This stuff works amazingly well on cleaning and polishing balls

I like to ride the path less taken. I bought a Diamond ball polisher and I use Aramith ball cleaner on my Aramith balls. Imagine that for a second would ya, using a machine and a product specifically made for the job of cleaning my pool balls when its time to clean my pool balls. I wonder what would happen if I tried using a toothbrush and toothpaste to clean my teeth. Tree twigs and catnip has been doing the job so far. :confused::confused::confused::confused::confused::eek::eek::eek::eek:

As far as using a product like Virtuoso on pool cues are we really cleaning wood when we clean our cues?? The butt is covered in Urethane so we are not actually cleaning/polishing the wood are we?? I dont know the slightest thing about musical instruments (unless the skin flute counts:eek:) but is a guitar a stained or natural wood finish or does it have something like Urethane over it??
 
Dan White said:
Why is it lost on people that balls don't throw consistently when using whatever you have in the garage on billiard balls? :confused:
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I tried that one time, not knowing any better. Fortunately it was on an old set of phenolic balls that was pretty bad and I thought I could restore. I used a car rubbing compound and a car polish. Beautiful! Shiny! Almost like new, except for a few deep scratches on a few balls. (Maybe turtles were involved.)

Then I tried to play with them. Very interesting. The balls threw two or three times normal. You could do some amazing twist banks.

This would be the perfect set of balls to trap a good one pocket player who thought he understood spin. Or just do it to the odd balls. That would be some most excellent fun.:groucho:

Whether the Virtuoso polish is OK depends on exactly what's in it. The main consideration is as you mentioned -- is throw close to the same as for normal new balls.
 
Dan White said:
Why do people use all kinds of cleaners and polishers on pool balls? It's like using a ball cleaner on your car or guitar. I guess the idea is that it doesn't matter. Well, it does.

I did an experiment a few years ago showing that when using products other than billiard ball cleaners the balls throw inconsistently. In a nutshell, I found that when using Aramith ball cleaner about 30 shots in a row all threw the same amount. When using an automotive cleaner like Novus, the ball throw changed by several inches from trial 1 to trial 30 (or 25) and began changing after just the first few trials.

Just use cleaner meant for billiard balls, IMO.
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That's interesting, I've been using Novus 1 for years and never noticed that much change in throw. I'll have to start doing some before and after experiments. I'm hoping your wrong because It's cheap and easy to use in my ball cleaner plus makes them shine like new. Thanks for bringing this to my attention Dan
 
It has been my limited experience that there are several products which are capable of producing a very high shine on pool balls.

There is a secret: after cleaning and shining your pool balls, you must also wash off all of the polishing formula's lubricants with warm, soapy water.

Since phenolic resin pool balls have a virtually non-porous surface, the complete removal of residue is fairly easy.
 
67GT500 said:
That's interesting, I've been using Novus 1 for years and never noticed that much change in throw. I'll have to start doing some before and after experiments. I'm hoping your wrong because It's cheap and easy to use in my ball cleaner plus makes them shine like new. Thanks for bringing this to my attention Dan
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If you search my name and "novus" you can probably find the study. The set up is like this: put a ball on the foot spot and another frozen behind it. Use hole reinforcers for exact placement. Put the cue ball a foot away at a 45 degree angle so that you can shoot directly at the bottom ball and send the ball on the foot spot up to the head of the table. To set up a reference, place the cue ball in line with the other two and shoot into the bottom ball so that the top ball goes straight up over the head spot. Mark the rail where it makes contact with a cube of chalk or something.

So now your set up will have you hitting the bottom ball at about a 45 degree angle (or whatever) and causing the spotted ball to be thrown away from the reference spot on the far rail. Put a ruler or something like that on the rail so you can see about where it hits. Using the same balls, repeat the shot over and over and note where the ball hits the rail. Speed is important. Use only those shots where the ob comes to rest at a consistent place like the foot string where it started.

With Novus, I think it started out at about a half inch of throw and ended up with over 2 inches or maybe more after several shots. With Aramith ball cleaner the throw started out at 4 or 5 inches and remained the same throughout.

If you choose to stop using Novus you will have to replace the felt pads in your ball machine. I have a large bottle of Novus somewhere in my basement if you want it. :wink:
 
I just linked to your experiment a couple days ago.

