Snooker putty between slates

[DanD]

Hello, i have a heating system for snooker slates.
I would like to know what type of putty to use or which is the method to glue the slates, because of the heating system, the putty that i have, rised and now the balls role over that bump of putty,under the cloth.
Maybe i need some elastic putty or some special solution?
I need to mention that o don't keep the heating system on all the time.
So the slates reach around 18 degrees Celsius when they aren't heated and around 37 degrees Celsius when they are heated.
Thanks a lot!

[itsnoteasy]

I think they use a plastic car body filler nowadays but I'm guessing a bit. Slates being 37 degrees seems very hot, or do you mean you have your thermostat set at 37? When ours is set at 35 it gives a surface slate temp around 25/26 which feels quite warm.

[mikee]

Ok ,it is very soft car body filler that is used between the slates ,this is so that when it is sanded down to level it is that soft so the slates don’t get rubbed down too .The 48 /50 numbers you see on the digital read out on tv tables is the heat of the end of the probe ,not the bottom of the slates ,the under table heating is roughly around 27 degrees at the underside of the slates ,the cloth top side of the slate should be around 22 degrees ,warm not hot ,enough to keep any damp from the cloth ,and keep the table consistent .A slight consistent warm table will be good and play nice ,over heating a table and turning heaters on and off will cause warping problems due to fluctuating temperatures over a long period .

[Danger Steve]

Hello, i have a heating system for snooker slates.
I would like to know what type of putty to use or which is the method to glue the slates, because of the heating system, the putty that i have, rised and now the balls role over that bump of putty,under the cloth.
Maybe i need some elastic putty or some special solution?
I need to mention that o don't keep the heating system on all the time.
So the slates reach around 18 degrees Celsius when they aren't heated and around 37 degrees Celsius when they are heated.
Thanks a lot!

Hello mate.

You want to use a 2 pack easy sand car body filler for the slate joints. Something like: Isopon P38.

Are you sure it’s the ‘putty’ that has raised? Or are you just guessing? I’m assuming you have not removed the cloth yet to confirm this? Or have you?

First question. Does the table have center slate support ‘muntins’? If so, are these hanging on adjustable brackets? You will find your slate heaters going on and off will warp your slates! This could be the reason for the bumps on the slate joints. You need to make sure a table with heating has the slates properly supported at each end and in the centre or your just asking for trouble.

Once you have the above sorted out then keep the heating on permanent and at a fixed temperature. Depending on how the probe is positioned and the contact it has (or doesn’t have) with the bottom of the slate, you will need to play with the temperature until the surface of the cloth is just warm to the touch, NOT hot!

Is it a Hotwire system you have by any chance? I know Justin seems to have his systems cranked to the max which can’t be good for the table or the slate… or your electric bill! It doesn’t need to be that hot! Think Warmwire! Not Hotwire!

[DanD]

Mikee:

I've set the termostat at 37 degrees and i measured with an infrared thermometer,shows that the surface of cloth has 37, is warm when i touch, when it's turned off, it shows that surface has 19-20-21 around.
I have something similar
https://scontent.fclj1-2.fna.fbcdn.n...ig&oe=624869E8

Danger Steve: I assume it's the putty, i didn't removed the cloth to see. But i guess it can't be anything else. Muntins i assume it has, it's a Riley Table. I will chek this out to be 100% under the table.I can see them.
Once i will remove the cloth i will see if it's the putty or the slates....let's hope that it's the putty

it's hard to keep it on everytime, i can set the temperature at 35 and it has a safety that stops the heaters to go up, it stops and turns back on again keeping it at 35.
Problem is that the electric bill is huge if i use it on all the time, that's why i stopped it and turn it back on just with 2 hours before playing.

