Polishing/Cleaning pool balls

Takumi4G63

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I tried to search for any info on this but I am getting an error every time I search. Also, I did not see that this fit into any other forum than this one.

I am just wondering what is the best way to clean and polish pool balls. Can you just use standard kinds of polish or is there something special for this? Thanks.
 
Well, if you have a ball cleaner like a Bludworth, Porper, Diamond or the BallStar kind Its best if you use something like Windex.

If your doing it by hand, I use baby wipes. I usta use Turtle car wax, but then noticed I was getting alot of skid, when i would use alot of english when trying to draw the CB or comming off the rail.

Or you could use baby wipes to clean the ball set, and then use a bit of car polish on the set. When I did use wax, I would use two cloth towels, one to put the wax on, and then another to polish the ball set.

I know some guys will bring thier set to a pool hall that they may frequent and know the owner or manager and just pay a couple bucks to have the set cleaned in thier machine.
 
Is Having Clean Balls Good....

If a home table is being used as a sole source of playing, it makes sense to keep your equipment as clean as you want it to be.

However, if the home table is mainly a practice area to prepare for competition at the local pool room, I would think it would be best to duplicate the pool room conditions on your table at home.

FYI - that spray stuff that is used on cloth at tournaments, Chalk Off and another brand, is excellent for cleaning balls. Its a little spendy but it will definitely do the trick.

Have a swell day.
 
Ball Cleaner

Someone in the Room Owner forum posted how to make your own ball cleaner using an orbital car waxer and a 5 gallon bucket. I tried this method using a polisher I got a Lowe's for $30.

I'll post some pics tonight. I almost have it completely done, but it cleans 8-10 balls at a time. I do two runs of 8 balls, and use the citrus based cleaner that came with my Aramith set. I run the balls for 10 minutes.

The polished I took completely apart, removing the motor, pad, switch, and bridge rectifier. I rewired the switch to a standard light switch, and mounted the motor on a piece of circurlar plywood cut to fit inside and old 5 gallon bucket I had.

Like I said, I'll post some pics. It was really easy, overall about 3 hours worth of work, including the trip to Lowes. Total cost, about $40-50.

Brian
www.nittanyleather.com
 
Rangercap said:
Someone in the Room Owner forum posted how to make your own ball cleaner using an orbital car waxer and a 5 gallon bucket. I tried this method using a polisher I got a Lowe's for $30.

I'll post some pics tonight. I almost have it completely done, but it cleans 8-10 balls at a time. I do two runs of 8 balls, and use the citrus based cleaner that came with my Aramith set. I run the balls for 10 minutes.

The polished I took completely apart, removing the motor, pad, switch, and bridge rectifier. I rewired the switch to a standard light switch, and mounted the motor on a piece of circurlar plywood cut to fit inside and old 5 gallon bucket I had.

Like I said, I'll post some pics. It was really easy, overall about 3 hours worth of work, including the trip to Lowes. Total cost, about $40-50.

Brian
www.nittanyleather.com


Something like that was used at VF, I think.
 
SirBanksALot said:
FYI - that spray stuff that is used on cloth at tournaments, Chalk Off and another brand, is excellent for cleaning balls. Its a little spendy but it will definitely do the trick.
Chalk Off is marketed by the guy who ripped off the Quick Clean guy and it isn't the same product. Make sure you buy Quick Clean if you decide to go this way.
 
Ball Polisher

I have fianlly gotten around to posting pics of my $30 ball polisher.

I went to Lowes, and purchased a Car Polisher and a few electrical parts; basically a switch box and a switch, and a plate.

I started by taking apart the polisher, and removing the guts. You can reuse most of the polisher, but I discarded the housing. Inside the polisher is a switch (which I trashed), motor, and a bridge rectifier. You need the BR since you need to change AC current to DC current. This item was held on with clips, but I hard wired it, since I had to clip some wires to get some extra length. I cut some extra wire length, and this allows me to remove the motor, and repalce the felt pad if I need to wash it.

Then, I measured the circumference of the bucket, and cut a wood circle with a jig saw to fit the inside of the bucket. Then I had to cut a 4 inch circle, to allow me to remount the motor. I also had to cut two pieces of wood to use as spacers to mount the wooden circle.

I still have to line the inside of the bucket with something better, but right now I am using a piece of foam wrapped in an old piece of flannel.

The cleaner will hold 10 balls, but I do two sets of 8, and run them for about 10-15 minutes per cycle.

Overall, I am pretty satisfied. Hell, for $30 I am REALLY satisfied.

Probably, when I have time, I'll modify this again, and allow it to polish a full set in one shot, basically like a Porper or something like that.

Brian
www.nittanyleather.com

Pictures here
 

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You don't want to use windex to clean the pool balls because over time they will get a haze on them...
 
I found a can of Stoners Xenit Citrus Cleaner in the cabinet tonight and tried it on the balls.

It removed all those little hard to remove collision spots without any rubbing and the balls look better than they ever have with very little effort.

I held a microfibre towel/washcloth over my hand, placed a ball in the towel, sprayed it with Xenit, wiped it off and got a wonderful shine.

The stuff is safe on most everything including clothing. I've been using it for 3 or 4 years in the hot rod to remove scuff marks from the door sills etc so I know it's not nasty stuff.

Available at www.stonersolutions.com Xenit
 
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