1G Ball Sizes

[Master Blaster]

So we all know there is variation in ball weight but what I didn't think about was variation in size. Can this be even more of a killer on a very fine, long pot. I've measured my mumps 1G ball at 52.23mm but my ordinary CB is only 51.86mm. The rest of the balls ranged from 51.73 up to 52.13.

I'm thinking to myself, shouldn't Aramith work on guaranteeing size rather than weight? You know that pot to the middle that ran round the cup and stayed up.................................

[bolton-cueman]

there will always be manufacturing variance.

if you honestly believe that anyone can tell a 4/10ths of a mil size difference, considering the variance parameters of the cloth your playing on, I really think you're over thinking things here.

[Master Blaster]

there will always be manufacturing variance.

if you honestly believe that anyone can tell a 4/10ths of a mil size difference, considering the variance parameters of the cloth your playing on, I really think you're over thinking things here.

I looked at both cue balls with my eyes and felt them, and thought, the mumps ball is bigger, not just brighter. That's why I measured them. If I can tell with my naked eye, the tolerances aren't fine enough for me. Just 1% can ruin a pot so I'm thinking, 1% in width can also do that and it wouldn't even be the players fault.

You know what we are like, elements of luck need to be removed as much as possible, we can't adjust for those things.

[bolton-cueman]

I looked at both cue balls with my eyes and felt them, and thought, the mumps ball is bigger, not just brighter. That's why I measured them. If I can tell with my naked eye, the tolerances aren't fine enough for me. Just 1% can ruin a pot so I'm thinking, 1% in width can also do that and it wouldn't even be the players fault.

You know what we are like, elements of luck need to be removed as much as possible, we can't adjust for those things.

MB what youre saying is rather daft. Balls being of a 'precisely' identical size, would have minimal impact in the accuracy of your shot. Taking into account irregularities of your stroke, cloth, imperfections on the ball, cleanliness of the cue ball and object ball you can't seriously tell me that this would be a noticeable improvement to anyones game.

There has to be acceptance of tolerance / variance. You're not playing in a sterile, laboratory environment.

Anyway, this is far too civil and ordinary. Can we go back to trading insults please. Far more fun.

[DandyA]

the official rules of snooker from http://www.wpbsa.com/sites/default/f..._version_1.pdf

2. Balls
(a) The balls shall be of an approved composition and shall each have a
diameter of 52.5mm with a tolerance of +/- 0.05mm;
(b) they shall be of equal weight and the difference between the heaviest ball
and the lightest ball should be no more than 3g; and
(c) a ball or set of balls may be changed by agreement between the players
or on a decision by the referee.


to put rule 2(a) in plainer english, each ball's diameter should be between 52.45 and 52.55mm ... so your balls are out of specification ...

[DandyA]

Anyway, this is far too civil and ordinary. Can we go back to trading insults please. Far more fun.

I agree trading insults is fun but being geeky (see my post above) is even more fun ... and even more fun than that is being geeky and trading insults at the same time ...

Remember, you read it here, I was the first to say "MB's got small balls" ...

[Master Blaster]

the official rules of snooker from http://www.wpbsa.com/sites/default/f..._version_1.pdf

2. Balls
(a) The balls shall be of an approved composition and shall each have a
diameter of 52.5mm with a tolerance of +/- 0.05mm;
(b) they shall be of equal weight and the difference between the heaviest ball
and the lightest ball should be no more than 3g; and
(c) a ball or set of balls may be changed by agreement between the players
or on a decision by the referee.


to put rule 2(a) in plainer english, each ball's diameter should be between 52.45 and 52.55mm ... so your balls are out of specification ...

Exactly, and I'm not happy, these buggers cost £170 a set. So, what you're saying is the 1G mumps ball is close to being ok but the rest not. I'd be interested to see what size everyone else's balls are? And if this is a consistent problem Aramith have? I'm also going to double check the ball sizes with a different pair of digital calipers. This sh** is getting serious now, time to call the A team.

