9-Ball
Topic: Table cleaning

I have a question for the experts on here - what's the best thing to clean your table's cloth with?

I got a table in November last year, and though I brush it regularly, there's still chalk marks all over it, and I wonder how best to clean them off. I'm obviously not keen to wreck my Simonis 860 cloth, so I'm not diving in to anything! Quick Clean seems to be the most talked about product over on AZB, but I don't know of a UK supplier and the export costs are pretty expensive for it.

Anyone have any ideas? I know a few of you have your own tables - what do you use?

Cheers

Why not contact Simonis???

That's a fine idea and I shall do, thanks Malaguista.

Still I'd be interested to hear what anyone else uses at home...

On 2006-05-30 15:47 , mrpies Wrote:

Me too. This is relevant to the other thread at the moment as well. I'm not sure on the best procedure to clean a pool table but I've seen all sorts in the clubs I frequent including vacum cleaners, wet rags, and assorted brushing techniques.

If we had some consensus on the best way to maintain a table we could try to influence our local Rileys by encouraging them to care for the equipment in the best way possible.

For example, what is the best way to care for a table with (a) the best resources, requisite equipment and time and (b) with the resources and time that a typical pool hall has at it's disposal?

Cheers,

RT

Hoover?

On 2006-05-30 19:08 , ct Wrote:

Is that a question or answer?

RT

a good brushing and then a damp cloth but make sure its not to damp and a good hoover always works wonders with 14 sam tables

On 2006-05-31 11:59 , Bumble Wrote:

Is the hoover because of time and the easiest way to clean a cloth or because it is the best way to maintain a cloth?

I'm not being sarcastic as I genuinely don't know the answer to the original question and so I'm sure that a lot of the staff who have the responsibility for cleaning / maintaining tables in clubs here in the UK don't either.

Cheers,

RT

Good point - I'm always terrified of using a hoover or something, I didn't know what it might do to the cloth. Similarly - how vigorous are you with the cloth? I've heard a damp cloth before, but bottled it when the chalky marks didn't come out immediately...

every club i have been to in the states used hoovers! maybe this is something to go by

The club where i play has an old guy who cleans the tables every day with a regular table brush and a cloth for the rails.


D4RYL.

Bumble!!!

how are you??!!! I miss you! and Gary! You missed any tour stops yet or you still going strong?!

Hope you are okay

Danny!!

You need a hoover (not to strong) with a medium brush attachment, this is too loosen the dust on the cloth as you hoover it. Try not to do it too hard as you will ruff the cloth up! you only need to loosen it to be able to slurp it up. Then afterwards put a slightly damp cloth round a long brush(snooker brush) and gently go over the cloth. But the key to it for me is too hoover the knuckle of the pocket!!! this is a must because when the balls pick up muck from the cloth it puts onto the cloth at point of contact in the pocket. Plus when you hoover you dont get the problem of dust in the pocket getting on the potted balls. I built a pace meter to test each and every table to get a constant pace between tables, so you can judge which table needs a bit more care than another. Also try and be there when the table gets recoverd, i did this at Doncaster when they had a re-fit, result was fast table's and a constant pace overall. Maybe to fast at the time for most players, but a fast table to me is better. But everyone has there own preference.

ok, right, I'm gonna have to mention something and I'm saying this because I have done this work for a great deal of time and plenty of experience and knowledge to back it up.

1. DON'T use a hoover of vacum of any kind, the reason being is, when you vacume a table, it cracks and loosens the plaster paris that is used to join the slates before the cloth is put on, if you crack the plaster paris, 2 things happen, 1st, you risk the levelness of the particular slate piece and 2, you will most like have a small chunk of plaster paris, move as it is being sucked against the underside of the cloth and resting on the top of the slate and thus leaving a lump of plaster paris in the way and most likely will be a disruption to game play.

2. Brush a tabnle thoroughly, starting with the rails first, then under the top and side rails, then the bed, then sweep all the dust and cloth and chalk from under the bottom rail, and finally brush the top of the bottom rail.

3. when you have finished brushing, get a dry duster and wipe the dust from the bottoms of the cornerpocket(s) in which the debris was brushed into, that way the dus isn't trnsferred onto the balls when playing and winding back on the table again.

4. after you have brushed the table, spray a thin, but even coating of quick clean and then wipe the table in lings going up and down in each length and also on the rails, both the top and the nose of the rails.