[mikee]

I think the surface is too hot ,remember heaters are used to keep damp out mainly .adjustable muntins came out around 1982 ,BCE were the first company to fit them as standard on tables ,it’s an easy mod to do on any table ,even if your table is old and had three rows of muntins ,just alter the middle ones .I’ve binned the table heaters and keep the room at around 20 degrees and the playing surfaces stays around that temperature too ,my electric bill was through the roof too with table heaters on .Most private small rooms don’t really need heaters ,but Large rooms and tv arenas ,those rooms are cool and table heaters are needed .Can you see the lines on on the cloth where the slates join ,or feel them with the iron going over them ,or is it just the odd bit of filler that has come out .Vacuuming a table can lift slate filler out and should not be done ,it can also pull cloth fibres out and destroy the ends of the nap .

[Danger Steve]

Mikee:

I've set the termostat at 37 degrees and i measured with an infrared thermometer,shows that the surface of cloth has 37, is warm when i touch, when it's turned off, it shows that surface has 19-20-21 around.
I have something similar
https://scontent.fclj1-2.fna.fbcdn.n...ig&oe=624869E8

Danger Steve: I assume it's the putty, i didn't removed the cloth to see. But i guess it can't be anything else. Muntins i assume it has, it's a Riley Table. I will chek this out to be 100% under the table.I can see them.
Once i will remove the cloth i will see if it's the putty or the slates....let's hope that it's the putty

it's hard to keep it on everytime, i can set the temperature at 35 and it has a safety that stops the heaters to go up, it stops and turns back on again keeping it at 35.
Problem is that the electric bill is huge if i use it on all the time, that's why i stopped it and turn it back on just with 2 hours before playing.

Looks like Justin’s handy work.. Hotwire.

Yeah, what Mikee said, temp is way too hot, I really don’t know why he suggests having his system at boiling point.

Crank it down to 30 degrees C that’s as hot as you need them! It makes next to no difference really having them on all day vs only when your using the tables. When you leave them off overnight the slate cools right down and then your turning them on a couple of hours before to warm them up quickly = warp. I have my home made heaters on a thermostat controlled by an App for my phone, on the app I can see on a graph when the heaters came on and when they went off to keep the temp at the 30 (+/- 2 degrees). On average they are only on for 7 hours over a 24 hour period which costs 1 pound 20p per day. If your only turning them on as and when it probably uses close to the same amount? They’ll probably take 2-3 hours to get up to temp from cold, plus topping it up while your playing! Overnight I put my table cover on and then throw 2 cheap king size duvets over the table to help hold the heat so the heaters aren’t working as hard and this works great!

The best test to see if you have any slate joints protruding is to run a snooker ball slowly (holding it in your hand) full length of the table while pressing it down into the cloth slightly, you’ll feel any bumps this way. Try this down both cushions and down the middle, let us know what you find!

If your table is one of the Stars from your photo then you will already have a row of centre adjustable muntins, it’s worth checking these are tight (which will be awkward with the heaters in your way)..

I had it on my table where the cheap muntin brackets broke and I just left them, after 6 months the heated slates started to dish because I couldn’t tighten the muntins. When I last changed my cloth it took 2 weeks for me to straighten my slates back by increasing the upward tension on the centre muntins a fraction at a time and then waiting for them to bend back straight! It was all worth it in the end though because the table plays pretty much perfectly straight on all shots. Sod’s law I have had a bit of movement since on one corner leg which has caused a slate joint to stick up, that’s going to get sorted on my next cloth change! Don’t setup a table on luxury carpet tiles is the lesson there! Lol

[itsnoteasy]

Ok ,it is very soft car body filler that is used between the slates ,this is so that when it is sanded down to level it is that soft so the slates don’t get rubbed down too .The 48 /50 numbers you see on the digital read out on tv tables is the heat of the end of the probe ,not the bottom of the slates ,the under table heating is roughly around 27 degrees at the underside of the slates ,the cloth top side of the slate should be around 22 degrees ,warm not hot ,enough to keep any damp from the cloth ,and keep the table consistent .A slight consistent warm table will be good and play nice ,over heating a table and turning heaters on and off will cause warping problems due to fluctuating temperatures over a long period .

We have knocked the table heaters off as well. I can't see the point in them if I'm honest, but like Mikee we have the room at a constant temp. The aircon is far. far cheaper to run than the table heaters and in the summer what's the point in having table heaters on heating the room and the air con on cooling the room, they are just fighting against each other. Of course if you are in a big room that would be different.

