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  1. #1
    FEP Super Member mmb617's Avatar
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    Default Anybody refurbish their pool table?

    I have what used to be a coin operated 7 ft pool table from a bar that went out of business. I've had it for about 25 years and converted it to drop pockets and had it recovered not long after I got it. At that time the rubber was still pretty lively so it wasn't replaced.

    Now the rails are really dead and need new rubber badly. The bed cloth isn't too bad but it's not great, and if I'm redoing the rails I'm also redoing the bed.

    I got a quote of $700 from a local place. That's for new rubber on the rails and recovering the table. They said that quote was using mid grade cloth. If I wanted high end cloth it would be more.

    Looking online I can buy all the materials to do the job myself for under $200 if I'm using mid grade cloth, and there are of course videos showing how to do the job.

    Recovering the bed looks pretty straightforward, but I'm a bit concerned about the rails. I'm sure it's tricky to get the ends just right and if it's messed up it will affect how the table plays.

    If you've ever done this job, give me your input. Any tips or tricks I should keep in mind? I'm pretty sure I'm going to give it a try as $500 for the labor seems way too high to me.
    408/T5/3.73's

    We're not fast racers, we're more what's known as half fast racers.

  2. #2
    Moderator wraithracing's Avatar
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    I just finished doing my pool table which is an 8 foot table. Mine is a 1979 model probably from Sears, Montgomery Wards, etc. although it does have a 3 piece slate top. My table was in pretty good shape, but we wanted to change the rail and field colors from the original green. I didn't need to replace my rail bumpers as they were in good shape, but I did look into the work required if I decided to go that route.

    I would say overall the job isn't too bad, but you will need a really good stapler (I used my electric unit), lots of staples, some contact cement or spray adhesive, lots of single edge razor blades, a large work area, and plenty of patience.

    From my understanding your table is set up a bit different than mine, but the installation is very similar. I spent over $250 just on my cloth, but part of that was due to using two different colors. I am not sure what the rail bumpers go for, but my guess would be they are going to be close to another $100 just for that if not more. The rail bumpers are just glued on with contact cement on most tables, so it's nothing more than remove and replace. You might have to trim a bit or shape the ends at the pockets, but nothing too bad. The feather strips that hold the rail cloth in place were the most work for me. I installed a high quality cloth and i had to sand down my feathers to prevent from splitting my rails when I installed them. The next hardest part was getting the cloth stapled and pulled correctly in the corners/pockets. I recommend using the opposite rail as a guide and only disassemble on rail at a time and use the other as a guide for how it should look when done. I also recommend watching a lot of You Tube videos of how it goes. I did one rail at a time and then did it's opposite, then on to the next set until I was done. Came out really well IMHO and the wife is happy too.

    The table/field is pretty straight forward. I just laid the cloth down and centered it on the table. Then I started at one end and stapled it to the wood strips at the edges and then I worked my way back and forth at opposite sides all the while pulling the cloth nice and taunt. I continued with the stapling and pulling until the cloth is well secured. Then I started at one pocket and made my pie cuts to pull the cloth under and used spray adhesive to glue it off to the table and stapled it where possible. Oh! One trick I did find on the internet was to cut a strip of the cloth for the table and glue it onto the inside area of the pocket (slate top). Then trim the cloth so it's flush with the top and bottom of the table. Then when you pull your cloth at the pockets if you make too deep of a cut with your pie cuts the slate won't show through because you have the extra layer underneath. I didn't screw up this time, so it wasn't an issue, but was nice to have the added insurance.

    I think that covers most everything. I am sure I forgot something, but feel free to PM me if needed for more information. Below is my table as it sits right now.

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    Trey
    ​Trey

    "I Don't build it hoping for your approval! I built it because it meets mine!"

    "I've spent most of my money on Mustangs, racing, and women... the rest I just wasted."

    Mustangs Past: Too many to remember!
    Current Mustangs:
    1969 Mach 1
    1979 Pace Car now 5.0/5 speed
    1982 GT Stalled RestoModification
    1984 SVO Still Waiting Restoration
    1986 GT Under going Wide Body Conversion Currently

    Current Capris:
    1981 Capri Roller
    1981 Capri Black Magic Roller Basket Case
    1982 Capri RS 5.0/4spd T-top Full Restoration Stalled in TX
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  3. #3
    FEP Super Member mmb617's Avatar
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    Trey, thanks for taking the time to document your job, it's very helpful. My table slate is all one piece so I think that will help. In researching the job I saw mention of using some kind of wax on the transition between pieces of slate and imagined that would be tough to get right as there is no margin for error, the surface must be absolutely flat. At least I won't have that worry.

