Want a good rack

B

bell

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
IMHO the best rack is a Diamond. Good wood/construction and slighly oversize. But $$$. I am Looking for a high quality plastic rack that has stiff sides and is slightly oversized. Does this exit?
 
Hollywood Billiards (in CA) uses the thick plastic racks, but they don't always ensure a good rack.

Personally, I've always preferred nice wood racks.

This isn't to say that one is better than the other. In fact, the biggest reason I prefer the wood racks is because of the sound it makes when you rack the balls. The only real factor in getting a good rack is the condition of the table. I always notice that when the Domingi crew re-do the tables at Hollywood, they play and rack perfectly. But give it some time with bangers and it's hard to get a good rack. Just the nature of the beast.
 
SILVER__WOMBAT said:
on the subject of racks, do any of you use those 9 ball racks if so do they work well
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No.
I bought a rack off Ebay made by Amish people.
Damn freakin beast of a racker.
Better than the 30 dollar ones you see at the local store.
 
Racks

While On This Subject. Does Anyone Use The Racks With The Cloth Attached To Place The Balls On. ?
 
funny..there's a poolroom that I used to go to that refused to buy good racks (they use the cheap black plastic ones that bend when you touch them) so I started racking by hand. I can rack pretty well now, although I'll still have one or two loose balls pop up from time to time.
 
StormHotRod300 said:
Hey I know alot of places use these thick plastic racks, which i like alot better than the wooden racks, only because the wooden racks after a while leave little bits of wood on the table.
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Funny thing is that for me the same applies to hard plastic racks and not to wooden racks. With time plastic racks become cracking, leaving tiny pieces on the cloth.
Thin plastic racks are crap, they bend easily, no way you can get a good rack of balls with them. As for thick plastic racks, I've never seen any of them pressing the balls properly - if they press second row of two balls, the head ball is always loose.
Conclusion: nothing beats a solid wooden rack which presses balls tight.
 
Seems like it wouldn't be that hard to make a good one yourself. What you need is perfectly straight and inflexible sides, and a perfect 60-degree angle between the sides. Perfectly straight is easy given access to a planer (or a sanding block and plenty of spare time), and perfect angle just means making a triangle out of sides that have been cut very precisely to the same length.

Seems like anyone with access to even a very basic wood shop and a few pieces of oak could make a "perfect" rack without a huge amount of effort.

-Andrew
 
I am considering buying a chameleon rack and I was wondering what everyone's thoughts on this rack were, and before you ask the reason I am not going to consider the sardo is because its far to buky especially as I plan to take the rack to the pool hall.
 
Vahmurka said:
Funny thing is that for me the same applies to hard plastic racks and not to wooden racks. With time plastic racks become cracking, leaving tiny pieces on the cloth.
Thin plastic racks are crap, they bend easily, no way you can get a good rack of balls with them. As for thick plastic racks, I've never seen any of them pressing the balls properly - if they press second row of two balls, the head ball is always loose.
Conclusion: nothing beats a solid wooden rack which presses balls tight.
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QFT, QFT

I hate bad racks, especially those flimsy plastic ones and the one's you describe that leave little tiny black plastic chunks on the table and can't seem to leave all balls touching.
 
I use a Kim Steel plastic rack (it came with my KS table) and its quite good. It does not flex like the cheapies do, but I still prefer the feel of a nice wood rack.

It's hard to find a durable wood rack though because most makers use strips of wood that are glued together. They ultimately split apart on the corners of the rack. Look closely at the Amish rack and its the same way. Its understandable why makers would not want to cut them from a single peice of wood.
 
mosconiac said:
It's hard to find a durable wood rack though because most makers use strips of wood that are glued together. They ultimately split apart on the corners of the rack.
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Right, that's why I recon the one attached to be among the best solutions. It has brass strips in the corners which are screwed to separate rack sides and hold them tied together.
 

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I have a method of racking for 9ball with wooden racks and the thick plastic ones that dont bend easily. It seems to give a perfect rack almost everytime, provided the table isn't that bad in the racking area. You press down really hard, and turn the last ball. Keep pressing and turning until the 1ball starts turning. This means all the balls are connected. Gently remove the rack and presto. Sometimes you have to keep doing this, and what happens is since you are putting a decent amount of pressure, it creates very tiny divots in the felt so the balls settle there (that's my hypothesis, I'm not exactly sure why).
 
Mosconiac I asked also about the chameleon rack but as of yet no info on the racks quality as I am also thinking of buying one.
 
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