[mikee]

Where one of my mates plays , I go over and play there when I can ,there is a table of one of the pro’s that we play on when we can and it’s heated to high Hell and back ,that tables heaters where turned off by accident one day a couple of years ago just before the pandemic and by morning the table was totally un level and all over the place ,fitters had to come back and re level it .Not a table you would want to buy if it came up for sale ,I should imagine the wood frame is cooked and dried out as well as the slates ,it still plays great and fast but you can feel the heat on your hand ,not something something I would like to put my table through for the sake of a bit more speed .

[DeanH]

I am amazed at the temperature the OP says they has at the playing surface! 37C on the playing surface seems extremely high!

It may be the temperature of the heating elements to get the playing surface to a reasonable "just above room temperature at 21/22C" to dry out the cloth and maintain.
I have played on a Star heated table with Neil and it was warm to the touch, just, warm and I would say that was around the 21/22C
As mentioned above, that high a temperature must be damaging the table; if not already, definitely in the future.
I hope that a table fitter member on here will come on and give the best temp of playing surface

[Danger Steve]

I am amazed at the temperature the OP says they has at the playing surface! 37C on the playing surface seems extremely high!

It may be the temperature of the heating elements to get the playing surface to a reasonable "just above room temperature at 21/22C" to dry out the cloth and maintain.
I have played on a Star heated table with Neil and it was warm to the touch, just, warm and I would say that was around the 21/22C
As mentioned above, that high a temperature must be damaging the table; if not already, definitely in the future.
I hope that a table fitter member on here will come on and give the best temp of playing surface

I doubt 37 degrees will be the surface temp.. the slate absorbs heat and looses quite a lot into the room. The heat panels I use and as used by Hotwire will go up to 40 degrees C, if you put your hand on a panel off the table you have to be in direct contact with it to feel the heat and even then on full you can hold your hand on a panel without it burning.

A table fitter won’t be able to help you Dean, not unless they also make and fit heat panels. Not to be big headed but I have done both and feel I’m in a good position to give sound advice on the topic

The heat setting of the thermostat will be different for every table depending on various factors. A the density of the slate, the thickness of the slate, the position of the heat probe, the contact the probe has with the slate… All of those factors come in to play! For my table I usually have it set between 28 and 30 on the thermostatic control unit, this gives the cloth surface temp a just warm to the touch feeling, but this can vary depending if the unit is currently running and warming up or is at temperature and cooling down.

When I’ve installed systems for other people I have told them that they will need to experiment around that 30 degree range until the surface temp feels just lukewarm, if it feels hot then adjust it down until it’s right.

Really the heating is more suited to rooms prone to greater temperature fluctuations or moisture… with the idea being to keep the cloth dry and the moisture low = faster playing conditions.

I don’t worry about my frame warping because the insulation boards keep the heat trapped and like I said the panels made from carbon film so only heat via contact with the object you want heated, so really the frame is pretty safe I would think, unless of course the slates are so hot they start to heat the long side panels of the frame.

[DeanH]

I doubt 37 degrees will be the surface temp.. the slate absorbs heat and looses quite a lot into the room. The heat panels I use and as used by Hotwire will go up to 40 degrees C, if you put your hand on a panel off the table you have to be in direct contact with it to feel the heat and even then on full you can hold your hand on a panel without it burning.

A table fitter won’t be able to help you Dean, not unless they also make and fit heat panels. Not to be big headed but I have done both and feel I’m in a good position to give sound advice on the topic

The heat setting of the thermostat will be different for every table depending on various factors. A the density of the slate, the thickness of the slate, the position of the heat probe, the contact the probe has with the slate… All of those factors come in to play! For my table I usually have it set between 28 and 30 on the thermostatic control unit, this gives the cloth surface temp a just warm to the touch feeling, but this can vary depending if the unit is currently running and warming up or is at temperature and cooling down.

When I’ve installed systems for other people I have told them that they will need to experiment around that 30 degree range until the surface temp feels just lukewarm, if it feels hot then adjust it down until it’s right.

