The truth about Cleaning/waxing/polishing balls and Aramith cleaner

P

Pool Shark420

New member
In my search for a ball cleaner I can buy at the auto/hardware store I came here for answers and noticed several posts about ball cleaning. Some say wax em others say never wax em. Some say windex others say no it has solvents. I saw a poster using a magic eraser. Someone else said not to use it because its abrasive. Funny thing is at least one person who says one of the following: no wax or no solvents or no abrasives will tell you to use the Aramith ball cleaner. Having worked in a cleanroom laboratory environment and dealing with chemicals this sounded like a contradiction to me so I found the MSDS (material safety data sheet) for the aramith ball cleaner and guess what folks... it contains wax, solvents and abrasives. Here is a c/p from the MSDS:


BALL CLEANER 3.1 Version: 2
30-10-99
Date of issue : 30 th Oct 1999 Page 1 of 4
1. IDENTIFICATION OF THE SUBSTANCE/PREPARATION AND THE COMPANY/UNDERTAKING
1.1 Product name : Ball cleaner 3.1
1.2 Use : Professional polishing cleaner for resin billiard balls
1.3 Company: Saluc S.A.
Rue deTournai,2
B-7604 Callenelle Belgium
Tel. +32 69 77 82 11
Fax +32 69 77 00 08
2. COMPOSITION / INFORMATION ON INGREDIENTS
2.1 Description: Emulsion, suspension of wax and aliphatic solvents with mineral abrasives
2.2 Composition: Petroleum distillate (hydroprocessed) 4%; Xn; R65
Monocyclic terpene 4%; Xi; R38
Fatty alcohol ethoxylated; 2.5%; R36/38
Other components: not dangerous classified

You can google "aramith ball cleaner msds" and see for yourself. Happ controls has it on file.
Hope this clears up some of the hooplah surrounding the ball cleaning topic.

Pool Shark420
 
LMAO...thank for the truth...finally. Maybe the put that stuff in there so you have to buy a new set of balls quicker.

A lot of companies do things like that. I worked in the thread rolling dept of a leading electrical parts compay. Their wall sockets are everywhere. I got called up to the head of the R&D dept one day shortly after I was hired. It seemed the diamond knurl rivets I was making were .0005 too big in diam. and the knurls were too sharp. I had made the part 100's of times before at other shops and never really looked at the hand drawn print they had at this place. I knew what the specs were supose to be. Aparently the ones I was making didn't wear out and the wall socket would last forever. I was told to back off on the diam. to their print. Of couase being the hot-head know it all that I was, I kept making them my way, to the national specs. And for my next job.....Johnnyt
 
I have not chimed in on this topic before so, for what it's worth, here are my thoughts:

To clean the balls you need to have some solvents. These solvents should not harm the structure of the balls, just clean off the crap.

To polish the balls you must have some abrasive. These should be extremely fine abrasives so as not to "wear down" the balls prematurely.

For older worn balls that will not polish well due to scratches and such, you need a wax to provide as smooth slick surface.


Basically, all we are trying to do is make the balls play like they are new again.

Why not just use the polish that is recommended by the ball making company themselves?

I recommend the Aramath Ball Cleaner!

Royce Bunnell
www.obcues.com
 
Whats wrong with soap and water? I soak them in warm water with any mild detergent available. Since I do it in the laundry area that is usually Tide. Then I rinse them well, dry them and put them into my Joe Waldron polisher. Then I squirt just a little more detergent on them and give them about 30 cranks. Then I squirt a little Pledge on them, give them another 30 cranks and they are ready for action. I would bet that there is very little difference between Aramith and pledge.

Dave Nelson
 
Interesting side note...

check this out.

WPA Equipment Specs:

16. Balls and Ball Rack
All balls must be composed of cast phenolic resin plastic and measure 2 ¼ (+.005) inches [5.715 cm (+ .127 mm)] in diameter and weigh 5 ½ to 6 oz [156 to 170 gms]. Balls should be unpolished, and should also not be waxed. Balls should be cleaned with a towel or cloth free of dirt and dust, and may also be washed with soap and water. Balls contaminated with any slippery substance - treated with a polishing or rubbing compound and/or waxed - must be cleansed and dewaxed with a clean cloth moistened with diluted alcohol before play.

I usually use denatured alcohol and no wax. Cleans them well.
 
I've always thought those rules were strange to be so particular about the surface of the ball, when just above they say it's actually OK for the ball to be more than 16.5% lighter than when it was made.

---snip--- ...and weigh 5 ½ to 6 oz [156 to 170 gms]. ---snip---
Click to expand...

Good quality new balls are 6oz... Old, worn out balls might be 5½oz.
 
Big Dave said:
I've always thought those rules were strange to be so particular about the surface of the ball, when just above they say it's actually OK for the ball to be more than 16.5% lighter than when it was made.