5. Wash and polish the set of balls that are used on the table after using them or an hour before you're intending to play, as this will make the cloth play better for longer, whereas if you don't keep the ball set clean, you're only wasting you're just gonna have a the table will get piggin really quickly and won't play as true or fast as it would with a clean and polished set of ivories.

6. regularly clean the inside of the rack that you use when racking the balls for each game, as chalk and dirt collects on the rack too as it is transferred from the table, to the balls, to the rack.

And finaly

7. buy a proper dust cover and keep it on the table untill you are about to play on it or cleaning the table, it is best to clean a table after playing on it because the dust that goes up, won't have come down untill a good deal of time after you have put the dust cover on.

By doing all of this as I have mentioned, you will not only have a championship quality table, but the cloth will last and play much better for a longer period of time and therefore saving you money in the long run of cloth costs, but I do recommend getting your table reclothed every 8-10 months depending on the amount of play and how much you look after your table.

Take care everyone and I strongly recommend this advice to all players because there are very few people that really know the right way to clean a table as I do, believe e, I have the experience at it as well as the knowledge

Willie

I fully understand in what you said. I looked after tables for a while and never had any complaints. Going back to being there at the table building/re-covering, the table builder on Doncasters table's used epoxy resin, not plaster of paris so it would not lift when hoovering.
I have been trying for a while now to get through to Riley's to employ someone who can set a correct standard within the clubs, so staff can follow protocol for cleaning tables. I'm not saying that my way was the correct way, just that it seemed to work and had no complaints.
Just want to play on tables of a good/high standard! And it seems that its a rare thing in the UK to do this. Hopefully when topics like this are discussed then things might improve.

well if your beloved table ain't been properly looked after and all that chalk dust has been working its way through the cloth its gonna cause some nasty roll offs-- and no amount of brushin an wipin gonna get it off! ya jus gotta get that darn powerful vac on the go...

When a new cloth goes on it has no dust/muck in it, so i would think thats how it would be kept, dust free as much as possible.
side-spin-king Does this mean you are a master in side spin? cos i dont use side spin! lol

On 2006-05-31 20:01 , Steve_Brown Wrote:

Are you sure they used Epoxy resin? Wouldn't this make it tough to disassemble the table in the future?

I live out in Southern California now (I'm from the UK) and when I got my table I was lucky enough to get the table mechanic from the HardTimes pool hall in L.A. to come and set it up for me. He used a car body filler to fill the seams and some small chips in the slate and says this is much better than Plaster of Paris, or the Beeswax used traditionally in the USA. He also told me HardTimes (Which is a very busy Pool hall frequented by top Pros in L.A.) only vacuum their tables, they never bother brushing them at all.

As long as the seams have be filled properly in this way and the cloth fitted tight vacuuming should not cause damage. (I vacuum mine about every 2 weeks.) However the filler is hard and smooth but can crack if the frame of the table moves. If you have a cheap table with a weak frame, or if the table is on a poor surface like wooden floorboards that can move then Beeswax is preferable as it allows a little flex.

This all assumes you are used a thin worsted cloth like Simonis. If you have a heavy napped cloth then brushing is actually required not to clean but to smooth down the nap (Snooker tables are also ironed smooth!)

Thanks everyone for all your input - cheers for your message Willie:



Do you know anywhere to get this Quick Clean stuff from in the UK?

THe German fitters who set up the tables for the WPC qualifiers in Cardiff a couple of years ago, swore by a Polyfilla product, I can´t remember the name offhand but still have some somewhere if anyone needs to know.
We clean our tables in the South of Spain with an "Electrolux" as we don´t have a "Hoover" !!!!!!!!!

I'm not aware of any suppliers on the UK of Quik Cliean, but you should be able to get the info on any possible UK suppliers on there, unfortunately though I don't know their website address of hand

I was in cardiff that year too as the German Fitters were there to fit the Dynamic Olympic 2's, the chief fitter was Chistan from what I remember, he was a decent guy

I remember the brunswick fitters from Sweden that were there installing the GC4's too, Tom and 'Hightower', that was the other fitter's nickname as the other fitters called him that all the time lol, I think that they used the beeswax for the filler as the tables were only being assembled for that week/10 days and it was easier for them to work with, then dismantling the tables again for selling them

Hoover is wick, you should get a dyson and at least you'll get your money's worth, but in a general way, I do disagree to an extent with the vacuming of tables, but everyone has their own mothods