Racked balls not tight after cleaning

In my case balls were fairly new and in great condition, and the not freezing together only came after my first try with the polisher and I feel that it was the massive static I experienced after cleaning. In fact there was so much static when putting the balls on the table after cleaning that the hair on my hands and wrists tingled. After using them for an hr or two the static went away, but they were still quite clean, so I really think there was so much static that they pushed each other apart somewhat. After grounding my polisher, and slowing down the speed somewhat, the static went away and the balls racked fine right from the start. Like what was said before, maybe you just have cheap out of balance balls. Or the table cloth, or possibly a bad rack. Now that my ball cleaner is working, I see no difference in freshly cleaned vs dirty balls as to racking.
 
I have found the use of a template instead of a rack gives a very tight rack very consistently regardless of thes other factors
 
I have found the use of a template instead of a rack gives a very tight rack very consistently regardless of thes other factors
Not true. If the balls are not the same size, you will not get a tight rack regardless of the rack itself.
 
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Not true. If the balls are not the same size, you will not get a tight rack regardless of the rack itself.
Having actually tried this on an old set with some wear and slight size difference I found this to be the case. I was using a template by Accu Rack that moves the balls together. If you have not tried that particular product you may be pleasantly surprised. so...

Not WRONG
and Not NOT TRUE

Your mileage may vary :-)
 
Having actually tried this on an old set with some wear and slight size difference I found this to be the case. I was using a template by Accu Rack that moves the balls together. If you have not tried that particular product you may be pleasantly surprised. so...

Not WRONG
and Not NOT TRUE

Your mileage may vary :)
If all the balls are not all the same size it is physically impossible to get them all to touch in a diamond or triangle.
 
If all the balls are not all the same size it is physically impossible to get them all to touch in a diamond or triangle.
Well, technically, .... If you are playing nine ball, the requirement to get a tight rack is that six of the balls excluding the one ball and nine ball have to have the same average diameter as the nine ball. There are seven such averages available which can be chosen by which ball is placed in the back of the rack.

The balls don't have to be the same size or even average to the same size exactly. They just have to be close enough to make the gaps quite a bit smaller than the amount of compression the contact patches see.
 
Well, technically, .... If you are playing nine ball, the requirement to get a tight rack is that six of the balls excluding the one ball and nine ball have to have the same average diameter as the nine ball. There are seven such averages available which can be chosen by which ball is placed in the back of the rack.

The balls don't have to be the same size or even average to the same size exactly. They just have to be close enough to make the gaps quite a bit smaller than the amount of compression the contact patches see.
What about 8B or 10B?
 
What about 8B or 10B?
Well, you can put the worst balls on the corners. At 10B you just have to form a ring of 6 around the 10 using any two (bad ones) for the lower corners. Of course it's easier to have matched balls. Pat Fleming would rotate balls so the eyes were/were not touching since the eyes tend to have a different diameter.
 
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