    My slate also has no wood backing attached to the slate itself, the cloth will have to be glued on around the edges as there's no provision for stapling the field cloth. I don't think laying out the cloth for the bed will be too hard, I was more concerned about the rails. I have watched several videos dealing with recovering the rails and it's something that I'll need to take my time and make sure before making any cuts. I also thought about what you said, doing one side rail at a time and using the opposite side as a sort of template.

    I can't find any information on which profile my bumper rubber is so I'll have to take one apart and get the measurements in order to match it up. It looks like most old coin op tables used the K55, but some are U23 and a few are U56. My table is an all-tech and it looks like they've been out of business for a while. That coupled with the lack of a model number anywhere that I can see makes it impossible to find any specs on it that might tell me which profile was used.

    It looks like I can buy the rubber from a variety of places for around $50. I saw one vendor who offered "tournament grade" rubber for over $200 but I think that's overkill for a home table. I do want top of the line cloth though, and it looks like that would be Simonis. I found one place selling the Simonis 860 cloth for a 7 ft table for $219, so I think that would be a worthwhile upgrade over some lesser cloth I could get for $100.

    I understand there's a lot of stapling into hardwood rails so I'll need some sort of power staple gun. In the videos I've watched they generally used a pneumatic staple gun but that would be inconvenient for me as the compressor is in the garage and the pool table is in the basement. I take it your electric one worked well, so could you tell me what brand/model it was?

    I'm an old traditional kind of guy so I'll go with green cloth again, but will say yours is eye catching. I've heard that beige cloth is easy on the eyes and nice to shoot on.

    I briefly flirted with getting rid of my old 7 ft table and replacing it with a new 8 ft since I have enough room now that we moved the pool table to the basement from upstairs. The price was one thing that changed my mind, and I rarely have anyone to play here at home. I shoot by myself most of the time taking turns playing both sides, so making a big investment in a table just didn't make sense. So I decided to refurbish this old table I've had forever.

    It doesn't look like this project is in the budget for this month but I think I can weasel it in next month. I'll let you know how it turns out.

    And thanks again!
    408/T5/3.73's

    We're not fast racers, we're more what's known as half fast racers.

  4. #4
    Moderator wraithracing's Avatar
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    Sorry I am not a green fan and couldn't take it anymore! I hadn't really planned on the colors there on the table, but that was what the wife wanted. It turned out really well IMHO. We needed to add some color to the basement and the purple on the rails was just enough to do that, but not be obnoxious IMHO. I do like the Camel/tan color on the table it plays really well and just looks clean.

    I will have to look at the staple gun to get you a brand name. I believe I bought it at Home Depot. It worked really well overall. I still had to finish tapping in a few staples if I didn't hold the gun nice and tight when stapling, but overall it worked great and saved my hand from all the manual work.

    I had the same issues with my rails as nothing appeared to match perfectly. I ended up not replacing mine because they were still in good shape although I did replace the rubber in the pockets, but those are easy and most only require a minor trim to fit perfect. I would just find some cushions that have the correct dimension and a similar shape and you should be fine.

    If your table is going to be all glue down then I highly recommend putting the extra strip on the pockets to help hide any screw ups. Besides it also pads the pocket just a bit so that doesn't hurt on some of your shots.

    I will grab the stapler name tonight and post it up for you.

    Trey
    ​Trey

    "I Don't build it hoping for your approval! I built it because it meets mine!"

    "I've spent most of my money on Mustangs, racing, and women... the rest I just wasted."

    Mustangs Past: Too many to remember!
    Current Mustangs:
    1969 Mach 1
    1979 Pace Car now 5.0/5 speed
    1982 GT Stalled RestoModification
    1984 SVO Still Waiting Restoration
    1986 GT Under going Wide Body Conversion Currently

    Current Capris:
    1981 Capri Roller
    1981 Capri Black Magic Roller Basket Case
    1982 Capri RS 5.0/4spd T-top Full Restoration Stalled in TX
    1984 Capri RS T-top Roller
    1983-84 Gloy Racing Trans Am/IMSA Body Parts

  5. #5
    FEP Super Member mmb617's Avatar
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    I took one of the rails off and peeled back the cloth enough to get measurements from the rubber. Turns out it's the U23 profile so I ordered a set that's supposed to be pure gum rubber with cloth facings both top and bottom. These looked to be the best quality I could get without going all the way to the "professional grade" that was way more money.

