Scale Billiards Tables

craiglist and offerup often have cheap or FREE pool tables. keep checking. i have so much slate that i used it for a patio. one table was a free 9' the other was my $50.00 Gandy that i threw away. ;)

there's another guy selling a table for $50.00 and it must be gone asap. i can use the pockets and add the slate to my patio.
 
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jviss said:
So, another sub-thread: what size balls should I use?

I initially thought 1.5" as those are the ones on my toy table, and they are easily available. Then I became aware of the existence of 1.75, 2, and 2.125". (U.S. Standard are 2.25".)

I ordered both 1.75 and 2 off eBay, and should have them soon. Good to get them and see, in person, how you think it will work out.

One eBay I got the impression that 2" are in common use in Australia; is that so?
Click to expand...

I received the 1.75" balls. The ones that were supposed to be 2" turned out to be standard, 2.25" balls, and now I'm in a dispute with the seller. eBay: caveat emptor!

One of the objects here is to develop a scale table that plays like a big table. By "plays like," I, of course, mean that the ball rolls similarly, in scale, and that it rebounds similarly from the cushions. But there's also this: how much "space" is there on the table? For example, whne we start scaling a 9' table down to 8' Pro, 8', 7', and so forth, and keep the ball the same at 2 1/4", things start to get crowded at the smaller sizes, and the feel of the expanse of the 9' table is lost.

I aim to have some of that expansive feel. Scaling strictly by ball size, the 1 1/2" ball is 2/3 of the 2 1/4" ball, and the 1 3/4" ball is about 3/4 of the 2 1/4" ball (actually 78%). So for a 50x100" table you scale down to 33 1/3 x 67 2/3", and 37 1/2 x 75", respectively.

To make it easier to visualize the "feeling," I came up with the metric of how many balls fit across the width of the playing field. For a 9' table it's 22.2. Then I made this matrix:

Table%20and%20Ball%20Matrix.jpg


My design goal is the 5' table, hence the outline around that row. You can see how different scaled tables will "feel" by comparing values in the matrix. Some interesting correspondences are highlighted.

So, if I choose 5' for the table, you can see that I can have the feel of an 8' table with the 1 1/2" balls, or that of a 7' table with the 1 3/4" balls.

I now think the 2" balls our out. (Interesting, converting an 8' table to 2" balls would give the feel of a 9' table.)
 
jviss said:
I received the 1.75" balls. The ones that were supposed to be 2" turned out to be standard, 2.25" balls, and now I'm in a dispute with the seller. eBay: caveat emptor!

One of the objects here is to develop a scale table that plays like a big table. By "plays like," I, of course, mean that the ball rolls similarly, in scale, and that it rebounds similarly from the cushions. But there's also this: how much "space" is there on the table? For example, whne we start scaling a 9' table down to 8' Pro, 8', 7', and so forth, and keep the ball the same at 2 1/4", things start to get crowded at the smaller sizes, and the feel of the expanse of the 9' table is lost.

I aim to have some of that expansive feel. Scaling strictly by ball size, the 1 1/2" ball is 2/3 of the 2 1/4" ball, and the 1 3/4" ball is about 3/4 of the 2 1/4" ball (actually 78%). So for a 50x100" table you scale down to 33 1/3 x 67 2/3", and 37 1/2 x 75", respectively.

To make it easier to visualize the "feeling," I came up with the metric of how many balls fit across the width of the playing field. For a 9' table it's 22.2. Then I made this matrix:

Table%20and%20Ball%20Matrix.jpg


My design goal is the 5' table, hence the outline around that row. You can see how different scaled tables will "feel" by comparing values in the matrix. Some interesting correspondences are highlighted.

So, if I choose 5' for the table, you can see that I can have the feel of an 8' table with the 1 1/2" balls, or that of a 7' table with the 1 3/4" balls.

I now think the 2" balls our out. (Interesting, converting an 8' table to 2" balls would give the feel of a 9' table.)
Click to expand...

There is no such 42'x84" 7'pool table
 
the problem is, going down in size on tables that accept 2.25" balls has limits with regard to playing surface vs ball size. at a point you won't be able to play because the balls will be too big compared to the playing surface. you don't have this issue going up in scale.

1.5" balls are 66% the size of 2.25" balls, right? so why don't you just scale everything down including pockets to .66% of a bar size table?
 
SlateMate said:
the problem is, going down in size on tables that accept 2.25" balls has limits with regard to playing surface vs ball size. at a point you won't be able to play because the balls will be too big compared to the playing surface. you don't have this issue going up in scale.

1.5" balls are 66% the size of 2.25" balls, right? so why don't you just scale everything down including pockets to .66% of a bar size table?
Click to expand...

I like the idea of a more spacious table than a bar size. As it is, with 1.5" balls and a 5' table it is proportional to an 8' table. So, not bad. The 1.75" balls on a 5' table would be proportional to a bar size table, about 7'.
 
Yes, interesting, SlateMate.

I, too, found a small antique table on eBay, a beautiful Brunswick 6' that converted to a carom table. It needed some work, but was reasonably priced at $750, but, alas, it was in Norman, OK, so impractical and uneconomical for me to get.

It's probably still for sale.

(There are at least two of these on eBay now.)
 
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