dendweller
Well-known member
Far as the ball rattling, I think it probably will. And if the shelve gives it enough room to rattle on the facings deeper in the pocket I think they would be a little softer so just make the pocket tougher I'd think.
Subrail Extentions Idea
- Thread starter dendweller
- Start date
No problem. Come on over and set up a table for me to play on like this and I'll do my best to note any difference. ....man, writting an acceptance to that challenge was probaby just as easy as typing the challenge....lol. My point...?..., no one is going to bother so why make the proclamation.
Kidding aside, I won't claim that I have some divine ability to ascertain tiny difference in pockets if they aren't note worthy already. However if they are note worthy I'm confident I could. If you say it doesn't make a difference. I'll take you word for it.
I have a late GCI, my pockets are closer to 4 3/8" than 4 1/2" and there is only 1/2 of the ball showing when the ball is deep in the pocket, I thought that was pretty normal??
dendweller
Well-known member
If you go through the list of gc's in the table difficulty list you'll see a variety. I've also noticed that it's not always the same model that have more so I have no clue except that at 4.5 I'm down a little under 1 1/4 inches of shelf. I wish I had your slate.
It is. But the tighter you make the pockets, the shallower the shelf gets.
Your photo perfectly illustrates my point on where the ball contacts the facing, at the point where it is 'pocketed'. The "1" ball is sitting right on the edge of the slate, and it is still touching the portion of the facing that has cushion rubber behind it. The ball would need to be a bit deeper into the pocket, before it hits sub-rail.
Now, I should mention: on a bigger pocket, especially with wider angles, the balls will hit the portion of the facing which has only sub-rail behind it. This is evidenced by the number of rails that we need to rebuild. Though, using a 3/16" facing will greatly reduce the damage to the sub-rails, caused by ball impacts.
As far as shelf depth, I went the extended subrail route and have 1.25" of shelf depth on 4.5" ProCut pockets. Gold Crown 4. I have a set of rails being redone at 4.125" so I'll know how much shelf I lose with that setup soon as they get back from MG.
dendweller
Well-known member
And I've heard he does new subrails a 1/16th wider that probably gives you an extra quarter of shelf.
Correct. I didn't know that initially.
Yes, about 1/8” deeper subrails for pro-cuts, at least that is what he did on mine. I like it, it tightened the pockets without much shelf loss. The extra depth also fixed a problem with stock Anniversaries where the side pocket opening sticks out into the play field by 1/16” to 1/8”. It essentially sets the side pocket shelves at 0.
As far as the extra depth shrinking the play field dimensions, it put mine actually closer to the 50” X 100” than my stock rails. Mark Gregory definitely has done his homework.
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