Rail turned hard

stutz

stutz

did you call that?
Silver Member
I noticed that one of my rails died on me recently. Long rail, side pocket to the second diamond.

Does room temperature have any effect on rails? I bought this table almost a year ago used. The previous owner had it in his temp. controlled basement for 12 or so years. It didn't get much play from what he told me.

My basement is unfinished. Isn't as warm as rest of house in the winter, stays well above freezing though. Don't know if that has any effect or not.
 
That's normal for rails even if they are not used much. It's pretty much impossible form them to stay playing well for many years. I'm guessing even though the rest of your rails are not hard they play slow and banks come off at funny angles.
 
That is not true! I've seen 100 year old tables with original rails that played great. What makes rails hard is either no play or sitting in the sun.

Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com

hang-the-9 said:
That's normal for rails even if they are not used much. It's pretty much impossible form them to stay playing well for many years. I'm guessing even though the rest of your rails are not hard they play slow and banks come off at funny angles.
Click to expand...
 
I play almost everyday but again, the previous owner said it was used very little for the decade plus he owned it.

All the other rails bank just fine :D
 
What kind of table do you have? One of our local pool halls had 12 GC III and 12 Medalist tables, almost all of them needed to have the rubber replaced after a couple of years when they developed hard spots. After that they were fine for the next 15 or so years. Sometimes even a reputable company like Brunswick will have quality control problems with a product, like rubber cushion material, that they buy rather than manufacture.
 
The rubber on my Brunswick "furniture style" table turned hard as a rock over about a 15 year period. I bought it new, played on it often, and it was inside my house the whole time. It was like trying to bank a ball off of a 2X4. Got rid of that table, and now have a nice Gold Crown. :grin:
 
By far not an expert on this, however ... is it possible for rails to "come back" after not much usage by getting a lot of usage? I remember an installer tell me the worst thing for rails was inactivity. I had a table that was not used much for the better part of a decade and when receiving daily usage seemed to improve. Thoughts?
 
Post

Cushion will only go hard if you play bad...



Man.... can not believe the stuff guys say on here and ppl will believe it....

Pool table cushion go bad mostly due to the ingredients/fillers used in making the cushion.... Why only one or two cushions goes bad in set you ask....? It's because that one or two cushion stayed in the process to long, or the ingredients was bad.
You guys would have to understand the process of the cushion was manufactured to understand...

I've left trimmed off pieces of the cushions I use outside for years in direct sunlight and thru the seasons of the Midwest and I've not had any go hard.. I've noticed some have turned black but it's still rubbery..... I'm going to continue to leave pieces pool table cushions outdoors to see what happens'

Direct furnace heat might dry cushions out but I have not experienced it personally...I know the Europeans change the cushions and rails on the heated tables every so often even tho they use Artemis or Northern cushions..




Rob.M
 
I have seen cushions do this when one rail would catch the evening sun thru a window or where a vent was blowing down on the very end of a table... Other than that it's just a matter of the aging process and the quality of the rubber/formula that was used... I have seen gum rubber rails on old brunswicks with life after 100 years and I have seen home tables with rails that go bad in just a few years....

We have AE Schmidts at one of the rooms I play in that are 17 years old... All were purchased at the same time... Most still have the original rubber... All of the ones on one side of the room catch the evening sun during certain parts of the year and those have all had to have some of their rails replaced.....

Chris
 
The table is an American Heritage. I would assume the felt and rubber are not the best of materials out there. No direct sunlight, vent air or anything apply here. I just assume it "died" from age. I do plan on replacing the rails and put Simonis on it when I get the funds.

I just want to make sure the lack of constant room temperature isn't to blame.

Thanks for all the input
 
It's been a few years since I have installed new American Heritage tables but when I was some of the cushions were already hard when I removed them from the box.
 
I also have an American Heritage table. I bought it new at a very good price from a place going out of business. The day it was installed it had a bad rail. The rubber was bad right out of the gate. AH did replace the entire rail rather than replace the rubber.

One other problem that I am told with the AH tables is how the slate is bedded. Mine has separated twice even though they have been bonded.

It's better than having no table but the day I find a good used 8' Diamond it will be donated to a rec hall somewhere.
 
I found a guy in my area that said he'd do the rails. $150 and it will be down for a week. Says he prefers to keep them that long so the glue has time to set up/cure.

Not sure if that price includes rubber or if I have to supply that. Sounds alittle high to me but I don't want to mess up the rails doing it myself so I have not much choice
 
stutz said:
I found a guy in my area that said he'd do the rails. $150 and it will be down for a week. Says he prefers to keep them that long so the glue has time to set up/cure.

Not sure if that price includes rubber or if I have to supply that. Sounds alittle high to me but I don't want to mess up the rails doing it myself so I have not much choice
Click to expand...

$150 is likely the cloth and labor cost.

I was quoted $300 for replacing all rails and new cloth on them for my 8' table.
 
My intentions are to buy Simonis for an 8 footer that comes with material for the rails. I guess it's not that bad then.
 
stutz said:
I found a guy in my area that said he'd do the rails. $150 and it will be down for a week. Says he prefers to keep them that long so the glue has time to set up/cure.

Not sure if that price includes rubber or if I have to supply that. Sounds alittle high to me but I don't want to mess up the rails doing it myself so I have not much choice
Click to expand...

Find someone else, that's a line of BS. Don't take no week for glue to set up installing cushions buddy, it takes about 10 minutes if you know what you're doing, and you're using the correct glue.

Glen
 
stutz said:
My intentions are to buy Simonis for an 8 footer that comes with material for the rails. I guess it's not that bad then.
Click to expand...

Simonis is going to run you $200+ cushions are at minimum $50 then there's the labor, at least $150 at a hacks price, that totals $400 minimum.
 
hang-the-9 said:
$150 is likely the cloth and labor cost.

I was quoted $300 for replacing all rails and new cloth on them for my 8' table.
Click to expand...

Did that quote include changing the bed cloth at the same time the rail cloth was being replaced?

What cloth was being installed on the rails in that quote as well?
 
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