    My rails are made really weird. They don't have a feather strip at all. Instead the whole piece with the rubber glued on bolts flat to the rail, so the cloth is stapled on all four sides. Kind of hard to explain. I should have taken a picture while I had it off, but I put it back on so I can play till I get everything I need to do the refurbish.

    Even though I go with green cloth again it will look a lot different I'm sure as what I have now is very faded so it's a real washed out looking pale green.
    408/T5/3.73's

    We're not fast racers, we're more what's known as half fast racers.

  6. #6
    Venomous Moderator Hissing Cobra's Avatar
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    I don't have a pool table but Trey, your's looks awesome! Mike, post some pic's of your's when you're done with it. On a side note, I used to play pool daily when I was a young teenager. We used to have a "Youth Center" that my twin brother and I used to go to every day after school and we'd play pool, air hockey, and shuffle board down in the basement, and basketball, dodgeball, and indoor wiffleball upstairs in the gym. We used to have a blast there.
    Pete Slaney

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  7. #7
    FEP Super Member mmb617's Avatar
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    Here's what I was saying about my rails being made weird without a feather strip.





    You can see how the cloth is stapled on all four sides. At least I won't have the problem of needing to clearance the featherstip like Trey did.


    Since I'm going to be working on making the table better I figured I'd see if I could finally fix something that's been wrong with it for the whole 25 years or so I've had it. The one corner pocket has some sort of raised area right at the lip that causes a real slow rolling ball to actually hang up instead of going in the pocket sometimes. It's such a well known problem that my friends and I named that pocket Mr Pocket years ago. As in "Mr pocket rejects your shot". We had already noticed this when I first got the table so when I had it recovered shortly after I got it I mentioned it to the guy doing the work. I asked him to check it out and fix it, but after he was done it was still the same.

    I always thought there was a build up of glue on the lip under the felt causing a slight ridge. Today I pulled up the cloth from that corner and found the problem. There is a chip in the slate about half the size of a guitar pick. The chip was sitting there with debris under it causing it to be slightly raised. I cleaned the area under it and epoxied the chip back in place. I'll let it set overnight and then sand it completely flat tomorrow. That should be the end of Mr Pocket. RIP.


    408/T5/3.73's

    We're not fast racers, we're more what's known as half fast racers.

  8. #8
    Moderator wraithracing's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by mmb617 View Post
    I took one of the rails off and peeled back the cloth enough to get measurements from the rubber. Turns out it's the U23 profile so I ordered a set that's supposed to be pure gum rubber with cloth facings both top and bottom. These looked to be the best quality I could get without going all the way to the "professional grade" that was way more money.

    My rails are made really weird. They don't have a feather strip at all. Instead the whole piece with the rubber glued on bolts flat to the rail, so the cloth is stapled on all four sides. Kind of hard to explain. I should have taken a picture while I had it off, but I put it back on so I can play till I get everything I need to do the refurbish.

    Even though I go with green cloth again it will look a lot different I'm sure as what I have now is very faded so it's a real washed out looking pale green.
    You got off easy!

    You shouldn't have any issues recovering your rails. Looks like you fixed Mr. Pocket too! You are going to love it once you get everything done.

    Oh and my electric stapler is a Powershot Pro that I bought at Home Depot. works pretty well. If I was doing it again, I might buy one that is a bit better/more powerful, but overall really can't complain it was only $25-$30 for it.

    Trey
    ​Trey

    "I Don't build it hoping for your approval! I built it because it meets mine!"

    "I've spent most of my money on Mustangs, racing, and women... the rest I just wasted."

