Rubber Rack

BRKNRUN

BRKNRUN

Showin some A$$
Silver Member
I am young-old school...so pretty much just give me a triangle and I am good to go....

Since my return to pool I see these various template racks being used in pretty much all tournaments......I played in a tournament over the weekend and the template that was used was garbage (IMO)....I will leave the brand nameless to protect the innocent.

I figured it would be good to start practicing with one but I can't see where it would fit in my case......I remember when the magic rack came out years ago and everyone that had one had to carry it separate from their case to keep it from getting bent up.

I fired up the CAD software and came up with a 3D printable template that will work for all games....Printed in TPU it is flexible and can be folded up and stuffed in a pocket or case......I am calling it the "Rubber Rack"

rack1.jpg
rack2.jpg
8-ball.jpg
9-ball.jpg
10-ball.jpg

Balls just lock into place like most other templates...and does not seem to affect anything any more than the other templates do.....probably even less......I don't know what the thickness is of the other templates....but I am printing this at .40 mm (15.748 thousandths) so I can get two .20mm layers for strength......I am going to play with it a while and see how it holds up....I don't expect any issues with that.....

I am also going to try going down to .24 (9.449 thousandths) thick and print two .12 layer heights and see how it comes out....Print bed has to really be trammed perfect for that to work though so I don't know if it will work (or even if it is worth the effort)
 
Bob Jewett said:
The WPA regulations specify a thickness of less than 0.14mm. I think you will see a lot more deflection of slow rolling balls with 0.4mm.
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Thanks for the info .....I don't see a home equipment 3D printed rack making that tolerance....I tried 3 different colors and at .4 the actual thickness comes out between .50 and .55 with an el cheapo HF caliper...(so who knows how accurate that is) ..... It seems pretty typical for home equipment 3D printing to be off 7-10 thousandths.
.5.jpg


I can't see printing anything thinner (in TPU at least) with a .4 nozzle than a .2 layer height....A second (cross) layer is needed to hold everything together......otherwise the strands would just separate....and printing TPU at less than a .2 layer height (with a .4 nozzle) there is just too much material that wants to oooze out during printing.

I do see some deflection slow rolling balls across the rack.......I tend to remove any template anyway after the break as I have noticed disturbances in the roll with any template left on the table.

No chance it will be seen in a WPA event....but for a template that I don't have to carry around in a separate folder and can just throw in my case for use in non-sanctioned events that I can re-print at any time if I forget or lose it.........It should do the job.:)
 
BRKNRUN said:
.... I do see some deflection slow rolling balls across the rack.......I tend to remove any template anyway after the break as I have noticed disturbances in the roll with any template left on the table. ...
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Some people get upset by the template when they see any ball deflection at the end of break shots. It's as if they had planned for each ball to end up within a quarter inch of the planned place after the break. (There's only one player who comes close to that level of planning, and he's not complaining about templates.)

I don't think the thickness on the break makes any real difference, but if the template has to be left on the table due to several balls clustered on it, there's more of a problem.
 
Bob Jewett said:
The WPA regulations specify a thickness of less than 0.14mm. I think you will see a lot more deflection of slow rolling balls with 0.4mm.
Click to expand...
Something you may find interesting......I have that little green can of self adhesive Tefco Masters Spots.....For the heck of it I measured some of them....(again with a el cheapo HF caliper) I got a thickness range of .20-.24
 
BRKNRUN said:
Something you may find interesting......I have that little green can of self adhesive Tefco Masters Spots.....For the heck of it I measured some of them....(again with a el cheapo HF caliper) I got a thickness range of .20-.24
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I just measured a Tefco spot also - got 0.24mm. Then measured the paper backing, it was 0.06. So net thickness would be 0.18.

My Outsville Accu-Rack template measured 0.25mm.
 
DeadStick said:
I just measured a Tefco spot also - got 0.24mm. Then measured the paper backing, it was 0.06. So net thickness would be 0.18.

My Outsville Accu-Rack template measured 0.25mm.
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Interesting...I did a Google....Outsville is a cloth rack?.....Man I am out of touch with modern day pool.....:ROFLMAO:....Sounds like that does not even qualify.

The spots I have don't have a paper backing....just get them wet and stick them.....but then again they must be at least 20 years old.
spot.jpg

I suppose the glue accounts for some of the thickness so after wet perhaps they are down to .18 ....

I can't say I have ever felt a template that is as thin as a spot though.

Make me wonder where I could buy a sheet of .14mm thick rubberized vinyl.
 
I'd think you'd want the friction to be near the same as the cloth, or weird stuff is going to happen when you shoot over it with spin...
 
Bob Jewett said:
The WPA regulations specify a thickness of less than 0.14mm. I think you will see a lot more deflection of slow rolling balls with 0.4mm.
Click to expand...
Does anyone make a plastic carrying case for the magic rack that could be attached externally to the cue case? Like a DVD jewel case, but the correct size.
 
I was looking for an Outsville carrying case on Amazon recently but couldnt find anything that would work. Need something to prevent it from getting ruffled when putting in my cue case and going to the pool hall. Hate using the wooden racks there

I suppose I could always get a bigger case. Right now I put the Outsville in a makeshift thin-cardboard sleeve of sorts. Only the edges get bent a bit.
 
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Hello everyone. I think this is my very first comment ever here on the forum, glad to be here.

I had a friend give me one of the Outsville cloth racks and I really like it. He gave it to me because it was wadded up in the bottom of his pool bag and severely bent, wrinkled, and all kinda out of shape (I'll take anything that is FREE...lol). I took the rack home, which was an 8ball rack but accommodates 9ball as well, and put the wife's hot iron to it on the ironing board. The rack turned out looking brand new and I use it everyday practicing.

I don't think the same can be said or done with any other type of template that's not made of Outsville's specific cloth material. Just thought I'd throw this in this thread and let everyone know that these racks can in fact be ironed to be made practically new again. Straight shooting to all!!!
-GBrad
 
That was kind of the reason I was doing the rubber rack....fold it up and throw it in my case.....

I don't have one but from prior post......from what I understand the Outsville rack is a type of cloth and can be rolled up.....

Buy yourself a Rhino CF shaft.....they come in a plastic tube......Cut the plastic tube down to size and re-use the end cap that comes with it...
 
GBrad said:
Hello everyone. I think this is my very first comment ever here on the forum, glad to be here.

I had a friend give me one of the Outsville cloth racks and I really like it. He gave it to me because it was wadded up in the bottom of his pool bag and severely bent, wrinkled, and all kinda out of shape (I'll take anything that is FREE...lol). I took the rack home, which was an 8ball rack but accommodates 9ball as well, and put the wife's hot iron to it on the ironing board. The rack turned out looking brand new and I use it everyday practicing.

I don't think the same can be said or done with any other type of template that's not made of Outsville's specific cloth material. Just thought I'd throw this in this thread and let everyone know that these racks can in fact be ironed to be made practically new again. Straight shooting to all!!!
-GBrad
Click to expand...
Excellent first post, welcome!
 
jbart65 said:
Outsville can be rolled up, sure, but it quickly gets out of shape. The pool hall doesn't have an iron, either.
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Walmart travel iron; small enough to fit in your pool bag- $4.99..... 😁. Good point though about pool halls not having irons.
 
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