red Label Diamonds, which is nice because our league is almost all Diamonds as well as most tournaments, and now when I do play on a Valley it seems much easier cause the pockets are so big. I do not regret 1 penny of the money I spent on my table, and still with the purchase price, table rebuild, 2 new sets of balls, floor standing GC cue rack and the Brunswick light I still could have spent more money on a new Olhausen furniture table.

 

[ND Fan]

So far I have about 4-5 hours of hitting balls on the table, not too many racks, just putting em on the table and knockin em in. Tables plays great to my eye now and I have no regrets. I do think that the pursuit for the perfect table is a futile effort, I've played on a lot of tables all over the country and I don't think there is such a thing that 3 or more people would agree on that constitutes the perfect table. I think a lot of guys here try to achieve that but perfect for me is meeting my expectations, which were pretty high. So it's all good and I am absolutely happy with the end result. Now if I could just find that one small bit of wire to hold the rack under the ball box. Lost it and can't find it. :frown:

 

[matteroner]

So, to suggest that not using 3M-10 is the cause of this issue is just silly.

So your saying if the guy used 3m-10 the same issues would have been present? I question that logic.... the rails came loose! He might as well have used peanut butter.

And do you really believe this guy is the best in the area; or is that what the OP was LED to believe.

In fact we live in the united states, but some people should be responsible for their own choices despite what most democrats think.

 

[realkingcobra]

This post is not helpful to this thread in any way.

This gentleman asked us for help, so that he could do the work himself. In the end, he decided to have the best mechanic in his area, someone the OP has known for many years, do the work instead. It is not the OP's fault this job didn't go according to plan.

Further, as lumberman stated, 3M-10 IS contact cement, but it is not THE ONLY neoprene contact cement available. There are alternatives that work just as well, and cost less. So, to suggest that not using 3M-10 is the cause of this issue is just silly.

Spray glue is a contact cement too, I've seen it used many times...and fails everytime too, which is more than likely what was used. SD don't have any table mechanic's....I should know, I've done enough repair work in that state

 

[realkingcobra]

So far I have about 4-5 hours of hitting balls on the table, not too many racks, just putting em on the table and knockin em in. Tables plays great to my eye now and I have no regrets. I do think that the pursuit for the perfect table is a futile effort, I've played on a lot of tables all over the country and I don't think there is such a thing that 3 or more people would agree on that constitutes the perfect table. I think a lot of guys here try to achieve that but perfect for me is meeting my expectations, which were pretty high. So it's all good and I am absolutely happy with the end result. Now if I could just find that one small bit of wire to hold the rack under the ball box. Lost it and can't find it. :frown:

No table mechanic's in Northern Indiana either for that matter....done quite a bit of work up there too:thumbup:

 

[jtompilot]

So your saying if the guy used 3m-10 the same issues would have been present? I question that logic.... the rails came loose! He might as well have used peanut butter.

And do you really believe this guy is the best in the area; or is that what the OP was LED to believe.

In fact we live in the united states, but some people should be responsible for their own choices despite what most democrats think.

Also, if the OP does live in northern IN, Chicago and southern IN both have a quality mechanic that can do rail calibration. The only problem is it's not cheap but it's not out of line considering a GC3 is a good table to invest in.
He would have been better off making his own jig and doing the rails himself. Maybe he still can

 

[ND Fan]

Fellas, relax... it was a pain and I was concerned but everything seems fine now. Not completely happy with the idea of having guys put my table together that didn't think the center slate bolt on the foot rail mattered but in the end he took the 3 min to put it in and it's done. It's all good and while I am happy the way the table plays today if I ever do any other work on it I'll probably do it myself. But I think it will be several years before I get to that point. I appreciate all your help and advice. from start to finish I have a GC3 that plays just the way I hoped it would with new rubber new cloth and touched up finish work so it looks damned near new for about $1400. I am as happy as I could be. The first guy that comes to my house says this pocket is wrong or that shouldn't be that way... I'll just say thats the way I like it. I can't find any one particular thing wrong with the table as it sits today. The pockets look pretty good and the side rails are now lined up perfectly, but I had to help with that aspect.

 

[realkingcobra]

If they knew what they were doing in the first place, they would have bolted the rails on first, then added the skirts and ball tray last. Even so, there's plenty of room to install the center rail bolt on the foot rail, but most mechanics leave that bolt out on purpose so they can take the table apart faster in order to recover it.