    Mustangs Past: Too many to remember!
    Current Mustangs:
    1969 Mach 1
    1979 Pace Car now 5.0/5 speed
    1982 GT Stalled RestoModification
    1984 SVO Still Waiting Restoration
    1986 GT Under going Wide Body Conversion Currently

    Current Capris:
    1981 Capri Roller
    1981 Capri Black Magic Roller Basket Case
    1982 Capri RS 5.0/4spd T-top Full Restoration Stalled in TX
    1984 Capri RS T-top Roller
    1983-84 Gloy Racing Trans Am/IMSA Body Parts

  9. #9
    FEP Super Member mmb617's Avatar
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    I got the rubber for the rails so it was time for some dis assembly. Holy crap there were a lot of staples to pull out in order to remove the cloth from the rails. I counted 110 staples in one rail so I had 660 of them to pull, and those babies were buried nice and deep. I did that Saturday and my hand's still a bit sore today.





    After the cloth was off I pulled off the old rubber which wasn't adhered very well in spots. That probably contributed to the rails being so dead, but the rubber was plain wore out. Comparing the old to the new I could see how the front edge was rounded down on the old ones. I scraped off the glue residue from the wood rails and then wiped them with lacquer thinner in preparation for the contact cement.

    I set up a little assembly line so I could keep busy while waiting for the cement to tack up. I'd clamp a rail in the work bench and brush on a coat of glue, let that tack up then put on a second coat.




    I made a little jig to hold one of the rubbers upside down so I could apply two coats of glue to it.





    When the glue was ready I'd place the rubber on the rail and set the whole thing aside to dry. The rubber is way too long as it's made for an 8 ft table, but it has to be trimmed later anyways.






    After trimming the rubber to match the rail ends I had another table set up where I glued on the end pieces.





    Once that dried I trimmed it and the rails were ready to be covered.

    I'm at a standstill right now till I get the cloth. I didn't order it till Saturday so it'll be a few days till I can resume work on this project. Because good cloth is expensive I toyed with the idea of reusing my old cloth since it wasn't ripped, just worn and faded. The real problem with the table was the dead rails. After pulling all those staples out of the rails I realized I didn't want to have to do that again in the future so I'd just have to bite the bullet and buy the cloth now. I ordered the Simonis 860 cloth which is pretty much top of the line so I'll have to be real careful not to make any mistakes in cutting it when it arrives.

    I'll update when the cloth arrives.
    408/T5/3.73's

    We're not fast racers, we're more what's known as half fast racers.

  10. #10
    FEP Super Member gr79's Avatar
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    Default good times at the pool (table)

    No room for a real table here, so i use Virtual Pool 3 on the PC when mood arises.
    Last time i played for real was on the Mustang car table, Ford World HQ, at the 50th anny show.

    Tables at someones home sometimes have quarks only they know about. They always win.
    The 60's had many wood top tables. Usually 7'. Slate was expensive.
    Dead spots, humps, cloth gouges, duct tape, who knows what. still fun.
    Rules, specified and not.
    Ball returns. Stuck balls. The pocket opening angles.
    Using the bridge or left handed shots.
    One friend had a 9 ball table only. Shot of Jack req. before play. 8 ball sucked on it for some reason.
    One neighbor had a table with different size balls.
    Funky or no chalk.
    Glue on stick tips. Replacement slide on tips are best.
    Sticks are always a guess unless you have your own.
    Basement poles, walls, objects in the way. Leveling table and rails. Lighting for sure.
    We like to keep balls clean, especially the cue, with special ball cleaner.

    9' are rare and for pro tournaments on tv?
    What happened to bumper pool tables?
    Shuffleboards with the sawdust?
    Playing by the hour at the local bowling alley pool hall.

    Actually had some fun pool and ping pong games on the kid's 9 in one Fischer Price special.

    One time we bought an 8' off the display floor at Sears. Took it apart in the store. 3 piece slate. Great price.
    Real nice table replaced the 7' wood top, which was fun but just got old and warped.

    With a cover and top board, also great for slot car, train layouts, party table for food, etc.
    As were ping pong tables, although they held less weight and were more unstable.

    Bar coin op are 7'. Put your .25 on the rail to challenge winner. Most are gone, Too many problems.
    Neighborhood bar in the 70's Never really played pool there. Am an amateur.
    Regulars had them tied up at night. 5 tables.
    Remember one slow day i did play. 1.00/game bet.
    Won one game on the break. Took 3 of 3. Cleaned up quickly. Played the last one left handed.
    Quit and quietly sat back at the bar. Did not take the money.
    They just shook their heads and smiled wow. Me too as to did i really do that?
    Last edited by gr79; 09-28-2015 at 11:53 AM.

