screwed up installing new cushions on my antique table.

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PenwaJo

New member
Old 1899 9' table. Replacing the cushions that I installed 24 years ago (Brunswick Truspeed). I bought new K55 profile cushions as they closely resembled the profile of the previous cushions. Why did I not pay attention to how the previous one were installed? No idea. (I even took pictures...). The truspeed cushions have the cloth strip on the flat side of cushion. Honestly have no idea if I installed them properly 24 years ago, but they seemed to play fine. When I installed the new K55's, I just glued in place with cloth strip up, which on these cushions is the curved sided. Was planning on recovering with new cloth this weekend. Last night I took and end rail and just lightly held it in place and gently rolled a ball against it and the ball came right off the rail very quickly, but it had a hop to it. Although the cushions (new / old) appear to be the same profile and size, because they are glued on opposite from previous, the nose height is now lower than previous. Looking at this, I think I have 2 options. 1. Remove cushions, try and clean up and reglue, and hope. 2. Remove cushions, buy new, install as the old ones were. I think today I will go ahead ad mount the rails, without cloth and see how they respond when properly tightened. Anyone have any thoughts?
End Profile, new on left, old on right
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How the nose lines up, new on left, old on right
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If I were to install upside down, old on left
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this is where to post that kind of stuff

Pictures of hackwork section!

We need some good laughs around here,and I'm sure everyone has some good pics of weirdness or just nasty work found on a table....so lets see'em! These came from the same table at a poolroom in DFW last done by one of the "reputable" guys.... with complaints about the rail for a couple of...
forums.azbilliards.com
 
Ken over at Classic Billiards suggested shimming the rails. I played a bit last night trying different things. Best so far is 1/4" strip of wood. that removed the ball hop unless you really hit it hard. I think that is the limit without elongating the bolt holes in the rails. I will say I am shocked at how fast the cushions play. Now trying to get the end stapling correct for the rail cloth. I find many videos for pool table rails, zero for carom table rails....
 
I have been talking with Ken at Classic Billiards, he is the one who suggested shimming. I have put new cloth on the end rail, shimmed it over 1/16", less than an 1/8", I did not notice any bounce after. As for just replacing it the rubber, I just went through a lengthy process of replacing, cleaning, filling, sanding the rails. This would have been fine had I remembered to mount cushions upside down, as the previous ones were.
 
I was going to replace the rails on my table, but now I am afraid of a learning experience I don’t have patience for.
 
Mine was just plain blind stupidity and lack of memory. Since I replaced the cushions 24 years ago, I had no idea what I had at the time. Yes, in 2000 the internet was a thing and I reached to people for help and came up with cushions that would work, in this case Brunswick Truspeed. Sadly, I did not keep pics of the rebuild process from 24 years ago. I do recall the mention of using this cushion and mounting upside down to mimic the original "Monarch Cushions" my table came with. That said, the cushions I just pulled off (Truspeeds), in my mind, were not upside down, as the cloth strip was on the flat side. What I did not think of was that the replacement K55 cushions I put on, had the cloth strip on the curved part of the cushion. This dropped the nose height considerably. Now, the reality is, had I not noticed that and simply put the rail cloth on and played, I bet I would not have noticed anything different. Mind you, I just removed 24 year old cushions that were shot, so anything is better. I took an end rail and bolted it on after the new cloth was put on. I used some simple SS washers as shims. I noticed zero ball hop when the ball hit the rail from traveling at high speed from the opp end. Yesterday I got the first side rail and simply held it in place with my belly and zinged a ball at it from arms reach, no ball hop. the ball hop issue I initially noted was on an uncovered rail with new cushions. You could very gently roll the ball at the rail and it would hop. My take away is do not make any adjustments until you have everything done and are trying it out. I was hoping to do that last night, but sadly, after getting the 2nd rail recovered, the cloth pulled out from the furring strip in one section, so I need to redo that rail. Then I will bolt it all back together and try, 1st without shims, then with if needed.
 
Poolmanis said:
just make sure you get same profile cushions what they are originally. And I would hire reputable carom table mechanic..
Click to expand...
I think I am going to leave the rails alone and just match the table cloth to the rails (green), so I can start using the table. Then next time I buy new cloth I’ll mess with the rails.
 
Funny, after sitting for 20 years, that was my plan. The cloth I put on 24 years was crazy expensive to me at the time, and the table saw little use once installed. I figured all would be fine when I put it back together. I was not thinking that would most like not be able to reuse the bed cloth, and I actually found a small tear right near the head spot. So, I bought new cloth. I did not buy specific billiard (carom or 3-cushion billiard) cloth, but rather worsted cloth with a good rating, though my rail cloth had a couple small tears, it was not shredding or expanding. It was not until I had the table fully assembled that I realized how dead the rails were. The cloth for my size table, 4.5x9, is around 350-800 for decent carom / 3-cushion table cloth. The cloth I bought was $105, but was for a pool table. Meaning I could recover the end rails, but not the sides. When I decided to do the rails, I just the same exact product and cut the long rails pieces from the bed cloth. ended up still much cheaper than buying the cheapest carom cloth. Some will say the play is totally different, I will never see decent speeds, etc. I have to remind all, this is a 125 year old carom billiard table with tons of bumps and bruises and lives in a semi-conditioned garage. I have low expectations, but still want playability.
 
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