 

[tjohnson]

If they knew what they were doing in the first place, they would have bolted the rails on first, then added the skirts and ball tray last. Even so, there's plenty of room to install the center rail bolt on the foot rail, but most mechanics leave that bolt out on purpose so they can take the table apart faster in order to recover it.

My "mechanic" did this (left the footrail center bolt out). I assumed that this was because he had mistakenly installed the ball box first and then couldn't get the bolt and washer through the now-too-small gap. Maybe I'm being too harsh on him...

 

[ROB.M]

Table

With ballbox/collector removed, there is a notch in the bottom of the ball storage section of the apron so you can install or remove the 2-1/4 bolt.
Good luck finding a 2-1/4 bolt at your local hardware store' and make sure you use nothing other than the dome star washer with the bolt.
Use a bolt that is longer than 2-1/4 and it will blast out the top of the rail and formica!
My suggestion- the GC3 used bolts to attach the rails, buy a small piece of 3/8x16 all thread, cut it to length and replace a bolt on the head rail with the all-thread and a dome star washer and a standard nut, use the bolt you removed from the head rail to replace the bolt needed in the foot rail.

I know the OP have had the bolt installed on the foot rail after all but this info is for the GC owners that need to install the bolt that is missing in foot rail.

NEVER USE A BOLT THAT IS LONGER THAN 2-1/4 ON ANY BRUNSWICK GOLD CROWN TO ATTATCH THE RAILS!

If the person installing can not figure out/ or have the tools to do so- to install the center foot bolt with the aprons in place you should send him on his way with a kick in the butt out the door
Rob.M

 

[trentfromtoledo]

I follow the Service Manual.

Since my 3rd Gold Crown and getting my hands on the Service Manual: I always assemble the entire top of the table and the ball box and then flip it over on to the table as it clearly states. Never had an issue with not being able to get the center bolt IN THE HOLE.

Trent from Toledo

 

[perfectpocketz]

Glens telling everyone how to do the rails the proper way...cause Brunswicks manual says to assemble the top and flip it on to the table don't mean it right.
You want to build the rails and square and center the top then put the blinds and ball box o. Last
Now you know the playing surface is correctly installed.....and the rails are dead in line looking down the side of the rails.
No other way to get the top perfect and the pockets the same.
But everyone knows that...first thing you learn when you want the job done right.

Mark Gregory

 

[trentfromtoledo]

How did I Guess.

Deleted for sake of not wanting to argue.

 

[fastone371]

Since my 3rd Gold Crown and getting my hands on the Service Manual: I always assemble the entire top of the table and the ball box and then flip it over on to the table as it clearly states. Never had an issue with not being able to get the center bolt IN THE HOLE.

Trent from Toledo

Is that how they are supposed to be put together? I bolted rails to table then put blinds on, it kinda sucks but it is do-able. The toughest thing to install for me was the plastic gully blinds, I see why there are so many GCs that do not have them. There just seems to be no easy way to get to the screws, I had to have my wife put the corner screws in cause my hands are too big to fit them in.:angry:

 

[ND Fan]

probably not the place to post this but a continuation of a thread... just showing off now.

Still not complete but being enjoyed... I have about 250 feet of crown to go and a couple windows to case in but here's the nearly completed room.

I built my own light using LED strip and I couldn't be much happier, although the wood has a little bow to it. I bought a pre finished 6' wood shelf from Lowes, the finish is remarkably close to the table. 300 5050 LED's white light, very even and just bright enough. This was an experimental prototype. I may develop it into something. Pretty sure I could sell something like this with some tweaking. Although I don't expect to sell thousands of them I was very happy with the light. Going to add an additional 300 LED's and see what that gets me. Right now I have about $80 in this unit. No noise, no heat and draws about 40 watts giving approximately 400 lumens per lineal foot.

 

[fastone371]

Very, very nice pool room you have there, enjoy!!!:thumbup:

 

[Dopc]

ND Fan.

Your previous work in progress photos did not make the room look as big as it is, that room is huge and turned out awesome. I'm jealous and wish I had that much square footage for my poolroom. That room looks very warm and inviting, I'm sure you'll have many fun gatherings and countless hours of playtime.

The light sounds like it was a huge success, keep us posted how the additional bulbs turn out. I may just have to do a little experimenting myself. I love the low profile look of the light too.

Congratulations man and enjoy your room to it's fullest.

Dopc.