why do tables rack bad?

Y

your_turn

Registered
Hello

A question for the more knowledgeable players out there.

The situation - You put the balls in the rack. You place the head ball on the spot. The first 3 rows of balls roll and separate grossly. You push the rack up to where the first ball sits. The first ball then stays there and the next 2 rows of balls still break apart grossly. Aggravation sets in...

Why does this happen? My theory is that the felt gets worn down from the break impact. Some people (I believe mistakenly) blame the rack itself. I do not see how that is possible, a rack is a rack is a rack a flat surface made to create a triangle.

To me, there are 3 possiblities. The rack, the felt, or longterm damage to the slate on the foot spot.

What is the cause of this common problem?

your_turn
 
Worn out cloth, and flimsy plastic racks. My biggest gripe in playing bar boxes is that I get slugged racks most of the time.
 
One of two things

dent in the slate or the magnets in the balls are worn out.

SLIM
 
You gotta love it when you see someone bang the head ball with another ball into the felt, makes a nice divit in the felt and breaks down the fibers in the felt.....................:angry::angry::angry:
 
Visious cycle

blange said:
you gotta love it when you see someone bang the head ball with another ball into the felt, makes a nice divit in the felt and breaks down the fibers in the felt.....................:angry::angry::angry:
Click to expand...

that is what dents the slate & wears out the magnets in the balls.

SLIM
 
The biggest reason why tables dont rack properly is because people rack differently and over time it causes the cloth in the rack area to create uneven ball dimples. If the balls were placed in the exact same place each rack then you would never have a problem throughout the life of the cloth.

Straight pool players who have rack outline on their personal tables rarely have this problem because they rack in the same place each time. They also dont have to rely on a rack each time because the balls fall into place.
 
There's a bunch of reasons. It's most likely one of the following

1. The balls aren't the same size(even the magic rack can't fix this). I've seen many oversize 8 balls and almost every set out there is mismatched or worn.
2. The dimples in the cloth are all messed up(the magic rack can fix this, but can also make it harder to rack normally)
3. You don't know how to rack(the magic rack might be able to fix this):grin:
4. Your opponent doesn't know how to rack

I prefer to use a template on my home table. But my balls are all the same size and I always rack the same. Sucks going to play on other tables because at home I always get a tight rack but everywhere else it's much tougher to get a tight rack.
 
balls have to be the same size to make the perfect rack.their is no substitute.

bill
 
Often in a bar box there is a divot in the slate under the head ball (i.e. more than 0.003 deep) and even if the cloth were perfect, the head ball can move.

Most of the time, the cloth is worn, often the balls are worn and irregular in size, and occasionaly the rack no longer has straight walls to form the triangle. In order to get all balls touching, the balls must be of the same size to a tollerance of about 0.002".

When I got my new set of Arimith SP balls, I mic'ed them all and found that there were 2 balls 0.003 smaller than the others, the CB was a tad undersized also. These balls go in the back corner of my rack. The rest of the balls were +/- 0.001 from the mean.
 
solution

I hesitated to post this before but my local tourney has been trying this since January. You know the paper re-inforcements that the slug-doctor uses?

http://www.avery.com/avery/en_us/Products/General-Supplies/Reinforcements/Hole-Reinforcements_05721.htm

just use 1 for the head spot. put the one ball up first. put the rack around the one and then build the rack of balls without moving the rack. you will be amazed how quick you can rack. It is not a perfect rack but it keeps the head balls from moving.

It makes racking the balls easier but like I said the rack still has flaws, which believe it or not some people want? It allows the randomness of a regular rack not the predictability of the magic rack(which I use) or of the slug doctor.

If the clear ones are not thick enough you can double it up or try the white ones

http://www.twinsupply.com/office/proddetail.asp?prod=AVE05729

I put them on 12 tables at the pool hall the last week of january and most of them are still on. If I play in the weekly tourney and the table doesnt have one I just put one on. Nobody has complained which is rare and everybody says it works great.

If the table has a spot just put it over the spot. Try and you will be amazed. I cant believe this is not being done. It is not as good as the magic rack or a slug doctor but I think it is awesome.
 
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I Always try to get as right as rack as possible, but in all honesty I get good spreads on sh¡t racks so I dont fuss about it.


Esp in 9 ball, I get more nine snaps with a lose rack then right, so I dont mind playing bangers with no skill........this helps my game get to theirs with dumb luck lol.
 
good question

I could never understand when watching pro tournaments in the past where the players are tapping the balls in place with another ball; Obviously it's to keep that ball in place, but aren't they kinda damaging the bed of the table by putting little dents on the surface? Most times, the tables look like they're pretty new with new cloth, so I could never understand why the owner of the tables wouldn't stop that practice.
 
BLange said:
You gotta love it when you see someone bang the head ball with another ball into the felt, makes a nice divit in the felt and breaks down the fibers in the felt.....................:angry::angry::angry:
Click to expand...

Ooooh how I hate that. I was playing on a diamond the other day that used to rack perfect so long as you lined up the notch on the rack to the notch in the rack outline on the table......well no longer :angry:
 
mikeiniowa said:
I hesitated to post this before but my local tourney has been trying this since January. You know the paper re-inforcements that the slug-doctor uses?

http://www.avery.com/avery/en_us/Products/General-Supplies/Reinforcements/Hole-Reinforcements_05721.htm

just use 1 for the head spot. put the one ball up first. put the rack around the one and then build the rack of balls without moving the rack. you will be amazed how quick you can rack. It is not a perfect rack but it keeps the head balls from moving.

It makes racking the balls easier but like I said the rack still has flaws, which believe it or not some people want? It allows the randomness of a regular rack not the predictability of the magic rack(which I use) or of the slug doctor.

If the clear ones are not thick enough you can double it up or try the white ones

http://www.twinsupply.com/office/proddetail.asp?prod=AVE05729

I put them on 12 tables at the pool hall the last week of january and most of them are still on. If I play in the weekly tourney and the table doesnt have one I just put one on. Nobody has complained which is rare and everybody says it works great.

If the table has a spot just put it over the spot. Try and you will be amazed. I cant believe this is not being done. It is not as good as the magic rack or a slug doctor but I think it is awesome.
Click to expand...

This is how I rack. I usually don't even try to rack any other way.
 
your_turn said:
Hello

A question for the more knowledgeable players out there.

The situation - You put the balls in the rack. You place the head ball on the spot. The first 3 rows of balls roll and separate grossly. You push the rack up to where the first ball sits. The first ball then stays there and the next 2 rows of balls still break apart grossly. Aggravation sets in...

Why does this happen? My theory is that the felt gets worn down from the break impact. Some people (I believe mistakenly) blame the rack itself. I do not see how that is possible, a rack is a rack is a rack a flat surface made to create a triangle.

To me, there are 3 possiblities. The rack, the felt, or longterm damage to the slate on the foot spot.

What is the cause of this common problem?

your_turn
Click to expand...



If the tables cloth is tight, the problems is most likely from some Rocket Scientist who did not know how to rack the balls right and pounded on them with the cue ball until they were tight. This does make a tight rack, but it also puts dents in the slate and over time the balls will only rack tight in that exact position..

Take Care
 
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