Good quality new balls are 6oz... Old, worn out balls might be 5½oz.
Click to expand...

Perhaps they should put in that all of the balls in the set must weigh the same.
 
The cleaner that came with my Aramith Pro set is:

aramith
THE BELGIAN BILLIARD BALLS

OFFICIAL

Aramith
Billiard
Ball
Cleaner


Specially made
for phenolic
balls


"The liquid has been developed by SALUC SA. the Belgian billiard ball manufacturer. It has been especially conceived for the regular cleaning of the Aramith phenolic balls. Regular cleaning (ideally after every game) with this agent will keep your Aramith phenolic balls polished, lustrous and antistatic throughout their exceptionally long service life."


It doesn't mention anything about "no wax or no solvents or no abrasives" on the bottle. Doesn't list anything that is in the bottle.

I like the part about cleaning the balls after every game.
 
Dave Nelson said:
Whats wrong with soap and water? I soak them in warm water with any mild detergent available. Since I do it in the laundry area that is usually Tide. Then I rinse them well, dry them and put them into my Joe Waldron polisher. Then I squirt just a little more detergent on them and give them about 30 cranks. Then I squirt a little Pledge on them, give them another 30 cranks and they are ready for action. I would bet that there is very little difference between Aramith and pledge.

Dave Nelson
Click to expand...


I had a set of Centennials that were bougth in 1975. Had the brilliant idea of soaking them in "warm" soapy water. The water may have been a little too warm because the rings and numbers popped above the rest of the ball.
 
Vinnie said:
check this out.

WPA Equipment Specs:

16. Balls and Ball Rack
All balls must be composed of cast phenolic resin plastic and measure 2 ¼ (+.005) inches [5.715 cm (+ .127 mm)] in diameter and weigh 5 ½ to 6 oz [156 to 170 gms]. Balls should be unpolished, and should also not be waxed. Balls should be cleaned with a towel or cloth free of dirt and dust, and may also be washed with soap and water. Balls contaminated with any slippery substance - treated with a polishing or rubbing compound and/or waxed - must be cleansed and dewaxed with a clean cloth moistened with diluted alcohol before play.

I usually use denatured alcohol and no wax. Cleans them well.
Click to expand...



This is what I needed to know---thanks. Great post.
 
TheBook said:
"The liquid has been developed by SALUC SA. the Belgian billiard ball manufacturer. It has been especially conceived for the regular cleaning of the Aramith phenolic balls. Regular cleaning (ideally after every game) with this agent will keep your Aramith phenolic balls polished, lustrous and antistatic throughout their exceptionally long service life."


It doesn't mention anything about "no wax or no solvents or no abrasives" on the bottle. Doesn't list anything that is in the bottle.

I like the part about cleaning the balls after every game.
Click to expand...

You don't clean your balls after every game? Good Lord, how can you stand playing with dirty balls?:canoodle:
 
You all understand that balls are made of plastic right? Phenolic Resin

The exact formula and process is a trade secret but essentially balls are made by pouring liquid plastic into a cast and baking them at the right temperature to "cure" them. Then when the cast is remove they are turned to make them completely round. Balls are not exactly 6oz. A set can vary as much as .2oz over or under 6oz. To get a premium set of matched balls the ball company has to select from many finished balls. The closer in spec to each other that the balls are means that the more time was taken to find 16 balls that match in weight and roundness - more time equals more cost and a higher price.

As for cleaning them there are tons of ways to do it and some ways leave the balls ultra slick while others leave the balls dull. The best way I have ever seen in my travels is in Taiwan where the attendants in the pool room gather all the balls together in a piece of pool table cloth or a towel and spray or squirt some polish (like Pledge) on them, wrap the towel into a bag of sorts and then vigorous swing this from side to side. This is a highly skilled endeavor that could come in handy in a fight. When they are done they unwrap the towel and have 16 clean and shiny balls. They do this every time a session is done and sometimes even when the session has gone on for several hours.
 
RBC said:
I have not chimed in on this topic before so, for what it's worth, here are my thoughts:

To clean the balls you need to have some solvents. These solvents should not harm the structure of the balls, just clean off the crap.

To polish the balls you must have some abrasive. These should be extremely fine abrasives so as not to "wear down" the balls prematurely.

For older worn balls that will not polish well due to scratches and such, you need a wax to provide as smooth slick surface.


Basically, all we are trying to do is make the balls play like they are new again.

Why not just use the polish that is recommended by the ball making company themselves?

I recommend the Aramath Ball Cleaner!

Royce Bunnell
www.obcues.com
Click to expand...
I totally agee with Royce. I use it regularly and as a result, my set of Super Aramith Pro balls look and play like brand new. :thumbup2:
 
I've tried everything mentioned and everything else I could think of.