Dan White said:
If you search my name and "novus" you can probably find the study. The set up is like this: put a ball on the foot spot and another frozen behind it. Use hole reinforcers for exact placement. Put the cue ball a foot away at a 45 degree angle so that you can shoot directly at the bottom ball and send the ball on the foot spot up to the head of the table. To set up a reference, place the cue ball in line with the other two and shoot into the bottom ball so that the top ball goes straight up over the head spot. Mark the rail where it makes contact with a cube of chalk or something.

So now your set up will have you hitting the bottom ball at about a 45 degree angle (or whatever) and causing the spotted ball to be thrown away from the reference spot on the far rail. Put a ruler or something like that on the rail so you can see about where it hits. Using the same balls, repeat the shot over and over and note where the ball hits the rail. Speed is important. Use only those shots where the ob comes to rest at a consistent place like the foot string where it started.

With Novus, I think it started out at about a half inch of throw and ended up with over 2 inches or maybe more after several shots. With Aramith ball cleaner the throw started out at 4 or 5 inches and remained the same throughout.

If you choose to stop using Novus you will have to replace the felt pads in your ball machine. I have a large bottle of Novus somewhere in my basement if you want it. :wink:
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Gunn_Slinger said:
On the diamond ball cleaner site they recommend Meguiar's Ultimate Quik Detailer and the Aramith Billiard Ball Cleaner for their machines. Tried the Mequiar's.....could draw my rock 5-6 rails !!!!! Don't recommend it. The Aramith is the better way to go, and not much of it. Works well in my diamond ball cleaner.
Good luck
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QuikDetailer is a wax. Not recommended. PlastX is a cleaner/polish just for plastics. Good stuff.
 
Dan White said:
Why do people use all kinds of cleaners and polishers on pool balls? It's like using a ball cleaner on your car or guitar. I guess the idea is that it doesn't matter. Well, it does.
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Agreed. If you want to clean pool balls, use a pool ball cleaner.

Dan White said:
I did an experiment a few years ago showing that when using products other than billiard ball cleaners the balls throw inconsistently. In a nutshell, I found that when using Aramith ball cleaner about 30 shots in a row all threw the same amount. When using an automotive cleaner like Novus, the ball throw changed by several inches from trial 1 to trial 30 (or 25) and began changing after just the first few trials.
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I also did a wide range of tests of different cleaners and polishes on balls and found some of the results downright disturbing. For those interested, my video and a quote of Dan's results can be found here:

Ball Cleaning and Surface Treatments

Enjoy,
Dave
 
I didn't want to start a new thread, but this seems like the appropriate place to ask this.

I have noticed that the aramith ball cleaner has two different bottles that look virtually the same, except on has additional writing on the bottom that says specifically for phenolic balls. Is this just a change in the label or do you think its a slightly different product between the two cleaners??

PS -- I am not talking about the difference between the restorer and cleaner, i know they are different.
 
surffisher2a said:
I didn't want to start a new thread, but this seems like the appropriate place to ask this.

I have noticed that the aramith ball cleaner has two different bottles that look virtually the same, except on has additional writing on the bottom that says specifically for phenolic balls. Is this just a change in the label or do you think its a slightly different product between the two cleaners??

PS -- I am not talking about the difference between the restorer and cleaner, i know they are different.
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I have a bottle that is prob close to a decade old and will take a pic of it shortly.

Maybe somebody with a newer bottle will put one up for comparison?
 
Black-Balled said:
I have a bottle that is prob close to a decade old and will take a pic of it shortly.

Maybe somebody with a newer bottle will put one up for comparison?
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Google image search shows both bottles. I was just wondering if there is any difference in the solution between them. I got a bottle about a year ago that doesn't have the "made for Phenolic" on it.
 
PoolFan101 said:
Hello ,

After hearing about us cleaning the old ball set in Dawn dish soap and water and making them look dull , a Idea came to me. I also play Guitar and like to keep it in Pristine condition. A Cleaner and Polish which is the best hands down for Guitars is - https://virtuosopolish.com/ This stuff is fantastic and works wonders. It is made to use on Instruments that are worth thousands of dollars. So i thought what they heck I will try this on the ball set . I used the cleaner 1st just a dime size spot and rubbed it in with my hand and let it dry and then took a Microfiber cloth and cleaned it off , then repeated the same process with the polish , Then gave them a once over with a microfiber rag again. Wow , they look brand new and play just like they were new. They have that new gloss sheen to them again and we played for about 2 hours and they roll perfect. So if you want to try this go the address , It works wonders.
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Has anybody else tried this product yet?
 
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