  11. #11
    FEP Super Member mmb617's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by gr79 View Post
    No room for a real table here, so i use Virtual Pool 3 on the PC when mood arises.

    I'm not a gamer so that definitely wouldn't work for me. But it does take a lot of room to have a pool table and not have restrictions on any shots. Even with a 7 ft table like I have they recommend 5 ft all around so you'd need about 14'x18' of completely open space. I didn't quite have that upstairs but I do in the basement. It's nice to never need a short stick.

    Tables at someones home sometimes have quarks only they know about. They always win.

    There's definitely a home field advantage, like my table had Mr Pocket before I fixed it. Those who played on it regular knew about it but a noob might be surprised by it. Still a better player can go in and beat the owner, especially after a game or two to learn how the table plays.

    The 60's had many wood top tables. Usually 7'. Slate was expensive.

    LOL, I've played on a wood top table before. They are a joke. At least my table has a slate top.

    Dead spots, humps, cloth gouges, duct tape, who knows what. still fun.

    I've played on some dive bar tables where the felt was in really poor shape. Makes the game shall we say interesting. It's another situation where the regulars know the table and have an advantage.

    Rules, specified and not.

    Especially when playing in a bar it's super important to know the "house rules" right up front. Unless you're some kind of MMA master and are packing. Bad mojo can happen over rule disputes when mass quantities of alcohol are involved.


    Sticks are always a guess unless you have your own.

    I've seen some house cues that were unbelievably bad, yet who takes their good stick with them when bar hopping? You play with what's available.

    Basement poles, walls, objects in the way. Leveling table and rails. Lighting for sure.

    When I first got my table many years ago there was no where near enough room to play on it. Anything close to the rail was a short stick shot and even then sometimes you needed to angle the stick way up to have room. We fixed most of that situation by removing a partition wall and turning two rooms into one. I did always take the time to have the surface level and well lighted though.

    9' are rare and for pro tournaments on tv?

    I've never even seen a 9' table except on TV. Around here the bars all have 7', and the clubs, bowling alleys and pool halls have 8'.

    What happened to bumper pool tables?

    We had a cheesy one of those as kids but I haven't seen one in ages.

    Shuffleboards with the sawdust?

    At least around here that fad seemed to be short lived. Back in the 80's? they were in a few bars for a while then they just went away.


    Bar coin op are 7'. Put your .25 on the rail to challenge winner.

    I remember the putting a quarter up to challenge. You can tell how long ago it was as I'm sure there are no quarter tables now.

    Remember one slow day i did play. 1.00/game bet.

    One thing I never did was play for money because a) I wasn't that good, and b) playing drunks for money is a good way to get into a bad situation.
    I don't have any idea what the pool scene is in the local bars these days as I haven't been inside a bar in many years. It was one of the reasons I got my own table years ago, so I wouldn't have any reason to go to the bar to shoot pool.
    408/T5/3.73's

    We're not fast racers, we're more what's known as half fast racers.

  12. #12

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    That's an awesome project, Mike! But lots more pics are a must.

    My neighborhood bar has a truly horrible table, and it's the only real table I ever play on.
    '88 Mustang GT convertible, T5, 3.08:1 gears. 5.0 Explobra Jet: A9L Mass Air conversion, Fenderwell Mac cold air intake, 70mm MAF meter = 4.6 T-Bird/Cougar housing + '95 Mustang F2VF-12B579-A1A sensor, aftermarket 70mm throttle body and spacer, Explorer intakes, GT40P heads with Alex's Parts springs and drilled for thermactor, Crane F3ZE-6529-AB 1.7 "Cobra" roller rockers, Ford Racing P50 headers, Mac H-pipe, Magnaflow catback, Walbro 190 LPH fuel pump, UPR firewall adjuster and quadrant with Ford OEM cable, 3G conversion ('95 Mustang V6), Taurus fan, rolled on Rustoleum gloss white paint...
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  13. #13
    FEP Super Member mmb617's Avatar
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    I ordered the cloth on Saturday but it hasn't shipped yet. Once it arrives I'll post some pics of the rest of the project.

    I've seen and played on some of those truly horrible bar tables you mention. Really makes you appreciate a good table.

