Pool Ball Weights

[rexus31]

I was bored today so I weighed some of the ball sets I have for comparison purposes. About the sets at time of weight:

Aramith Tournament Set: Brand new, used a few times
Brunswick Centennial Set 1: Brand new, used a few times
Brunswick Centennial Set 2: Older, well used
Brunswick Centennial Set 3: Older, well used
Hyatt Bicentennial Set: Very Nice Condition, wouldn't be surprised if they were never played with
Dynashperes Bronze Set: Brand new
Dynashperes Platinume Set: Used condition, no blemishes
Dynaspheres Rhodium Set: Brand New
Original Cyclops Set: Used condition, no blemishes
Cyclops Athena Set: Used condition, no blemishes
Cyclops Hyperion Set: Used condition, no blemishes
Cosmos Diamond Ultra-C TV Set: Brand new, used a few times
Olhausen Signature Set: Brand new, used a few times
Predator Arcos I Prototype Set: Brand new, never played with
Predator Arcos II Set: Used condition, no blemishes
Vigma Zig-Zags Set: Brand new, used a few times
Vigma Diamonds Set: Brand new, used a few times

The Data:

 

[JazzyJeff87]

Awesome. Pretty tight standards and the older ones seem to have held up real well. Im’a weigh my balls now

On the Hyperion 6 & 7 ball you’ve got 186g each. Is that a typo?

 

[rexus31]

On the Hyperion 6 & 7 ball you’ve got 186g each. Is that a typo?

Yes. I'll fix it. Thanks.

 

[rexus31]

I added the weights of a couple vintage sets (non phenolic) I own as well for comparison.

 

[Patrick Johnson]

I added the weights of a couple vintage sets (non phenolic) I own as well for comparison.

Are there support groups for pool ball addiction? Oh wait... this is it, isn't it?

pj
chgo

 

[garczar]

Wow, heavy-ass balls on burlap slow cloth. Think those boys back in the day didn't have a stroke?? No wonder the cues were stiff, thick butt battering rams.

 

[kling&allen]

A crafty machinist somewhere should make some sort of half spherical jig to test roundness. I assume that's what the ball makers used in the old days.

 

[Lawnboy77]

Wow, heavy-ass balls on burlap slow cloth. Think those boys back in the day didn't have a stroke?? No wonder the cues were stiff, thick butt battering rams.

This was the back two tables in the old hall I grew up in. It was like an episode of Quantum Leap going back to those old tables with the vintage balls. It was basically free pool back there though because the rack boy didn't want to walk that far, so he would just let us play for free...good times!

 

[ShootingArts]

Wow, heavy-ass balls on burlap slow cloth. Think those boys back in the day didn't have a stroke?? No wonder the cues were stiff, thick butt battering rams.

This was the back two tables in the old hall I grew up in. It was like an episode of Quantum Leap going back to those old tables with the vintage balls. It was basically free pool back there though because the rack boy didn't want to walk that far, so he would just let us play for free...good times!

After spending most of my time on much faster tables other than an occasional trip to LSU to play on some great old tables, I found an old hall with five by tens, deep cloth, and clay balls! It was across the levee from the Mississippi River and had a huge fan in the wall sucking in that super wet air, no air conditioning. First trip there I embarrassed myself at first; Some of my shots didn't reach a pocket and it took a manly stroke to hit an eighteen foot plus bank! The cue sticks felt like baseball bats in my hands, the big end of the bat. The slate on those old tables was over two inches thick, the owner told me he regretted not having three inch slate when he noticed me dipping my finger and thumb calipers in a corner pocket. One good move, the owner kept balls and tables paired. My favorite table hand a seven so bad that I just blasted it into the closest pocket when I had to shoot it. The four was about half that bad. The rest of the set rolled pretty true. The table did have one very sweet pocket, come down table at the right speed and the pocket would suck in balls, probably the way the cloth was stretched but I never knew.

I would dearly love to have one of those old tens now. Heavy double cowhide pockets made a thump that was good for the soul when you fired a shot deep into the back of them. Been over forty years since my last trip to that hall. No idea what came of it. Long gone I am sure. The owner was getting old and a new owner wasn't likely to keep that time warp even then.

Hu

 

[kling&allen]

I weighed one of my old clay balls of unknown make and manufacture--189g. Anyone have an ivory cue ball to weigh?

 

[Bob Jewett]

A crafty machinist somewhere should make some sort of half spherical jig to test roundness. I assume that's what the ball makers used in the old days.

The sphericity gauge I've seen supported the ball on three ball bearings and had a dial indicator that came down on the top of the ball. You moved the ball by hand and the dial would indicate the local hills/valleys.

 

[muskyed]

Gota thank you for doing this. It's really an extensive sample, and puts to rest alot of speculation. Thanks again.