Really the heating is more suited to rooms prone to greater temperature fluctuations or moisture… with the idea being to keep the cloth dry and the moisture low = faster playing conditions.

I don’t worry about my frame warping because the insulation boards keep the heat trapped and like I said the panels made from carbon film so only heat via contact with the object you want heated, so really the frame is pretty safe I would think, unless of course the slates are so hot they start to heat the long side panels of the frame.

in the OP it states "So the slates reach around 18 degrees Celsius when they aren't heated and around 37 degrees Celsius when they are heated."
so I assume that is the table slates directly under the cloth, so the cloth would be very close to that temp as well, and to me would be very uncomfortable to play on

as you say maybe the heating elements would be 37C but due to the air gap below the slates between the elements and the slates, the result would be a nicer 20/22C cloth temp

tweaking the elements temp to get the desired comfortable cloth temp

[Danger Steve]

I’m assuming the 37 is what the thermostat reading is telling him. Like I say I doubt the top of the slates are 37 when the mat itself has a max of 40. I suspect the probe is probably too close to the mat? When I fit the probe I jam it in hard up to the slate but away from the mat to give the best reading of the actual temperature.

There won’t be an any air gap if they’ve been fitted properly, they need to be touching the slate full contact else you’ll just find cold spots all over the table.

[mikee]

The playing surface should ideally be around 20/ 23 degrees ,the slate temp under the table is probably around 27 ,as Steve says the end of the probe temp is not to be confused with the underside of the slates .All this can vary a bit as depending on the overall heat of the room but anything where the cloth feels more than mildly warm when your hands on the table is not good .Slate is like wood ,it has a grain ,it sags bends and shales if not looked after .

[jamiemca44]

Looks like Justin’s handy work.. Hotwire.

Yeah, what Mikee said, temp is way too hot, I really don’t know why he suggests having his system at boiling point.

Crank it down to 30 degrees C that’s as hot as you need them! It makes next to no difference really having them on all day vs only when your using the tables. When you leave them off overnight the slate cools right down and then your turning them on a couple of hours before to warm them up quickly = warp. I have my home made heaters on a thermostat controlled by an App for my phone, on the app I can see on a graph when the heaters came on and when they went off to keep the temp at the 30 (+/- 2 degrees). On average they are only on for 7 hours over a 24 hour period which costs 1 pound 20p per day. If your only turning them on as and when it probably uses close to the same amount? They’ll probably take 2-3 hours to get up to temp from cold, plus topping it up while your playing! Overnight I put my table cover on and then throw 2 cheap king size duvets over the table to help hold the heat so the heaters aren’t working as hard and this works great!

The best test to see if you have any slate joints protruding is to run a snooker ball slowly (holding it in your hand) full length of the table while pressing it down into the cloth slightly, you’ll feel any bumps this way. Try this down both cushions and down the middle, let us know what you find!

If your table is one of the Stars from your photo then you will already have a row of centre adjustable muntins, it’s worth checking these are tight (which will be awkward with the heaters in your way)..

I had it on my table where the cheap muntin brackets broke and I just left them, after 6 months the heated slates started to dish because I couldn’t tighten the muntins. When I last changed my cloth it took 2 weeks for me to straighten my slates back by increasing the upward tension on the centre muntins a fraction at a time and then waiting for them to bend back straight! It was all worth it in the end though because the table plays pretty much perfectly straight on all shots. Sod’s law I have had a bit of movement since on one corner leg which has caused a slate joint to stick up, that’s going to get sorted on my next cloth change! Don’t setup a table on luxury carpet tiles is the lesson there! Lol

Hi Steve, been following your posts on this forum about table heating. I recently purchased a 12ft Conway president table. Where the table is can fluctuate in temperature. So I’ve been looking into getting Justin’s system onto my table to make it a bit more enjoyable. I’ve got hainsworth smart cloth on so with heating I’d imagine it’ll be lightning quick!
As you have built your own system do you think I should try and build my own or pay the 425 for a kit from Justin?

I wouldn’t even mind paying yourself to help me sort it out? I’m in Northern Ireland which could be a problem in terms of getting materials but I’m not totally sure!

Thanks!