I apologize for the length of this...
I bought a brand-new table, my first, and I am unsure of how much to expect... the installers came back today after initial install a week or two ago to fix a rail thud and to re-level. It was very out of level in a couple of spots that they fixed (see back story) but I still have concern...
I have found this from BCA: "The playing surface must be capable, either by its own strength or a combination of its strength and that of the table base frame, of maintaining an overall flatness within ± .020” lengthwise and ± .010” across the width."
Excuse my denseness but do these measurements refer to the level of the playing plane or to the amount that the ball can deflect from a straight line? I would guess the latter because I would imagine that .2" hill would make the balls curve ridiculously.
After repair today, at moderate speed, the balls travel quite straight but at "die in the pocket" speed it is quite different. Across one diagonal on my table, the ball will move over about half of a ball width. Along one length rail and one width rail I still have some divergence from straight which I haven't measured because I am, frankly, a little p.o'd that it's not better than any pool hall table I've played on. Let's just say that I have never in a pool hall noticed such a lean as my table has- but, then again, I may have never looked so closely... but on one long rail I can actually graze the rail at very slow speed, have the ball deflect away from the rail but then come back to the rail. Is that less than tolerable in the pool world?
Back story:
I bought a brand new Olhausen Augusta and had it installed a couple of weeks ago. My first night I noticed a rail that went "thud" so then I started checking other stuff. The table was clearly not level enough (rolling across the WIDTH of the table at either end and at very slow speed, the ball would move over half a ball width (and in opposite directions on each end- the ball would gravitate toward the respective close rail.... so the installers came back out today and fixed the thud which was caused by a loose screw on the noisy rail....
Then they started working on the deflection by wooden shimming under the legs... nothing was changing and I asked them if it could be the slate or the slate foundation because, well, it was readily obvious to me that the leg-shimming wasn't doing it. They said "no" and kept trying. Then they realized it was the slate bed and took off some rail, took of that 1/3 of the cloth, broke the slate seam and used shims to fill a substantial gap between the slate and the board below. Then they put it all back together. The balls roll straight there now.
I am a pretty good pool player by any definition of pretty good.... I have tested and re-tested my table levelness with shots and I can reproduce the same crooked results over-and-over. This is my first table at home and I don't want my game getting messed up. In pool halls I've never thought twice about table levelness as I have never noticed balls go off-line like they do on mine. I hate being a pain in the butt to the dealer but pool is a game of precision and I spent a large chunk of money and I expect my table to be excellent. So I ask you pros, "what is excellent?"
Thank you very much in advance for your experienced reply!
Tony
I bought a brand-new table, my first, and I am unsure of how much to expect... the installers came back today after initial install a week or two ago to fix a rail thud and to re-level. It was very out of level in a couple of spots that they fixed (see back story) but I still have concern...
I have found this from BCA: "The playing surface must be capable, either by its own strength or a combination of its strength and that of the table base frame, of maintaining an overall flatness within ± .020” lengthwise and ± .010” across the width."
Excuse my denseness but do these measurements refer to the level of the playing plane or to the amount that the ball can deflect from a straight line? I would guess the latter because I would imagine that .2" hill would make the balls curve ridiculously.
After repair today, at moderate speed, the balls travel quite straight but at "die in the pocket" speed it is quite different. Across one diagonal on my table, the ball will move over about half of a ball width. Along one length rail and one width rail I still have some divergence from straight which I haven't measured because I am, frankly, a little p.o'd that it's not better than any pool hall table I've played on. Let's just say that I have never in a pool hall noticed such a lean as my table has- but, then again, I may have never looked so closely... but on one long rail I can actually graze the rail at very slow speed, have the ball deflect away from the rail but then come back to the rail. Is that less than tolerable in the pool world?
Back story:
I bought a brand new Olhausen Augusta and had it installed a couple of weeks ago. My first night I noticed a rail that went "thud" so then I started checking other stuff. The table was clearly not level enough (rolling across the WIDTH of the table at either end and at very slow speed, the ball would move over half a ball width (and in opposite directions on each end- the ball would gravitate toward the respective close rail.... so the installers came back out today and fixed the thud which was caused by a loose screw on the noisy rail....
Then they started working on the deflection by wooden shimming under the legs... nothing was changing and I asked them if it could be the slate or the slate foundation because, well, it was readily obvious to me that the leg-shimming wasn't doing it. They said "no" and kept trying. Then they realized it was the slate bed and took off some rail, took of that 1/3 of the cloth, broke the slate seam and used shims to fill a substantial gap between the slate and the board below. Then they put it all back together. The balls roll straight there now.
I am a pretty good pool player by any definition of pretty good.... I have tested and re-tested my table levelness with shots and I can reproduce the same crooked results over-and-over. This is my first table at home and I don't want my game getting messed up. In pool halls I've never thought twice about table levelness as I have never noticed balls go off-line like they do on mine. I hate being a pain in the butt to the dealer but pool is a game of precision and I spent a large chunk of money and I expect my table to be excellent. So I ask you pros, "what is excellent?"
Thank you very much in advance for your experienced reply!
Tony
