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Topic: Tapping mat

I have to admit... This is the first time I've ever heard of a tapping mat...I had also heard it was not good for the tables... I guess I'm one of those

it doesn't damage the table if done correctly..it aint gonna crack 2 inch slate by tapping a few balls

It won't damage the slate, but it does speed up the wear and tear of the rack area on the cloth, plus the indentations get deeper over time, thus increasing the risk of the snowball leaving the table on the break, espcially when a player is a naturaly heavy weight breaker, in other words, a player who hates the soft break.

Willie


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If ya got 'em, smoke 'em

Bear in mind you only need to tap them twice a month in most cases. So it's not like you are constantly banging away at the slate.

Yes, but even at that twice / month, you need to remember the amount of games that are played in that time period, and how quickly the rack area can becomed pitted, especially the foot spot, even more so in aregular club where you get the everyday bangers and boozers who just rack 'em any old way, which creates problems for trying to get a table to stay good at the racking area.

Another problem as well is, allowing for the cloth to become slack over time as well, this too alters the rack area and after a few months, the balls don't rack as tightly as they would on new cloth, because the stretch in the cloth has somewhat reversed, whereas if the cloth was in good enough condition to be restreched, then you would be able to get the most life span from the cloth, as well as being able to have a table tha continues to rack good

When I had a small table at home, I recovered it with good cloth, and I resteched the cloth every 2 months, purely to take up the slack from natural wear and tear of regular playing and the table was able to keep it's original fast pace like new and also the rack area stayed consistent.

Personally, I think that it is worth while learning the right techniques of being able to maintain a pool table, recovering the table, restretching the cloth on the bed and rails, etc, and if possible for a good club to have an in-house employee, where that person can restretch the cloth every 2-3 months, depending on how much play the each table gets

Willie

that would be a great idea, then they wouldn't have the expenditure of spending out on new cloth ect so often.

My local club has been told they have £600 to spend on tables and apparantly, according to one of my friends that works there, it costs around £800 to completely re-cloth and put new rubber on a single table.

Seeming as at the moment they have 3 out of 9 tables out of play and most of the others are not in great condition £600 doesn't go that far to regenerating the poor tables.

If there was an in-house employee that could learn to do this in every club, tables would stay nicer for longer and would prove better for the clubs and players alike

That's right, and also it means that they are also supporting their own staff, and saving the buisness a little money, each time any maintanence work is required, the company only has to cover the cost of a roll of cloth, and can have an in-house employee do the work, thus saving on the expence of hiring an external company to do the work.

£600 is most definitely not enough, and it's no wonder why their tables are in poor condition... Each club should at least have a £1500 budget each year for any upkeep/maintanence of the tables alone, excluding employees of cleaning them on a daily basis and any lost/damaged equipment that needs repaired/replaced, after all, if the club has got a bar, 9 out of 10 times, they're gonna be getting that £1500 back again, plus profits since more customers will want to play on good tables, therfore more customers to play, more thirsts being slicked at the bar and more income for the buisness

Willie

i know, although saying that my local has been dead for a while, although it picked up alot on saturday. Thing is its getting to that time of year where people are going to want to go places like Rileys ect because its getting really cold out. The smoking ban ahsn't helped them but surely they would want to capitalise on the more customers by at least having all of the tables in a playable condition. There were people waiting to play on tables on saturday, and as i say 3 were out of use.

That's a disgrace, yes the smoking ban is a pain, but there's no excuse for being lazy and tight with only giving a £600 / year tables mainainence budget, you'd be very lucky if you could get 3 tables recovered for £600, and even then, it will probably be a half done job.

It sounds very much like you'd be better off looking to see if you can get your own table and rent a room somewhere, that is big enough for you to house and practice on it, it's certainly better, than being asked to pay money for poor conditions, which is probably why the club had been so quiet in the first place.

Willie

well exactly, one of my friends is having a pool room built at the moment, and he is having a brand new Brunswick metro table in their with tournament pockets. Think i'll be practacing in their because it'll be beter standard and improve my potting no end with the tighter pockets.

