Restoring a vintage Valley coin table

Some bonus photos. :smile:

Staple in the rails. Could be what's scratching up my Aramith sets. Maybe, maybe not.

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The ball trap area. (with the trap taken out)

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If anyone is wondering, here is the slate in the table with the rails off.

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Hopefully these will help anyone else with the same table. I am no expert. Infact, I am just using all these tools for the first time since my grandfather passed away. So I lot of this stuff I'm just figuring it out on my own. When it's time to have the new laminate put on, I think I'll have a pro do it.

I put the table back together for St. Patrick's Day and discovered that the right foot pocket (standing at the head) is still getting balls lodged. I cleaned off a lot of glue, table and extra fabric and they are just lightly touching the slate now. They are also getting stuck against the slate support in the same pocket's gully. This has been a problem before I got the table and I tried to fix it by placing a shim between the slate and the gully rim. It seemed to work for a while or maybe I just didn't get any balls stuck in the right area.

I was really hoping it would be the last time I had to take the slate out for a while. This thing is mad heavy and a killer to move by myself. I'm not a body builder and heck I don't even weigh 200. My guess is this slate is close to 450 lbs!
 
Still. Can't figure out what's scratching up the pool balls...

Also, I want to replace the laminate. Does anyone know how to remove and refinish with new laminate?
 
Oh, I don't know... She don't look so bad to me. Nothing a little TLC won't take care of.
I think for you and me and most everyone else here it's a labor of love. Best of luck, hope it turns out the way you want it to
 
blackflagsailor said:
I'll have to check into those rails. Is it something I should replace? I've heard that you shouldn't mess around with the tables rails as new rails may not fit as well as the original ones.
Click to expand...

I second Johnnyt's recommendation for the Ridgeback Rails. I replaced my vintage valley table (mine was made in 1979 - you can look up the model number and match it with Valley's records available online and date the year of your table) with the ridgebacks and they fit with no problem at all. Table plays 10 X better. In fact, I shipped the rails to Kerry (I think that was his name) at Ridgeback just to make sure that they would fit. He said that I had no two rails that had the same profile, as they had all been switched out at different times during the life of the table. Anyway, chalk me up as a happy customer of Ridgebacks. Their prices are comparable to other replacement rails as well - and these play better, imo. Also, Kerry can run a custom set with pocket specs of your choosing for $20 or $30 extra if I recall correctly. Might be an option if you want a tighter playing table.

Good luck with your project, looks good so far...
 
Funny. I actually just called ridgeback last week. They are about $30 more the standard replacement rails. Very worth it to me. I'll hold off on ordering new rails and cloth till I get some of the other issues fixed
 
Does anyone know how to replace the laminate on these tables? I know it's walnut finish, but what do I use for laminate? Where do I buy it? How do I remove the old laminate from the table? How do I apply the new laminate to the table?
 
Did some youtube video research on formica and think I know what I need to do. I'm going to hold off on doing this for a bit.

Right now I want to tighten up the top rail assembly a bit and try to fix anything with the track that might be causing the damage to my billiard balls.

Does anyone know what that black rubber like stuff is that they used to line the ball return box with and where I can get it? I'd inagine it come on a roll or is sold by yardage. Could this be used to line the main track in the table? I'd have to glue it down I'm sure. What about 1/16" Neoprene?

I've heard of people using felt, but I've had terrible experience gluing felt. The glue always soaks up to the surface.

Another issue I'm suddenly having is the object balls are now coming out the cue ball return every now and then. Any ideas why? I'm pretty sure the table is level. Haven't checked in a few months, but it hasn't been moved or anything.
 
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