Cushion Bounce

[philip in china]

I don't remember what table you have. If you have one made out of very dense Cuban mahogany or similar the bounce is very good. The trouble is that such wood is no longer available and the lighter woods are not as dense. That equates to less bounce. My table does not have steel blocks but I am 100% happy with the bounce.

Also temperature makes a difference. As rubber warms up it becomes more elastic.

[mikee]

I mentioned before an old Riley Imperial I play on sometimes in a club ,it is made from really dense oak and the cushions are really responsive and as good as steel .Unfortunately as the saying goes ,they don’t make em like they used too .

[itsnoteasy]

Our table came with a cushion warming system, although a home made thing , we weren't going to instal it but might change my mind after reading this thread. Does anyone know if the pro TVs tables have heated cushions?

[Danger Steve]

Heated cushion system? Do explain that one? Or better still, do you have any photos? I’m intrigued...

[itsnoteasy]

Heated cushion system? Do explain that one? Or better still, do you have any photos? I’m intrigued...

It's a lot of wires and I haven't a clue how it works, that's the best I can do for you Steve

[Danger Steve]

I mentioned before an old Riley Imperial I play on sometimes in a club ,it is made from really dense oak and the cushions are really responsive and as good as steel .Unfortunately as the saying goes ,they don’t make em like they used too .

Well it’s an ‘83 table made in the UK so I would think the cushions are pretty good quality mahogany??

I was pricing things up last night, if I could get the steel cut to size for say 300, I’d need new blocks and possibly new rubber and cloth 250, so 550 to convert to DIY steel block cushion. Is it going to be worth the money and effort?

How much bounce do you chaps with the steel cushions get? If you launch the cue ball down the length of the table by hand, how many times will the ball hit the top and bottom cushions before stopping? I can only manage 5 cushions trying this.

[Starsky]

Well it’s an ‘83 table made in the UK so I would think the cushions are pretty good quality mahogany??

I was pricing things up last night, if I could get the steel cut to size for say 300, I’d need new blocks and possibly new rubber and cloth 250, so 550 to convert to DIY steel block cushion. Is it going to be worth the money and effort?

How much bounce do you chaps with the steel cushions get? If you launch the cue ball down the length of the table by hand, how many times will the ball hit the top and bottom cushions before stopping? I can only manage 5 cushions trying this.

Steve,
Isn’t a steel block cushion more about getting a consistent bounce above anything else . I wish they had them on my local clubs tables as every cushion played differently and that just on one table

[Danger Steve]

Steve,
Isn’t a steel block cushion more about getting a consistent bounce above anything else . I wish they had them on my local clubs tables as every cushion played differently and that just on one table

Yes it is about that, but because they are so solid I think you do get an extra bit of bounce from them also, more than a standard wood cushion. For example the other evening I tried for about 30 mins to play one of Judd’s naughty snooker shots from black to yellow via 5 cushions... I hit that shot as hard as I could but still only managed 4 of the cushions and about 5 foot short of Judd’s shot... this was after brushing and ironing the table and with the table heating having been on for most of the day. The cloth was bone dry and playing nice and fast but I still couldn’t pull it off... It just seems to loose momentum after every hit of the cushion.

[Starsky]

30 mins on recreating a shot ....That’s the difference when you have to pay for your table by the hour to when you’ve got your own,

I see where your coming from Steve . I’ll have to take a look at that shot as I don’t know what you mean .
If that was me and I wasn’t spending anything on a hourly rate for my table like yourself I wouldn’t hesitate to get steel cushions.
It all comes down to whether you can afford them and if you will you benefit from them .

[Danger Steve]

30 mins on recreating a shot ....That’s the difference when you have to pay for your table by the hour to when you’ve got your own,

I see where your coming from Steve . I’ll have to take a look at that shot as I don’t know what you mean .
If that was me and I wasn’t spending anything on a hourly rate for my table like yourself I wouldn’t hesitate to get steel cushions.
It all comes down to whether you can afford them and if you will you benefit from them .

maybe I’m not trying hard enough? I’ll try an hour next time!... because I can!

The benefit for me would be not having to hit the cue ball as hard to get position off the cushion? The consistent bounce thing, I’m probably not at a high enough level to fully appreciate that. Maybe I’ll stick to what I have for now and see how I feel next year... It would be interesting to know just how many cushions on a steel block table a ball can hit before stopping, for comparison.

[Starsky]

An hour ?? , your a lightweight Steve

The real benefit for me would be to have the same bounce off the cushions in and around the black and pink area whilst break building . It’s those more precise delicate screw and stuns shots off the cushion that can sometimes go array with an unpredictable bounce that are annoying .

If money is not an issue then I’d still say get them tbh as it will always be in the back of your mind . Just don’t expect them to make oyou suddenly become Hendry in the 90’s

[Cue crafty]

All i can add here is that i was lucky enough this last week to get out and play twice on re-clothed tables at a local club. Firstly, i fully appreciated the slide on entry to pockets.

Then, call it lucky or otherwise, was given an opportunity to play on the match table to make space for other players to get a game. The match table is a Riley Aristocrat, steel block, with 6811 cloth and Hotwire system installed. It suited my game and I insistently played better, and loved not having to bash balls off the black cushion to gain position.

Gutted this is not a readily available playing condition in local clubs and why i support growth in our game in any form be it SPOTY or BBC or ANYTHING credible!

Just to have the chance to play once a week on a table this good would be worth ?10 an hour..... but its not here yet.

[mikee]

Steve , I don’t think my table goes up and the spots any faster than yours ,it’s more to do with the bounce and how springy the cushion feels when the ball just pings off very responsively ,a wooden cushion seems to absorb the ball more if that makes any sense .

[itsnoteasy]

All i can add here is that i was lucky enough this last week to get out and play twice on re-clothed tables at a local club. Firstly, i fully appreciated the slide on entry to pockets.

Then, call it lucky or otherwise, was given an opportunity to play on the match table to make space for other players to get a game. The match table is a Riley Aristocrat, steel block, with 6811 cloth and Hotwire system installed. It suited my game and I insistently played better, and loved not having to bash balls off the black cushion to gain position.

Gutted this is not a readily available playing condition in local clubs and why i support growth in our game in any form be it SPOTY or BBC or ANYTHING credible!

Just to have the chance to play once a week on a table this good would be worth ?10 an hour..... but its not here yet.

Glad you enjoyed it CC. I was told when I first started , bad tables make bad players . Of course I didn't appreciate what was being said but once you get a bit better and play on a cloth and table that you can just stroke everything in, instead of having to batter the balls around you soon see the benefits.
The slide on new cloths is quite a thing to see first time around isn't it. Unfortunately it doesn't last long, if you get a few days of it in a club, I'll be surprised.

[Danger Steve]

Glad you enjoyed it CC. I was told when I first started , bad tables make bad players . Of course I didn't appreciate what was being said but once you get a bit better and play on a cloth and table that you can just stroke everything in, instead of having to batter the balls around you soon see the benefits.
The slide on new cloths is quite a thing to see first time around isn't it.

The slide seemed to go quite quickly on mine, probably all the brushing, napping and ironing. I didn’t like it, felt weird on the bridge hand, almost slimy.