SlickRick_PCS said:
Say for instance, you already have a carom table. But, you want to insert a heating system for that table of yours. My questions are: Where do you buy something like that? Where do you put them on a table? What are the pros/cons of manually puting a heating system by one's self? How the heck can those professionals actually create something like that?
Roger Ballenger, a California musician, used to have an article on his web site describing how he did this. The article is now gone, but you might try contacting him to see if he's willing to share any info. His web site is
http://www.ballengermusic.com/.
Cue and guitar maker Ron Kilby has an article on his site about converting Brunswick rails to use European rubber. While this is rather different from adding heat, if I wanted to add heat I'd contact him to find out whether he's seen it done and has any knowledgeable opinions on the considerations involved. His site is
http://www.caromcues.com/. Actually, if you're going to go to the effort to add heat, converting the rails is something you might want to do, also. And Ron makes great cues
The heated ceiling tile idea mentioned by somebody else sounds like it has good possibilities, though there might be eveness-of-heating issues from one tile to another. Enclosing the area under the slate would seem to be essential to any sort of efficiency, and perhaps a very small whisper fan would be useful for circulating air to try to make sure the temperature is even.
I don't know how the thermostats on commercial tables work, but I'd guess that what you want is a differential thermostat that will keep the slate four or five degrees warmer than the ambient air temperature. That should be enough to keep the cloth's moisture content fairly low.