Question about Cue Balls

desert1pocket said:
I have weighed numerous brand new red circle and blue circle cueballs, and while there were slight variances, the average weights were the same. Unless a ball is very very worn, any weight difference is hard to notice during play. A difference in materials however is very very noticeable.

Because the red circle is more elastic, it is easier to draw, and harder to follow than the blue, giving it the illusion of being lighter. Even a well worn and significantly lighter blue circle will give the illusion of being heavier than a brand new red circle.

If you want to test the elasticity of your cueballs, drop them multiple times from a set height onto a very smooth concrete floor, and see how high the average bounce is for each one. You should see that the red circle will bounce significantly higher than the blue regardless of their weights.

Like I said before there is about 1 to 2 grams difference in weight. While this is not a great deal it will effect the way the ball reacts and how far it will roll.
 
ajohnson13 said:
Another question that I have wondered about: What is the difference between a red circle aramith cue ball that comes with the aramith super pro's and the blue circle cue ball that comes with the brunswick centennials? Anyone have any info?

The red circle is made from a phenolic resin designed for carom billiards, blue circle is a pool specific resin.

You can get more action on the cueball with the red circle and it's also a touch lighter. They're both top shelf balls and adjusting to either one can be done in about five minutes of warm-up.

Fats
 
I like the Aramith and the Brunswick Centennial's. If I was to buy a set for my home I'd have to go with the Brunswick. They play well *AND* they look nice.
MULLY
 
IMHO, Centennial Cue Ball is tops in feel (blue dot I think). It's a more solid feeling hit, and takes a bit more muscle to move around, but you can also finnesse it more. The SS one, I think it has a little loop joining them in the middle? I don't know the maker of it, but have played with one. Bit lighter in feel, and seems smaller when paired with Centennials or other high-end sets. The "measles" ball, is fairly close to the Centennial cue ball in feel and matching of high-end sets, I played with one only a couple of games (against Ewa on a 8ft table) but it seemed to move the same way. Red Dot hits nice (don't know the maker off-hand) but seems to have less mass when hit.

There is also a red triangle, which to me was pretty similar to the SS ball, maybe a hair easier to push around. That one felt "cheap", I guess. Hard to explain something you feel with the nerves of your hands and arms when you contact the ball, but cheap would be close. The Centennial felt "solid" in comparrison.
 
I agree with manwon. I've never weighed out cue balls, But I know from feel alone that the Pro cup cue ball is lighter;slicker and accepts more english than a cheaper white cue ball.
 
Because the red circle is more elastic, it is easier to draw, and harder to follow

Why doesn't the cue ball's greater elasticity affect both balls equally during impact? Why doesn't it push the object ball forward as much as the cue ball backward?

pj
chgo
 
Calling Dr. Dave, Dr. Dave, Dr. Dave...

Isn't it about time to put all these guesses and feelings about the practical differences between cue balls to rest with some actual tests?

I for one don't think there's really much practical difference between the major makes and models. Given similar weights, I doubt that they really follow or draw or spin or roll much differently.

Dave, you've got the robot and the know-how to make some real comparisons - are you willing? (Maybe you've already done it...?)

pj
chgo
 
I know from feel alone that the Pro cup cue ball is lighter;slicker and accepts more english than a cheaper white cue ball.

What does "accepts more english" mean? What do you see in the way the cue ball acts that tells you there's "more english"?

pj
chgo
 
3andstop said:
Manwon, I have a set of Super Aramith Pro balls and a set of Super Aramith Pro TV balls. Do I understand correctly, that the measles ball in the TV set weighs more than the standard CB packaged with the standard SAP balls?

I have a digital gram scale for measuring A/C refrigerant weight. I'm gonna have to break it out and start measuring.

Is there any definitive chart that shows exact grams, hardness and specific overall characteristics of the popular CBs that anyone knows of ?




I knew there was something about that measles ball.
steven
 
CocoboloCowboy said:
Was talking to my best friend today who must carry about 3, or 4 cue Bals in his Case. He has a Measel Ball, One with a "SS" Sign on it, another with a Red Dot, and one that is just all White. He say they are all different, and all play different. True, or False?

Educate me please.
I was going to point to a link to my last post on different bar table cueballs, but I can see someone already did :)

Additionally, here's more information that pretty much goes along with the other posters thoughts as well.


-------------------------------------------
The dots and circles signify what set they came from, and what they are
specifically.

The Blue Circle is normally from the Brunswick Centennial set from
Belgium.(Saluc)
The Blue Dot is from the previously U.S. made Brunswick Centennials.

