Weight of your balls!

sk8ordie

sk8ordie

HTTR!
Silver Member
This is a video a friend posted on Facebook today I thought I'd share. He works for and on Valley equipment. A lot of threads were going on over the years about the weight of cue balls. I wish they weighed the Blue & Red Circle balls also.
---------->VIDEO<-----------
 
Thanks for the link, and please thank your friend for posting the video!

As I mentioned in my youtube comment, being the "same size and weight" isn't telling the whole story. What matters is the weight *distribution*, not just the weight in absolute terms.

The curved paths that cue balls take as their spin works against the cloth depends on the cue ball's moment of inertia: i.e. they're different depending on whether most of its mass is located in the center vs evenly distributed throughout vs concentrated in the outer shell with a hollow/lighter center.

Can you ask your friend about the mass distribution of the Valley Cougar vs the others? Depending on how they distribute the magnetic material internally in the Cougar, it could possibly be a significantly denser core or a significantly denser shell than normal cue balls, which could explain why some players think they play differently. I personally haven't done any testing of the Cougar yet (a friend has one on order), but I'll report back with any results.

Robert

sk8ordie said:
This is a video a friend posted on Facebook today I thought I'd share. He works for and on Valley equipment. A lot of threads were going on over the years about the weight of cue balls. I wish they weighed the Blue & Red Circle balls also.
---------->VIDEO<-----------
Click to expand...
 
Cue Ball Weights

Seems like there was thread that had the weights of different balls here , put them on a scale and weight them, all I can tell the newbieee's is , a light cue ball reflects from the object ball and a heavy cue ball goes thru the ball .......


David Harcrow
 
The blue circle weighs in at 168 grams and the red circle at 165 grams. The red can vary a gram or so either direction.

Rod
 
Another related point is the weight of the object ball[obviously]. But to a greater degree than you might think. Out of curiosity I weighed the set on one of the tables at our local hang out and I found a difference of over and ounce between the lightest and the heaviest balls. 5.4 to 6.7 oz. If your pool hall is like mine they buy the cheapest stuff and after buying various brands and switching out stolen or broken balls the variables increase. Even the diameters vary. I constantly have to move balls around in the rack to get them tight. I envy anyone that has a real pool hall with Centennials or Aramiths.
 
Robert Raiford said:
Thanks for the link, and please thank your friend for posting the video!

As I mentioned in my youtube comment, being the "same size and weight" isn't telling the whole story. What matters is the weight *distribution*, not just the weight in absolute terms.

The curved paths that cue balls take as their spin works against the cloth depends on the cue ball's moment of inertia: i.e. they're different depending on whether most of its mass is located in the center vs evenly distributed throughout vs concentrated in the outer shell with a hollow/lighter center.

Can you ask your friend about the mass distribution of the Valley Cougar vs the others? Depending on how they distribute the magnetic material internally in the Cougar, it could possibly be a significantly denser core or a significantly denser shell than normal cue balls, which could explain why some players think they play differently. I personally haven't done any testing of the Cougar yet (a friend has one on order), but I'll report back with any results.

Robert
Click to expand...

Valid point. The standard is a metal chip in the center [or near the center!] The valley [Aramith] is a mesh on the outer side beneath the outer coating. Different masses and different reaction.
 
pulzcul said:
Valid point. The standard is a metal chip in the center [or near the center!] The valley [Aramith] is a mesh on the outer side beneath the outer coating. Different masses and different reaction.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info on the magnetic internals. Valley's decision to use an outer mesh could be an attempt to avoid issues with the central metal chip (possibly including manufacturing issues with getting it in the exact center).

As for the video, it looks like the YouTube poster is moderating replies and hasn't accepted mine from a few days ago that mentioned the weight distribution issue. Of course, he could just be slow to check his inbox, but the fact that he's moderating them at all is a bit disappointing. Maybe someone could post a "Valley rocks!" comment there to see if it gets approved any faster :)

Robert
 
pulzcul said:
Different masses and different reaction.
Click to expand...
And don't forget to consider the differences in the coefficient of restitution between different balls.

Trust me, not all pool balls have the same coefficient of restitution.

If a set of balls plays "dead" and they are of standard diameter and weight, then the coefficient of restitution will be considerable lower in this set of "dead" balls.
 
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fyi......

sk8ordie said:
This is a video a friend posted on Facebook today I thought I'd share. He works for and on Valley equipment. A lot of threads were going on over the years about the weight of cue balls. I wish they weighed the Blue & Red Circle balls also.
---------->VIDEO<-----------[/QUO

The Cougar ball weighs the same and is built to similar tolerances and does have a foil wrap uniformly around it. However, the final coating/ball material is different that that used in the Super Aramith Pros and Brunswick balls.

Chris
Click to expand...
 
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