Delivered by the expert hands of our very own Steve (Tablemechanic), weighing in at a healthy 1100 pounds and 114 inches long, AMy is now safely ensconced in my garage. As the (awful) photos show I am in the middle of laying down some cheap vinyl floor tiles to try and improve on the bare concrete, which is not kind to the feet if you play for too long.
Suspended above AMy is the monstrosity I call The Frankenlight (TM). This is made from two 4'x 2' fluorescent light fittings, each fitted with 4 T12 40W bulbs. The fittings are internally identical, but one is designed to be flush ceiling mounted whereas the other is designed for a drop ceiling installation, but that was just what I had to hand at the time. Unfortunately as I assembled the whole thing on the floor I did not realize the 2x4 I had screwed them to was warped until I got it up above the table, which is why the fitting closest to the front is all twisted. When I have more time I'll have to take it down and build a external cabinet but it getting the job done in the meantime.
AMy herself is a 9' commercial-style AMF table. I got it from Gary's Billiards in Victorville, but Steve tells me it originally came from a large room that closed years ago in Vegas. (Forgot the name) It is pretty much identical to a Brunswick GC III, but has metal brackets on each corner. Pretty much everything I can see on her is solid wood, including all the frame parts and the skirts.
If no-one has had the pleasure of seeing Steve at work I can say without reservation that he is a true craftsman. He had already performed his magic on the rails of this table (Extending them out to make a perfect tight-but-fair 4 3/8" pockets without the use of shims) before I purchased it. He still had to assemble and level the slates, put on the new bed cloth and cover and mount the rails and spent over 6 hours in total working on it. It is setup as well as any table I have ever played on.
The only issue I've had is getting used to the Championship Tour Edition K66 rubber on the rails. It has a distinctly different feel to the Accufast on Brunswick GC's. After a few weeks of play I'm getting the feel for it, but if I can budget it next year I may have Steve upgrade her to Artemis rubber so the feel is closer to other commercial tables like the GC and the Diamond.
Suspended above AMy is the monstrosity I call The Frankenlight (TM). This is made from two 4'x 2' fluorescent light fittings, each fitted with 4 T12 40W bulbs. The fittings are internally identical, but one is designed to be flush ceiling mounted whereas the other is designed for a drop ceiling installation, but that was just what I had to hand at the time. Unfortunately as I assembled the whole thing on the floor I did not realize the 2x4 I had screwed them to was warped until I got it up above the table, which is why the fitting closest to the front is all twisted. When I have more time I'll have to take it down and build a external cabinet but it getting the job done in the meantime.
AMy herself is a 9' commercial-style AMF table. I got it from Gary's Billiards in Victorville, but Steve tells me it originally came from a large room that closed years ago in Vegas. (Forgot the name) It is pretty much identical to a Brunswick GC III, but has metal brackets on each corner. Pretty much everything I can see on her is solid wood, including all the frame parts and the skirts.
If no-one has had the pleasure of seeing Steve at work I can say without reservation that he is a true craftsman. He had already performed his magic on the rails of this table (Extending them out to make a perfect tight-but-fair 4 3/8" pockets without the use of shims) before I purchased it. He still had to assemble and level the slates, put on the new bed cloth and cover and mount the rails and spent over 6 hours in total working on it. It is setup as well as any table I have ever played on.
The only issue I've had is getting used to the Championship Tour Edition K66 rubber on the rails. It has a distinctly different feel to the Accufast on Brunswick GC's. After a few weeks of play I'm getting the feel for it, but if I can budget it next year I may have Steve upgrade her to Artemis rubber so the feel is closer to other commercial tables like the GC and the Diamond.
..........I'm just jealous.....I did play on one of those tables here in Florida, and the rails were twice the speed of the fastest table on earth?.....maybe they bought some cheap knock off replacement rails?......Have fun..the pockets are perfect, any smaller and you'd become tenative.....if I travel to Cali,.........will you give me 9-5