[Master Blaster]

*Dean, what do you think?

[DeanH]

as has been said the Rules state the min and max size allowed, and I am surprised at the range of your 1g set.
so maybe...
1. MB's micrometre may need calibrating?
2. Why can't Aramith make balls to size and weight consistently?
3. Is the tolerance in snooker balls diameter, within a range, still perfectly good and have no adverse affect to the play?

I remember my old college days when I had Quality Assurance and the lecturer saying years ago a British firm needed some bolts, so after sourcing they decided on a Japanese firm for the job (first time with a non-Euro firm), and the job was for a certain number of bolts to a fine tolerance and "no more than 5% out of spec". The Japanese supplied the bolts, the certain number, all to spec, spot on; and then they held up another bag saying "but we don't know why you wanted 5% out of spec?"

Is the Aramith manufacturing process so antiquated and prone to huge variance that we should be lucky to get any balls within 1g let alone 3g, and to hope for 52.5mm at the same time!?!

[pottr]

Look here... This is one of the things that irritates me in our club...

People swapping balls from one set, using their own white etc...

Sets are made uniform... There really are variances and if you think they don't matter then I apologise, but I am fervent in the belief that you are wrong.

If Tom Walker comes on, he will back me up. I can tell if the white has been swapped within a shot... If you know the feel of the white, then you can tell when it syncs up to the reds.

[Master Blaster]

Look here... This is one of the things that irritates me in our club...

People swapping balls from one set, using their own white etc...

Sets are made uniform... There really are variances and if you think they don't matter then I apologise, but I am fervent in the belief that you are wrong.

If Tom Walker comes on, he will back me up. I can tell if the white has been swapped within a shot... If you know the feel of the white, then you can tell when it syncs up to the reds.

Spot on. I think we all know that the angle of incidence has to be changed with pool shots because of the coin operated sized cue ball. Obviously, slight variations in snooker aren't as extreme but if we don't know how far out the white is, how can we adjust. Size is far more important to me than weight.

[DeanH]

There really are variances and if you think they don't matter then I apologise, but I am fervent in the belief that you are wrong.

you are right, when I said "tolerances within a range" I was meaning the diameter difference being 0.01mm (say), would that really matter?; of course if the difference is 2mm (say) then yes and as well all know differences in weight, by just a small margin, can greatly affect the play.

[Master Blaster]

as has been said the Rules state the min and max size allowed, and I am surprised at the range of your 1g set.
so maybe...
1. MB's micrometre may need calibrating?
2. Why can't Aramith make balls to size and weight consistently?
3. Is the tolerance in snooker balls diameter, within a range, still perfectly good and have no adverse affect to the play?

I remember my old college days when I had Quality Assurance and the lecturer saying years ago a British firm needed some bolts, so after sourcing they decided on a Japanese firm for the job (first time with a non-Euro firm), and the job was for a certain number of bolts to a fine tolerance and "no more than 5% out of spec". The Japanese supplied the bolts, the certain number, all to spec, spot on; and then they held up another bag saying "but we don't know why you wanted 5% out of spec?"

Is the Aramith manufacturing process so antiquated and prone to huge variance that we should be lucky to get any balls within 1g let alone 3g, and to hope for 52.5mm at the same time!?!

digital calipers are Japanese and RS calibrated, so probably quite accurate. I can see the differences with my own eyes though and I know they vary. that's an issue.

[Terry Davidson]

Well, I don't know about you guys but my balls are way too large to measure...lol

The balls will wear down after about 1yrs worth of constant play and especially the cueballs which always get smaller and lighter. My own cueball has dropped around .3gm in weight over the past 2 years.

I don't think a small variance in size would effect potting or positional play as much as a variance in weight does.

[thommo335]

(b) they shall be of equal weight and the difference between the heaviest ball
and the lightest ball should be no more than 3g;

In one breath the balls are the same weight then permitted not to be....??? This sentence makes no sense whatsoever.