The Red Dot that I have is the Dynamo Red Dot, one of the heaviest
normal sized bar table cue balls out there. I've seen other Red Dots that are about normal weight.

The new Green Aramith Logo foil shell ball is used on newer
Valley/Dynamo bar tables with the higher gauss magnetic return system.
There is a shell of foil between the core phenolic and the outer shell
of phenolic.

The Red Aramith Logo is from the Aramith Super Pro set. It's supposedly
identical in all specifications to the Blue Circle. Aramith is Saluc's
brand name.

The translucent Red Circle cue ball is the Aramith Pro Circle Cueball.
People report it bounces more lively or it draws better. Saluc/Aramith
says it's made of carom resin, not pool ball resin, fwiw. There is a
copy Red Circle out there that isn't made of carom resin. It's probably
not made by Saluc, either.

Etc.

Fred
 
Patrick Johnson said:
Why doesn't the cue ball's greater elasticity affect both balls equally during impact? Why doesn't it push the object ball forward as much as the cue ball backward?

pj
chgo

Who said it doesn't?
 
wolfgang said:
I have checked the weight on 4 different balls

The cheaper white with no markings 6.0oz

Aramith with the green Aramith mark 5.9oz

Measel Ball 5.9oz

Red circle was the lightest at 5.7 or 5.8oz
i believe this to be correct, also would like to add the aramith cue (has a red logo) ball that comes in the pro set (the set without the training ball) is the same weight as a measle ball.

does anyone know anything about the black circle ball?
 
Very interesting topic. My dirty pool hall has all sorts of crappy ball sets. One of my team-mates carries in a premium rack for us to shoot with on league night. The cue balls are all different in the house sets. Blue, Red, Some Panther type, old bar box oversize/overweight balls. Blah!!

I keep a measels ball in my case, from my home super-pro set. I like my ball the most. :)
 
Why doesn't the cue ball's greater elasticity affect both balls equally during impact? Why doesn't it push the object ball forward as much as the cue ball backward?

Who said it doesn't?

I thought you did when you said:

Because the red circle is more elastic, it is easier to draw, and harder to follow than the blue, giving it the illusion of being lighter.

Isn't the implication that more elasticity makes the cue ball rebound more off the object ball, making it easier to draw and harder to follow?

pj
chgo
 
Patrick Johnson said:
I thought you did when you said:



Isn't the implication that more elasticity makes the cue ball rebound more off the object ball, making it easier to draw and harder to follow?

pj
chgo

You asked-

"Why doesn't the cue ball's greater elasticity affect both balls equally during impact? Why doesn't it push the object ball forward as much as the cue ball backward?"

The point of my answer was to convey that I never said that such an effect did or didn't exist. In fact, I never even broached the subject of the effect of the extra elasticity on the object ball, you did.

As far as what the effect on the object ball is, I don't know for sure, but I would guess that it does indeed get pushed forward a little extra.
 
desert1pocket said:
I never even broached the subject of the effect of the extra elasticity on the object ball, you did.

Yeah, I know. I raised it because I thought your assumption was that all the effect was confined to the cue ball. But now that I've thought more about it I think you're probably right either way - even with the effect divided between the cue ball and object ball there would be more "bounce" in both directions, which would make the object ball go faster/farther and make the cueball rebound more (making draw easier and follow harder, as you said).

pj
chgo
 
Ant812 said:
... also would like to add the aramith cue (has a red logo) ball that comes in the pro set (the set without the training ball) is the same weight as a measle ball.

My experience is different from that above... my Super Aramith Pro Cup Measles cue ball is quite a bit lighter than my Super Aramith Pro Red Logo cue ball.

Both balls are brand new. RealKingCobra handed me the brand new set of Super Aramith Pro balls last night when he initially set up my new table. I bought the Measles ball ~10 days ago and it had seen no play. I weighed them both on a digital postal scale.

Super Aramith Pro Cup Measles ball.... 162 g. or 5.714 oz.

Super Aramith Pro Red Logo ball... 168 g. or 5.926 oz.

And fwiw, he and I also did an elasticity experiment. We dropped both cue balls from chest height onto my smooth garage concrete floor and the Super Aramith Pro Red Logo cue ball rebounded at least 6" higher than the Measles cue ball. We did the experiment twice with the same results. The mass difference of only 3.7% does not explain the significant difference in rebound height.

Conclusion: The elasticity of the phenolic resin used in the Red Logo ball must be significantly greater than that used in the Measles cue ball.

And I should mention that I also weighed every other ball in the Super Aramith Pro set and found that every ball weighed 169 grams, plus or minus 1 gram. :)
 
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