Spotted Aramiths- Issue

[Black-Balled]

A place I occasionally go to to play has the spotted Aramiths and I swore I saw a little wiggle out of the corner of my eye as the balls came to rest.

After payig closer attention to the final instant of each shot, it was true: the balls would 'settle into' final resting place sometimes.

When the owner came by to exchange pleasantries, I asked him about it and he showed me that the balls wanted to settle into the red dots.

I play a fewplaces and have never seen this. Balls get cleaned in a ball cleaner w/ aramith polish...no scouring pads.

Anybody else see/ hear of same?

 

[tiger37373]

No never seen this. Seems like someone else had brought this up before. you? Although I've seen the balls settle into the burn marks on the cloth lots of times.

 

[ridewiththewind]

Good luck getting any sort of resolution through Saluc. They enjoy the benefits of selling their product, but they damn sure do not stand behind it. I have a ball set I purchased about 8 years ago now....big fat waste of money. No sooner I played the first game with them, one of the balls just left a huge chunk of itself on the table after contacting another ball. Tried in vain to get some sort of resolution through Saluc, to no avail. They would not even respond to repeated emails. Their customer service flat out sucks. Wish there was a better alternative.

Lisa

 

[3kushn]

Good luck getting any sort of resolution through Saluc. They enjoy the benefits of selling their product, but they damn sure do not stand behind it. I have a ball set I purchased about 8 years ago now....big fat waste of money. No sooner I played the first game with them, one of the balls just left a huge chunk of itself on the table after contacting another ball. Tried in vain to get some sort of resolution through Saluc, to no avail. They would not even respond to repeated emails. Their customer service flat out sucks. Wish there was a better alternative.

Lisa

I agree they are very unhelpful. I had a defective ball and they essentially said it wasn't possible. The ball looked like it fell on small hard rock or something. My floor is carpeted.

Blackball its possible but unlikely that the main material is harder than the spots and with cleaning the spots wore faster than the main color. I say unlikely since the material is probably mixed then color added to a protion of the same batch. But anything is possible like two batches. Plus you saw what to saw.

I assume this happened in different locations.

 

[Black-Balled]

I agree they are very unhelpful. I had a defective ball and they essentially said it wasn't possible. The ball looked like it fell on small hard rock or something. My floor is carpeted.

Blackball its possible but unlikely that the main material is harder than the spots and with cleaning the spots wore faster than the main color. I say unlikely since the material is probably mixed then color added to a protion of the same batch. But anything is possible like two batches. Plus you saw what to saw.

I assume this happened in different locations.

It did happen all over the table...with both balls too.

To clarify the issue, when the ball wanted to rest at a point where the spot and base color would both touch the cloth, the ball would turn a tad more, so that only the spot was touching the cloth.

I have neither brought this issue up before, nor heard of it, FYI.

 

[3kushn]

i've never heard or seen this either. I'd have to say if this was even remotely common the world organizations woud be in a uproar. These are the balls of choice. Additionally there are pool Cue Balls of the same construction although probably less common per capita but more CB's out there than carom balls. If that makes sense.

It has to be an anomoly. If this is a room you frequent, when you see this happen, lift the ball carefully and place it back down where you think the two colors meet and see if it rolls over. Go to the next spot and see if it rolls.

It is possible that whoever cleans the balls fell asleap depending on how that's done and ground a flat in one area which happens to be close to a spot.

The other test is grab another ball and see what happens.

This is strange.

 

[olgoat]

Are they real McCoys? I heard there were a fair number of copies out there as well. I was concerned when I bought a personal set of them. I'll have to check mine but then my game sucks so bad, the balls are the least of it..

 

[mbvl]

Are they real McCoys? I heard there were a fair number of copies out there as well. I was concerned when I bought a personal set of them. I'll have to check mine but then my game sucks so bad, the balls are the least of it..

That was my first thought, too. I'll bet they're fake.

 

[Snookered007]

A place I occasionally go to to play has the spotted Aramiths and I swore I saw a little wiggle out of the corner of my eye as the balls came to rest.

After payig closer attention to the final instant of each shot, it was true: the balls would 'settle into' final resting place sometimes.

When the owner came by to exchange pleasantries, I asked him about it and he showed me that the balls wanted to settle into the red dots.

I play a fewplaces and have never seen this. Balls get cleaned in a ball cleaner w/ aramith polish...no scouring pads.

Anybody else see/ hear of same?

Another thread addressing this issue is here. Hope this can help.

 

[3kushn]

I did a quick test with mine and got some roll over but wasn't consistant. I need to figure out a more controlled test. If I can use a leveled granite surface that might be the ticket. I'm talking about a perfect surface like in a metraology lab. Happen to find myself in these labs quite often.