    While my table is apart I've been spending some time at the local senior center shooting on their table. They have a real nice Brunswick 8' table that hardly anybody uses. It's in like new condition and I sometimes spend a couple hours just shooting around by myself. Using that table shows just how dead my rails were. Even a moderately hard shot will go 3+ rails easy. Lot's of spring in the rubber. The green's also a lot faster than mine was. Can't wait to get mine back to that kind of condition.
    408/T5/3.73's

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  14. #14
    FEP Super Member 84StangSVT's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by mmb617 View Post

    Since I'm going to be working on making the table better I figured I'd see if I could finally fix something that's been wrong with it for the whole 25 years or so The one corner pocket has some sort of raised area right at the lip that causes a real slow rolling ball to actually hang up instead of going in the pocket sometimes. It's such a well known problem that my friends and I named that pocket Mr Pocket years ago. As in "Mr pocket rejects your shot". We had already noticed this when I first got the table so when I had it recovered shortly after I got it I mentioned it to the guy doing the work. I asked him to check it out and fix it, but after he was done it was still the same.

    I always thought there was a build up of glue on the lip under the felt causing a slight ridge. Today I pulled up the cloth from that corner and found the problem. There is a chip in the slate about half the size of a guitar pick. The chip was sitting there with debris under it causing it to be slightly raised. I cleaned the area under it and epoxied the chip back in place. I'll let it set overnight and then sand it completely flat tomorrow. That should be the end of Mr Pocket. RIP.
    This is an ambitious project Mike but I'm betting it is going to look and play so much better afterwards! Nothing better than a good table to play on.

    One thing though......you have played so long with Mr. Pocket that I almost guarantee that the first shot up that way, you will miss since he is not there anymore!
    Brock
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  15. #15
    FEP Super Member mmb617's Avatar
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    I don't think fixing Mr Pocket will have any adverse effects. The thing was that if you sent a slow roller his way even if it was on target he would reject it when it hit that little ridge. You always had to put a little more zip on a ball to that corner. Now hopefully we'll be able to make shots like the eight ball shot in the Bad to the Bone video and they'll fall instead of hang. No cigar flick should be necessary!

    I love watching one of those real slow shots where the ball is rolling, rolling, gets to the pocket and sort of pauses while you hold your breath, then it drops in.
    408/T5/3.73's

    We're not fast racers, we're more what's known as half fast racers.

  16. #16
    FEP Super Member mmb617's Avatar
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    I got the job finished yesterday. Getting the felt on without any wrinkles was easier than I thought it would be. The spray adhesive used on the edges really takes a good hold allowing you to get a good stretch on the cloth.

    I had lifted the slate a bit and had my wife slide some spacers under it so it was raised enough for me to spray the adhesive and tuck the cloth under. Then after the cloth was on I had to lift it again so she could pull the spacers out. Man that stuff's heavy! Just lifting one end at a time a few inches took all I had. I had originally planned on putting the slate on some saw horses to cover it but I'm glad I didn't attempt that. I'd have needed a couple more guys to lift it off the table entirely.





    After the slate was all covered I reattached the top rim:





    And here's the finished product:





    I shot a couple games with our son last night and we were both used to the old table. What a difference! The new rails are so lively and the green plays really fast. It's night and day difference. I should have done this a long time ago.

    I bought good quality gum rubber bumpers and top of the line Simonis cloth. Those coupled with the adhesives brought my total materials bill to right around $300. So I figure I saved about $500 over having someone come in and do the job for me. To a cheapskate like me it was well worth the effort.
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  17. #17
    FEP Super Member 84StangSVT's Avatar
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    Nice job Mike! Playing on a "fresh" table is great and saving $500 bucks in the process makes it even better.

    You have just made me want to tackle my table and try to refurbish it myself as the felt on it is shot. Maybe if I do, I would spend more time in the basement playing this winter.
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  18. #18
    Moderator wraithracing's Avatar
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    Looks Great Mike!

    Even in Green!

    Isn't it nice having a fresh clean table to play on! Mine had been in storage for 8+ years and has been a blast since I finally got it recovered!

    Trey
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  19. #19
    Venomous Moderator Hissing Cobra's Avatar
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    Damn! That looks awesome!
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  20. #20
    FEP Super Member eric5oh's Avatar
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    I restored a 50's Valley 7' table about 20 years ago. It had a one piece slate, so the felt was easy. I scored the bumper rubber from a local billiard shop. The hardest parts to find were the pocket liners, and parts to fix the ball return. It was Mahogany veneer and refinished great. I used Ford blue felt, no green here either.
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  21. #21

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    Looks nice! I'll bet it plays well too.

