What do I get or do

7

7forlife

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
So since the house table which I like to call "my table" since it mostly only there for or because of me and I can reserve it prior to showing up and all the other perks is being redone I wanted to take about 1/2 an inch off the pocket size. It's a red label diamond, so how would I do this.
Do I have to get new rails or do I get shims and where do you suggest your option.
 
^

I'll second that :)

Keep it the way it is, thats what I'd do. I could not ruin a good table like a Diamond by shimming it or doing much of anything to it personally. I would only let a respected table mechanic touch it IF I really had to something to it.
One day, hopefully, I'll get a Diamond table at my home too :wub:

If you want to improve your accuracy you dont necessarily need a super tight table for that. Just aim to hit the ball in the very center of the pocket and keep track how well you do that :wink:
 
I STRONGLY DISAGREE WITH THE ADVICE SO FAR......:eek:
red label diamonds played So bad that they MADE BLUE LABLE DIAMONDS
:)
find someone to convert your table to a BLUE LABEL table
jmho
icbw
 
Red and Blue label Diamonds have the same sized pocket openings. The difference would be pro cut and non pro cut pockets.

I would have a new top made for the Diamond if I wanted to tighten non pro cut pockets to pro cue pockets. Shimming will make the table play like s$%^.
 
They redid the red label in the hall that I frequent & it plays tougher than the other two blue labels in the hall.

I too would not recommend shims.

Good luck with what ever you do.

Best Wishes for the Season.
 
This thread has been enlightening. I don't know too much about shims and before reading this I would have thought it a good idea to get the shims if you want a tougher playing table. I do think playing on a tighter pocket table is good practice some of the time.

My experience with shims is that when I bought my current home table it was "triple shimmed" accoring to the seller. No doubt it played pretty tight but as I discovered later it was only two sets of shims on each pocket. Anyway, I did like that the tight pockets forced me to learn more precision. The problem was that the sides of the pockets did not have a nice clean corner to them. Hard to explain without a diagram. Where the shims started there was a slight angle and them the sharper angle back into the pocket where the new shimmed edge of the pocket was. The result was that slight misses could hit that part and bounce off at a funny angle. It was either a bad shim job or the shims moved or got worn out over time.

When I moved from my last house to this one I had the shims taken out because of this. After reading this thread I am more inclined to think it must be a common issue with shims. That's my 2 cents on the topic of shims and thanks to the other posters for the additional info.
 
One major issue with using double or triple shims is that you change the approach angle of the pocket and create a hard spot that will not react the same as the rubber in the rails. This is why balls that are barely missed come off at strange angles.
 
If you must do it, pay the $$$ and have a good mechanic extend the subrail and install new cushions. Don't shim it. It will not be cheap that is for sure. Me, if I had a good playing table, I wouldn't touch it.
 
Thanks for the feed back guys. I like most felt that shims was the fast and easy way to toughen up a table but never game much thought about it playability since I didn't think it would have a negative effect quality wise.
After the new cloth goes one i'll see how it plays and decide about the rails from there.
 
There was a link on the forum that help to calculate the playing toughness of a table based on the width of the pocket, ledge and entrance angle.

One of the drawbacks to changing the width of the pocket is that the ledge or depth of the shelf changes. This will sometime make it impossible for a ball to be resting in the opening or making a ball that is running along the rail.

To do it right you need to extend the wood on the rail and then get new longer cushions to add for the difference. It is an expensive operation. In the long run it may be cheaper and better to just replace the table with the one you are trying to make it like. Then if you are replacing the table why not go with the Bigfoot?

I was thinking about making my pockets smaller but then realized that the pocket size didn't affect my playing ability as much as cue ball control did.

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One option would be to have thicker facings put in...I had 1/4" facings put on my Blue Label, didn't change the angle (still Pro Cut) but tightened the pocket about 1/8" which is plenty for a Diamond. Any tighter and you need new (extended) rubber and (maybe) smaller pocket liners. On that subject, you should talk the owner into having it converted to a Blue Label, which needs different rubber and sub-rails and I'm sure some other things...it will play MUCH better. I've played on Red Labels for years, but once I got my own Blue Label, the difference is night and day. The balls bank truer, less "bouncy", more like the best GC you've seen. The best of all worlds.
 
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