 

[Bob Jewett]

Are they real McCoys? I heard there were a fair number of copies out there as well. I was concerned when I bought a personal set of them. I'll have to check mine but then my game sucks so bad, the balls are the least of it..

There was a company at the most recent BCA Trade Show that was selling spotted carom balls for about $30 per set. That company was not Saluc.

 

[Black-Balled]

Another thread addressing this issue is here. Hope this can help.

That is pretty helpful!:thumbup:

 

[dogloose]

Hmmm... so these balls... the so-called "standard" by which others are measured....seen by millions of people world wide in countless hours of play at world class level... have a secret problem never before revealed... and the maker is likely trying to hide this? Tell me more...

 

[Lexicologist71]

I don't play pool, but I have a set of Brunswick Centennial balls. Well, that's what the box said and they look just like them, until they get a few hours of use. The neither play like Brunswick ball, nor do they wear like them. After a couple of hours of play they had spots on them that two cycles through a ball cleaner wouldn't clean off. You had to really work to get them off by hand. I'm not talking about balls that slammed into a pocket liner. I'm talking about spots that came from ball to ball contact. They also don't behave correctly in play. I have to hit the ball twice as hard to get draw as I would on even a bar box. The also seem to grab each other on contact, totally screwing up cut shots.

 

[Bob Jewett]

I don't play pool, but I have a set of Brunswick Centennial balls. Well, that's what the box said and they look just like them, until they get a few hours of use. The neither play like Brunswick ball, nor do they wear like them. After a couple of hours of play they had spots on them that two cycles through a ball cleaner wouldn't clean off. You had to really work to get them off by hand. I'm not talking about balls that slammed into a pocket liner. I'm talking about spots that came from ball to ball contact. They also don't behave correctly in play. I have to hit the ball twice as hard to get draw as I would on even a bar box. The also seem to grab each other on contact, totally screwing up cut shots.

I've had problems similar to those after trying to clean a set of balls with something other than ball cleaner (think automotive products). You might try rubbing them several times with Aramith ball cleaner. They may also have a more abrasive "ball restorer" or some such. The idea would be to get a thin layer of whatever is there off.

 

[Black-Balled]

Hmmm... so these balls... the so-called "standard" by which others are measured....seen by millions of people world wide in countless hours of play at world class level... have a secret problem never before revealed... and the maker is likely trying to hide this? Tell me more...

What do you want to know? That more than 1 person has witnessed it?
That Aramith is less than communicative with its customers...and probably not deceptively continuing production of a known-defect?

 

[Fox523]

OK, It really is more of a matter of perception...

Remember folks, that even Simonis 300 is not a perfectly smooth surface. It is a woven, worsted cloth and if you watch closely you will notice any ball "settle" when it comes to a stop. The spots on the "pro-cup" Super Aramith balls are there to help the spectators see the spin a player puts on a ball. Now this will make any subtle motion of the ball pretty obvious.

If you are looking for flaws in the equipment here are a few suggestions:

Use a micrometer on the balls and see if the balls are not round. Check at least 4 different diameters preferably every 45 degrees.

Simonis 300 is pretty thin stuff, check the slate bed for any noticeable flaws, rough spots, ground in chalk or improperly filled slate seams.

Something else I noticed about pool and billiard balls. True Super Aramith balls clean very easily with a little Aramith Ball Cleaner. Aramith Premier require more scrubbing, and Acrylic balls just plain don't clean up. Another funny thing about the Super Aramith balls is that minor cracks seem to "heal" themselves with use...

 

[Black-Balled]

All of what you say may be true, but the balls I wrote about did notmovie as a result of slate or cloth issue.

OK, It really is more of a matter of perception...

Remember folks, that even Simonis 300 is not a perfectly smooth surface. It is a woven, worsted cloth and if you watch closely you will notice any ball "settle" when it comes to a stop. The spots on the "pro-cup" Super Aramith balls are there to help the spectators see the spin a player puts on a ball. Now this will make any subtle motion of the ball pretty obvious.

If you are looking for flaws in the equipment here are a few suggestions:

Use a micrometer on the balls and see if the balls are not round. Check at least 4 different diameters preferably every 45 degrees.

Simonis 300 is pretty thin stuff, check the slate bed for any noticeable flaws, rough spots, ground in chalk or improperly filled slate seams.

Something else I noticed about pool and billiard balls. True Super Aramith balls clean very easily with a little Aramith Ball Cleaner. Aramith Premier require more scrubbing, and Acrylic balls just plain don't clean up. Another funny thing about the Super Aramith balls is that minor cracks seem to "heal" themselves with use...

 

[Simple3C]

If the balls are wearing down randomly,
then players should replace the worn-out balls.
BUT if it is not randomly. Then the quality of these balls are really in question.
Some may blame it as off-brand balls. I doubted that is the case.
I had tested about 10 sets of balls, 6 of them were
2-3 months after USBA sanctioned tournament.