Pocket Reducers - Homemade Modification

dreamhouse

New member
I recently purchased a 9’ slate tournament-style table from Facebook Marketplace to practice in my garage. The table plays great but the only issue is the pockets are quite wide (5”).

I purchased the Practice Pro pocket reducers from Amazon for a quick solution for tighter pockets. These worked well for shotmaking practice but they made the pockets too tight for standard play (around 3.4”).

Rather than go through the expense of refelting and shimming the pockets, I modified the Practice Pro reducers for pockets suitable for 9 ball.

I used a razor blade to cut through the rubber pocket reducers and trimmed about a quarter inch off the point of each reducer. I then leveled the cut as much as possible with sand paper.

The modification brings my pockets to about 4.1”, perfect for what I was looking for. I wanted to share this with the community as I know the Practice Pro reducers are popular, but might be too tight for some folks looking to use them full time on their table.

Images show my pockets with and without the modified reducers. If I had to do it again, I’d use a machine to cut the reducers cleanly. I did it by hand with a razor so it’s not pretty, but it does the job (took about 40 minutes total).

Happy practicing! 🎱
 

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Nice job. I used to like using these, but mine are stock and just too tight for me anymore. Need to do something similar. I'd really love it if I could figure out what to do with the spring jabbing me in the gut every time I reach over a pocket for a shot, though. I wish they made them with the springs bent flat. Worried I might break them trying to do that.
 
Nice job. I used to like using these, but mine are stock and just too tight for me anymore. Need to do something similar. I'd really love it if I could figure out what to do with the spring jabbing me in the gut every time I reach over a pocket for a shot, though. I wish they made them with the springs bent flat. Worried I might break them trying to do that.
Same here, the springs definitely get in the way for certain shots, and they’re quite taut so I don’t think they’d take well to bending.
 
The 3D printing thing is a good idea. We have a youngin' on our pool league team that may be able to do it. I wonder if he could also slant the inset the springs go into so they'd at least lay down a bit more.
 
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