Yeah, good on your friend I say, as it'll be good to have it'll be good to have a practice partner so that you can both try and be able to push your ability that bit further and be able to become more competitive in general

I would recommend though, instead of just playing races all the time, go through various practice drills and routines and the same for your friend, as this will also help you improve a great deal also

Another thing though that would be a good gesture, if you're going to be practicing with your friend, you could offer to help chip in so much towards the cost of the electricity, at least that way, you're still able to get good table time on good equipment, but you're also able to give a little something back to your friend, to help with the costs of electricity, etc

Willie

good idea, i'll just give him some money each time maybe towards the cost of the table for when he needs new cloth/rail rubber etc.

I do drills at the moment on a rileys table with another of my friends, and i have to say it has improved my game no ends. Lots of the time i do drills on my own too, as i feel i can concentrate more when im on my own, although i do like the race to 9 or whatever during practice maybe at the end

Sweet, you're doing a good thing already, but try looking online for new drills that you haven't heard of/tried before, and see how that goes, and perhaps you can add them into your routine

Another thing to try though is, instead of playing a race to 9, increase the race length to 11, and see how this goes as well

Willie

oh right ok, we do, on the odd occasion, play a race to 17 (like the WPC final). but thats not often. What i'm going to try to do is record my best results from each set of drills each week and see how it improves, kind of a visual way to see that i'm improving

Yes, that's the best way, because then you will be able to see where your strengths and weaknesses are, and therefore it allows you to oppertunity to try and contentrate on strengthening your weaknesses, to hel you become a better player all round

Another thing to do is, play other games like 1 Pocket, Bank Pool, etc, this adds new challenge and also a wider selection of games to enjoy, instead of just playing 8, 9 or 10ball

Willie

i've never actally played a game of 10 ball, i'll keep them all in mind. Thanks for the advice Willie

Anytime buddy

Willie

On 2007-12-02 03:10 , TheWizard Wrote:

i watched them recover the bed part of a table at work (tesco's lol) and didn't look to hard then last year my dad brought a pool table for a kids play center and the guy he brought it from said he would recover it for an extra £30 just the bed part as the rails look fine with some cloth he had left from the last time it was covered as he was moving and had no room for either the table or cloth so we said ok then it was delivered and there was the spray glue all over the wood sides and when we were leveling it it playe fine till we tried pocketing balls the was bubbles were it was not pulled tight round the pockets so me and my dad took the table apart and redone it it plays fine now apart from my dad got some spray glue on a bit of the cloth near one of the pockets

so if i can do it with only watching someone surely someone in a club shown propley could

ok back to tapping mats can some one explain what it actully does to the table ie. dents the slate or cloth or what surely if it dents either to prevent the balls rolling from the pack when balls are played slowly over that area there going to change direction slightly

Tapping mats

firstly - check with your manager before tapping in your local club! i would only tap all tables if you were using them for a big comp? local choppers wouldnt appreciate the difference anyway?

Follow Riggers gduidelines - cant go wrong.

Dents - Dents should be made into the cloth as opposed to the slate, however continued bashing of balls will obviously dent the slate also ans yes you may get a situation where if the ball is rolling slow enough it may deviate, this has never happend at my club though? Whats more likely is that if a ball comes to a stop where the balls have been racked it may slip into a dent - This happend to Neils Feijen in the semi final of a Eurotour and he missed the easiest 9 EVER!

if its done properl and with Care - you will have a perfect Rack

RECCOMENDATION - Tap the Balls 2 balls high with the 9 on the 1 spot. This will be more difficult to make the wing ball, or any ball for that matter - meaning racks lasting longer, more push shots, more safety battles and better pool - it WILL improve your game.

Much better than a dead wingball every rack!

leave it with ya - happy tapping

Oz

On 2007-11-19 14:44 , mackie Wrote:


The reason Hull won't let you tap is the last time you did it you did it so hard that you broke the slate. Oh and the management aren't none playing as you well know. Becareful what you put about them as you have be warned that you will be banned from Rileys if you persist in complaining about them & the tables.
Anyway Hull's tables have been re-clothed & tapped professionally now so all should be well.