 

[jtompilot]

A crafty machinist somewhere should make some sort of half spherical jig to test roundness. I assume that's what the ball makers used in the old days.

Not a jig, but a few years ago I bought a plastic ball template that has a go/no go gage for ball size.

 

[jtompilot]

Two different cue balls from Manning Cues

 

[rexus31]

Gota thank you for doing this. It's really an extensive sample, and puts to rest alot of speculation. Thanks again.

I'm working on adding Dynashpere's Platinum and Bronze sets as well as Arcos II to the list. I'll update once they are added.

 

[garczar]

Needs to be a 'sticky'. Good info here.

 

[pt109]

A crafty machinist somewhere should make some sort of half spherical jig to test roundness. I assume that's what the ball makers used in the old days.

I bought a spherical micrometer at a trade show early 90s....it was never delivered.

 

[iusedtoberich]

I made this in Sept of last year as a proof of concept. I can't believe over a year passed. Next steps were to make it out of metal and use a finer resolution test indicator, but I lost interest in the project. Maybe next year... Here is the thread if you want to see the details:

Designing and building ball roundness tester

I'm working on a ball sphericity (roundness) tester for fun. Below are a couple of pictures, and a YouTube video link describing the process. I'll update as I go. My motivation is to see how different ball sets and brands compare both when new...

forums.azbilliards.com

 

[ShootingArts]

I made this in Sept of last year as a proof of concept. I can't believe over a year passed. Next steps were to make it out of metal and use a finer resolution test indicator, but I lost interest in the project. Maybe next year... Here is the thread if you want to see the details:

Designing and building ball roundness tester

I'm working on a ball sphericity (roundness) tester for fun. Below are a couple of pictures, and a YouTube video link describing the process. I'll update as I go. My motivation is to see how different ball sets and brands compare both when new...

forums.azbilliards.com

View attachment 616655

I like it! Fairly simple and neat and it does the job. Used to be able to get longer arms for dial indicators too which of course increase accuracy of the gauge as well as increasing reach which you don't need.

Running the test shop as part of my job in R&D I used to have to design test equipment, which could be more involved than the main piece. My first step was to design something that worked, no considerations of elegance. Then I started simplifying and ended up with things similar to this, all the extras stripped away and a clean functional unit, with a little luck!

Had an instrument crap out in the middle of testing with the bigwigs on hand to watch. Fortunately I had an old mathematician on hand too. He spent about twenty minutes to come up with a full page formula to calculate what we needed from other instrument readings. When we were getting ready to pack up I asked him if that page could be boiled down to a constant that would be close enough with similar temperature and humidity, a few other considerations. I was at least as impressed that he could break down that page long formula into a constant as I was in him creating the formula to begin with.

Hu

 

[dr_dave]

I was bored today so I weighed some of the ball sets I have for comparison purposes. About the sets:

Aramith Tournament Set: Brand new, used a few times
Brunswick Centennial Set 1: Brand new, used a few times
Brunswick Centennial Set 2: Older, well used
Brunswick Centennial Set 3: Older, well used
Hyatt Bicentennial Set: Very Nice Condition, wouldn't be surprised if they were never played with
Original Cyclops Set: Used condition, no blemishes
Cyclops Athena Set: Used condition, no blemishes
Cyclops Hyperion Set: Used condition, no blemishes
Cosmos Diamond Ultra-C TV Set: Brand new, used a few times
Olhausen Signature Set: Brand new, used a few times
Predator Arcos I Prototype Set: Brand new, never played with
Vigma Zig-Zags Set: Brand new, used a few times
Vigma Diamonds Set: Brand new, used a few times

The Data:

FYI, many years ago, I took a bunch of weight measurements at a local pool hall. Here's a summary of the results from “Ball Weight and Size Difference Effects – Part I” (BD, February, 2012):

To see how much ball weight can vary in typical conditions, I took an accurate digital scale to my local pool hall (“Match Ups” in Fort Collins, Colorado). I weighed the CB and randomly selected OBs (and the 1- ball specifically) in each of eight Valley bar boxes with the assistance and permission of the owners. (Thanks Mike and Nicole!) The CB weights were fairly consistent with an average of 5.89 oz (167 g), a minimum of 5.78 oz (164 g), and a maximum of 5.93 oz (168 g). The OB weights were lighter (2-3 percent on average) and less consistent with an average of 5.75 oz (163 g), a minimum of 5.47 oz (155 g) and a maximum of 5.89 oz (167 g). The lightest OB was a 1-ball, which makes sense based on the extra abuse it takes (but this could also just be coincidence). If the heaviest CB were paired up with the lightest OB, the percentage difference would be about 8%.

FYI, I also have more info and related video demonstrations here:

ball weight and size difference effects​