    Did you notice any anomalies? What about Mr. Pocket?
    '88 Mustang GT convertible, T5, 3.08:1 gears. 5.0 Explobra Jet: A9L Mass Air conversion, Fenderwell Mac cold air intake, 70mm MAF meter = 4.6 T-Bird/Cougar housing + '95 Mustang F2VF-12B579-A1A sensor, aftermarket 70mm throttle body and spacer, Explorer intakes, GT40P heads with Alex's Parts springs and drilled for thermactor, Crane F3ZE-6529-AB 1.7 "Cobra" roller rockers, Ford Racing P50 headers, Mac H-pipe, Magnaflow catback, Walbro 190 LPH fuel pump, UPR firewall adjuster and quadrant with Ford OEM cable, 3G conversion ('95 Mustang V6), Taurus fan, rolled on Rustoleum gloss white paint...
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  22. #22
    FEP Super Member mmb617's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by eric5oh View Post
    The hardest parts to find were the pocket liners, and parts to fix the ball return.
    When I got my table the ball returns were already trashed. Remember it spent it's early years in a bar so it was not treated gently. Rather than attempting to fix the busted up returns I decided to convert it to drop pockets. Since it doesn't have the pockets exposed that you can see them I went with an ultra low cost way of doing it. I attached 3 lb coffee cans at each pocket and cushioned them with a padded liner we custom made to fit the cans. It's been that way for all the years I've had it and I don't see any problems with it.

    Quote Originally Posted by grabbergreen84 View Post
    Looks nice! I'll bet it plays well too.

    Did you notice any anomalies? What about Mr. Pocket?
    I think the Mr Pocket problem is solved. That pocket no longer plays different than any other. But we will probably always refer to that corner as Mr Pocket, as in "three ball in Mr Pocket" when calling a shot.

    The table plays so much faster and has so much more rebound that it's a little hard to get used to after playing on the old slow table for so long. I'm far from an expert player and can't play position very well, but I do understand the idea of getting the cue ball where you want it for your next shot. What worked before is different now. Also some sloppy off center pocket shots that might still fall before will be jawed with the new rails, effectively making the pockets a little smaller. On the plus side, shots that might have "run out of gas" before will continue rolling and fall if on course. It's also a lot easier to spread the table and make a ball or two on the break now. There was so little action off the rails before that break shots didn't send much down range.
    Last edited by mmb617; 10-04-2015 at 07:00 AM.
    408/T5/3.73's

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  23. #23
    FEP Super Member gr79's Avatar
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    Those tables look great.
    Am about due for a game of stripes and solids.
    Neat how the cue ball has its own chute in a coin table.
    Last edited by gr79; 10-05-2015 at 10:47 AM.

  24. #24

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    Hey guys, I'm new here! Sorry for posting in and old thread, but I don't think new one is necessary

    I plan to reorganize my garage and install a pool table.
    I'd like to make a DIY one, huh. So, any advice is appreciated.
    I looked up some ideas on Pinterest here (https://www.pinterest.com.au/supercapit ... ool-table/)
    and read some ""beginner"" articles like this https://justcraftingaround.com/diy-pool-table/ and this (https://recroompick.com/how-to-refelt-a-pool-table/)
    still got many questions about the materials and sizes.

    I've only played in bars, and I'm not a professional player. Neither a woodworker. Still, I'd like to at least try.

    So, waiting for your feedback. Maybe someone had such an experience?

  25. #25
    FEP Super Member mmb617's Avatar
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    I'm one who is very much a DIY'er. I built my 4 car garage myself with no contractors involved, but I would not attempt to build a pool table from the ground up.

    Maybe an experienced cabinet maker could pull it off but I think most people would simply end up with a table that's virtually unplayable and would spend way more than it's worth to do it. There's a lot of very precise wood fitting that would be required and have you seen the prices of building materials these days?

    You will spend less money and end up with a much better table if you can find a beat up table with good bones and refurbish it like I did.

    If you do decided to build your own please post a build thread as I'd be very interested in seeing that done.
    408/T5/3.73's

    We're not fast racers, we're more what's known as half fast racers.

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