The best thing I"ve tried is Brillianize. It's a cleaner/polish made to clean plastics, acrylics etc. My copier repair guy was using it to clean the glass on the copier because it made the glass slicker and the self feeder worked better.

I've been using it for about 6 months now and I love it. Spray it on. Run the balls in the home made polisher for about 2 min, or just hold the ball in a microfiber cloth and spray the cloth and the ball, rub, change to a dry cloth and rub again and it's done. Very easy and great results with no soap film, no wax.
 
I think this is to take in account for different ball sets. At one of the local pool halls they have both centennials and aramith. The patrons refer to the centennials as the heavy set.

Big Dave said:
I've always thought those rules were strange to be so particular about the surface of the ball, when just above they say it's actually OK for the ball to be more than 16.5% lighter than when it was made.

Good quality new balls are 6oz... Old, worn out balls might be 5½oz.
Click to expand...
 
Vinnie said:
check this out.

WPA Equipment Specs:

16. Balls and Ball Rack
All balls must be composed of cast phenolic resin plastic and measure 2 ¼ (+.005) inches [5.715 cm (+ .127 mm)] in diameter and weigh 5 ½ to 6 oz [156 to 170 gms]. Balls should be unpolished, and should also not be waxed. Balls should be cleaned with a towel or cloth free of dirt and dust, and may also be washed with soap and water. Balls contaminated with any slippery substance - treated with a polishing or rubbing compound and/or waxed - must be cleansed and dewaxed with a clean cloth moistened with diluted alcohol before play.

I usually use denatured alcohol and no wax. Cleans them well.
Click to expand...

Vinnie,

That is great!

The only problem is that under those rules, as soon as the balls stop playing like they should, and you can't get it back by just cleaning them, then they should be replaced.

I would love that, but I don't know many rooms who are going to want to buy 2 sets of balls per table per year.

The cleaners and waxes are there to help dirty or worn balls play like they are new. Lets face it, I don't care what it looks like, I just want it to play like it did when it was new!

Royce Bunnell
www.obcues.com
 
RBC said:
I have not chimed in on this topic before so, for what it's worth, here are my thoughts:

To clean the balls you need to have some solvents. These solvents should not harm the structure of the balls, just clean off the crap.

To polish the balls you must have some abrasive. These should be extremely fine abrasives so as not to "wear down" the balls prematurely.

For older worn balls that will not polish well due to scratches and such, you need a wax to provide as smooth slick surface.


Basically, all we are trying to do is make the balls play like they are new again.

Why not just use the polish that is recommended by the ball making company themselves?

I recommend the Aramath Ball Cleaner!

Royce Bunnell
www.obcues.com
Click to expand...

I'm sucked into this again. I can't help myself.

I agree with the above with the exception of the part where the balls cannot be cleaned and polished.

When I say polished I do not mean waxed. I don't care if a ball has been thrown down Main Street and run over with a car, it can be polished. It may look like a polished rock but it's polished.

And yes, sorry, I have some other comments.

First of all, those that say you shouldn't use abrasives, I hope you're cleaning your table every hour or two. Chalk is highly abrasive and wears down the balls (and the cloth). I carry a set of 3C balls where ever I travel but I've decided not to use them if the tables are not cleaned regularly. If I would put them on a dirty table, by the end of 1 game they look like House Balls that have never been cleaned since new, and it takes too much of my time to bring them back.

Secondly, Except the fact, that balls are not intended to last 50 years. If you want good playing balls you need to purchase replacements every X years depending on hours of play, how well you keep them clean and how well you keep your table clean.

Third, "Cleaning" the balls is easy. Soap and water does great. Polishing (again not waxing) requires abrasives. VERY FINE Abrasives but abrasives none the less. I use 10,000 grit silicon carbide in very small amounts when cleaning by hand. If I'm wrong, tell me how do you get the burn marks out from a miscue? And how do you get the burn marks out from two balls colliding, that are occur from playing on a dirty table? If you have the answer it's the Holy Grail for me.

OK almost done. Waxing balls makes them look nice but the wax wears off quickly, like within 30 minutes, then the game changes. Don't use wax unless you just want to have some fun with English for a while. Like masse and other extreme stuff.

Hit me, or bet me,
I'm wide open again.
 
I actually used cheap, probably 10 year old, toothpaste and a damp rag on an old set of centennials that came with my table. Seemed to work good. Somewhat shiny, smooth and clean. I wouldn't do that to my super pros though, for that I'll stick with the cleaner by Saluc. Besides the overwhelming smell of toothpaste for a half hour made me queezy. I just wanted to do my part to avoid the spread of mis-information or at least get people to not contradict themselves when the say no wax...etc but yet recommend a product containing it. As for the cleaner wearing down or otherwise damaging my balls, whatever damage it does will be nill compared to what I will do/have done to them. I am sure the constant pounding of thousands of masse and jump shots is more harmfull.
Pool Shark420
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top