Tightning up pockets on a Bar table
- Thread starter irock
- Start date
I've personally worked on 23 different makes of bar tables in the past...what make of bar table are you talking about....makes a difference.
irock,
I've attached a photo of a Valley Panther I modified to 4" corner pockets. Table plays terrific. Watchwed a British black ball event and tried to duplicate the table design. My solution does decrease the playing surface of the table but the reward is overwhelming.
Lyn
Attachments
Incidentally, I doubt RKC would approve. Cost to the pool room where the table is located was $40 in materials. Practice on it virtually every day for an hour or so. Even the local APA bangers love it to practice on. Some even complained when the rail spacers were removed for a few days. Cloth is Simonis 860hr. Rail rubbers are "stock" Valley. In addition to the visual modifications, I installed 1/2 inch longer rail bolts with washers sized to the stock openings in the Valley table body so I can torque the rail bolts.
Lyn
Lyn
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I had 4" rails for all six pockets on my Valley by Ridgeback. AZ member Neil extended his shelves on his Valley. Johnnyt
Extending the pocket shelfs on a coin op slate leads to quite a few problems, one being it cuts down the distance between the slate shelf to the back of the pocket, not much room there as is. Second problem is the pocket gully boot mounted at the bottom of the ball return track is angled down hill to return the balls when pocketed, but just barely clear the balls passing underneath the pocket shelf, extended shelfs change that to trapping the balls unless they pass under the slate shelf dead center. Then you have the problem of the balls hitting the back of the pocket and popping back out in the playing surface. It's a damn coin operated pool table, not a home table....if anyone wants deeper slate shelfs, buy a table designed for that and forget trying to make something into something it was never designed to be, a harder playing table!
Just about anything can be done to a pool table if someone's willing to pay, but that still don't make it right
Aside from decreasing the playing surface it also changes the proportions of the playing surface so that the ratio of the length x width of the playing surface is no longer 2 x 1 (twice as long as it is wide) but instead it is now a bit longer than twice as long as it is wide. It may not change the ratio enough to be significant to some people but it is something to be aware of and to consider before making an alteration of this type.
To keep the proper 2 to 1 length to width ratio when doing this type of alteration you would have to use thicker rail "shims" on the end rails (twice as thick as what you do on the side rails) which may create other issues such as the pocket opening no longer being centered correctly on the pocket shelf cut out in the slate.
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I just got Ridgeback Pros for my 1990s era Valley. Bought them from AZ's Jack Zimmerman, who sold them to me with 860 HR and covered the rails before shipping.
Plays great. I highly recommend. At this stage, still plays "looser" than a Diamond 7', but that could be the new cloth.
Plays great. I highly recommend. At this stage, still plays "looser" than a Diamond 7', but that could be the new cloth.
How about a picture of 1 ball sitting in the pocket as deep as it will go touching one of the facings???
Glen, I am probably the poster the OP was thinking of. I have a Valley Cougar that I extended the rails and deepened the shelf depth to 1.3/8" on. The corner pockets are 4 1/8". I also added a strip inside the rails to stiffen them up a little.
If I put the ball in the hole, I have never had one come back out due to not enough room to drop. I extended the shelf as far as I could and still allow clearance for the balls to go down the track. Never have had a ball hang up whether dead center or not.
I realize that what I did to my table isn't everyone's cup of tea. But, I am very pleased with the play on it.
But, one needs to understand that nust the glue build up alone if its not cleaned off the bottom of the slate shelfs on a Dynamo, the balls get hung up in the pockets, let alone extending the pocket shelfs. What works on one pool table don't mean it'll work on another and most of these types of questions are coming from people that have no idea what kind of pool table they have in the first place.
It's been my experience that most people that want 4" corner pockets couldn't run a rack of balls on a table with 4 1/2" corner pockets to save their life, but they're more than willing to by into the myth that 4" corner pockets will make you a better player, instead of putting in the practice to become a better player, or just accepting the fact that they'll NEVER be any better than they already are. Their is no magic in becoming a better player that i know of that'll replace practicing making balls, and 4" corner pockets hurts that practice ability, i don't care what anyone says, there's a price to pay for having 4" pockets, and it's in the overal game of the player.
Back when i was playing pool, i learned how to drift a ball down the side rail to avoid hitting a ball partially blocking the path of my ball to the pocket, and if i hit the ball with the right speed i could drift it, grazing the side rail on into the corner pocket and just barely fall in, that was called cheating the pockets in my day. Today the players complain about that shot going in, INSISTING that it shouldn't be allowed. In my days of playing, we didn't complain about a table being out of level when we were gambling, we learned the rolls of the table and played them to our advantage, you'd be suprised at the shots you can make with INTENT when a pool table is out of level....but lots of practice is what teaches a player those shots.
Looking at the pic, I wonder if you ever have a problem with the ball hitting the point at the back of the facing as you shoot into the corner pocket. Hard to tell on the photo.
4" Pockets Too Small for this Guy!
4" Pockets on a Valley table was too much for this guy.
https://gifs.com/gif/how-not-to-play-pool-wjQjDr
4" Pockets on a Valley table was too much for this guy.
https://gifs.com/gif/how-not-to-play-pool-wjQjDr
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