Racking Speed & Convenience - Magic Rack

Filibogado

Filibogado

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I'm only talking casual practice in the privacy of my basement home table. I'm kind of a laid-back player who plays for enjoyment & relaxation more than anything else, and mostly by myself. My Brunswick table has an automatic ball return which makes racking very convenient. To make it even easier from a time & motion standpoint, I'm wondering if using the much ballyhooed magic rack would enable me to rack faster. The idea is to just leave the rack on the table all the time, to save me the effort of having to walk to the wall-mounted rack holder to retrieve my wooden rack, then having to walk back to return it prior to breaking. I'm not concerned about rack tightness or cloth damage or ball traction or inadvertent ball dropping. The comparison is strictly speed in dumping balls inside a wooden rack which you then have to shake, rattle, roll, slide, retrieve, and return, vs. daintily putting each ball on its proper indentation on the non-moving plastic template which stays on the table 24/7. Which method is faster?

Flip
 
You got to take the magic rack off the table too. If you want to leave a rack on the table, you'd need to get the slug doctor.

p.s. - How effin' lazy are you????:D
 
Do you store the rack downstairs between games or something? How hard is it, when you are walking around the table anyways, to just grab the rack and rack the balls?

But to answer your question, the standard rack is fastest. With the magic rack or slug doctor I feel it takes a bit more time to place the balls in position than just racking them.
 
Second vote for the Slug Doctor. It's cheaper, at least as easy, and worked better for me than the Magic Rack I bought. In defense of the Magic Rack, I read a few places that the new and improved generation I bought had a little more slop in the ball cuts, and was thicker...
If you have any problems at all getting a tight rack on your table, and you reposition a standard rack to try to get the balls frozen, the Slug Doctor will be as fast or faster.
 
You can remove the mr and throw it on a rail. Of course, you can always lay your wood rack on the ground under the foot of the table! That way you don't have that long walk to the wall rack and back! ;)
 
Well, since you said at the beginning of the OP that you are talking casual practice, then unless you are practicing your break why waste ANY time racking the balls at all? Just throw them out on the table. :D
 
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Filibogado said:
I'm only talking casual practice in the privacy of my basement home table. I'm kind of a laid-back player who plays for enjoyment & relaxation more than anything else, and mostly by myself. My Brunswick table has an automatic ball return which makes racking very convenient. To make it even easier from a time & motion standpoint, I'm wondering if using the much ballyhooed magic rack would enable me to rack faster. The idea is to just leave the rack on the table all the time, to save me the effort of having to walk to the wall-mounted rack holder to retrieve my wooden rack, then having to walk back to return it prior to breaking. I'm not concerned about rack tightness or cloth damage or ball traction or inadvertent ball dropping. The comparison is strictly speed in dumping balls inside a wooden rack which you then have to shake, rattle, roll, slide, retrieve, and return, vs. daintily putting each ball on its proper indentation on the non-moving plastic template which stays on the table 24/7. Which method is faster?

Flip
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Are you serious? Do you live in San Antonio?
The MR mightseem slower but speeds events up. That I love about it!
 
New stuff to me

I never saw either of the two new types of racks (down in the pooless cave where I live) but I always liked the feel of getting the right balls in the rack, then tightening them up with your fingers after you slide the rack into place, making certain the front ball is directly on the spot with all balls frozen. Then the feeling of lifting the rack straight up, maybe even a little higher than necessary, for emphasis. I found it soothing, maybe even a little bit cathartic. But, that's aside from the feeling that maybe I'm racking because I lost the last game, probably from some dumb error or dogged payball. Come to think about it, I hate racking.
Keep it nice. Alfie
 
The MR takes me 10-15 seconds for 9 or 10 ball.

A "regular rack" takes me anywhere from 5 to 30+ seconds, depending on the table and conditions.

I have yet to find a single table where I and my opponent can use a regular rack for a few hours of play and not get a # of crappy racks.
 
Are you kidding?

I watched the finals of the Bartable Championships in Reno on the net, and they were using the MR, and it was slow racking compared to normal racking. It almost became agonizing at certain points. It seemed to be more trouble than it is worth to me.
 
Snapshot9 said:
I watched the finals of the Bartable Championships in Reno on the net, and they were using the MR, and it was slow racking compared to normal racking. It almost became agonizing at certain points. It seemed to be more trouble than it is worth to me.
Click to expand...

As an FYI, it takes a little practice getting used to the MR. For me, I rack significantly quicker with a magic rack than a regular one. There's almost always gaps when using a regular rack that consumes extra time.

I throw the head ball in, grab two balls simultaneously and roll them in. Grab 3 balls for third row and roll em in together, etc. I mean - they just roll right in with a little dexterity and practice. People that place them in one at a time are missing the boat and wasting time.

That said, I do see your point. In a tourney where many people have never used a MR, it will take them longer.
 
Never heard of slug doctor, so just I looked into it....their website says they use regular labels you can buy at the office supply store.

So....do I really need to buy the slug doctor "template"? :confused:

Cant I just grab a ruler or something and carefully place the labels on table? Cant be that hard, and if I mess up, I just re-do it right ???

Not trying to be overly cheap, ....Just saying......?
 
michael4 said:
Never heard of slug doctor, so just I looked into it....their website says they use regular labels you can buy at the office supply store.

So....do I really need to buy the slug doctor "template"? :confused:

Cant I just grab a ruler or something and carefully place the labels on table? Cant be that hard, and if I mess up, I just re-do it right ???

Not trying to be overly cheap, ....Just saying......?
Click to expand...

You could make a Magic Rack yourself too with a ruler, piece of plastic and an exacto knife.

So yes, theoretically you could do it yourself but it would be a pain in the arse.

You would not only need to get every single label just right relative to each other but the whole rack oriented correctly relative to the table. For what the SD costs I can't see it being worth the effort. It really applies the perforations with precision and it comes out perfect using the template and applicator. It also comes in handy if you want to use it at the pool room. In a couple of minutes you can install it at your local room on whatever table you happen to be using that session and take them off when you're done.
 
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