Steel Rail Material

[capella166]

Hi everyone,

I'm thinking of building a set of steel rail for my table and I'm asking myself if I could use aluminium instead of steel.

The main reason is that it will be easier to machine aluminium myself, drill hole, threading and mainly make the slot for the rail cloth.

I searched the forum and other place on internet and found that the common steel thickness is 3/8''.

At the moment, I have an opportunity to buy 1/4'' thick new aluminium flat bar at a very good price and the conditions they appear from the photos look good.

I just begun thinking at the project and I'm asking if anyone see a major red light to go forward!!!

Thanks!!!

[Paul28]

Hi Capella.

First of all, I don’t have any experience in table work.

I’ve never heard about the idea of taking aluminum instead of steel, sounds interesting!

My two points where I doubt are:

You want more weight with the steel band and aluminum is lightweight in comparison. And steel is more dense than aluminum.

With the steel band the ball will loose less energy when contacts the cushion and I don’t know how the ball behaves with aluminum.

I hope that helps a bit.

paul

[Cue crafty]

Yeh, sounds like a nice project to take on, but really not sure Ali would be good for this purpose. Steel is rigid and heavy and promotes a good rebound, whereas the properties of Ali as a ductile, light malleable metal, don't really seem suited to the purpose? I'm not expert on metals, but I'm just not sure the properties are fit for purpose.

[capella166]

Thanks for the feedbacks and the point of views,

The way I see it is that aluminium should be better than wood and especially than the actual rail I have.
Aluminium will probably not be as good as steel, but my guess is that it will be way better than the old wood which make the original rail.

I have a concern with the total weight of the original rail, because some rail weight significantly less than other.
If I could arbitrary rate the original wooden rail performance at 50% and steel rail at 100%, if I get between 85% and 95% with aluminum, I will be happy...

Ideally, if I could find 3/8'' or more likely 1/2'' aluminium at a good price, it will be better, and even more considering the depth of the channel for the cloth strip.
I feel 1/4'' will not be enough...

[Cue crafty]

You could be a pioneer for new developments in table standards, I'm pretty sure Geoff Large would love to hear how this works out. If you go for it, please let us know how it works out.

Good luck and hope others have more input on the matter.

[itsnoteasy]

Could I ask you why you think you need them?
a good quality wooden block isn't that much different.

[capella166]

Everything I read and table I've seen with steel rail look to respond better and have a better consistency everywhere on the 6 cushions...
Wood warp over time and change, but steel stay the same...

It doesn't mean a full wooden rail table can't play decent, but steel rail surely got an added value in term of rebond and consistency...
I can be wrong, but it seem obvious to me...

[itsnoteasy]

I don't see a lot of difference between my steel block table and a good wood block table. I have Riley English steels on mine, which are pretty good. They aren't faster, you don't get an extra bounce really, you may get slightly more consistency but again there won't be that much in it compared to a quality hardwood cushion. Well fitted good quality rubbers and blocks with a nicely fitted cloth are all more important imo than steel blocks.
I'm not saying don't try it but unless your table is needing a refurb( rubbers ,blocks, etc) you might not get out of it what you're expecting.
I've played on a few match tables in clubs that run as well as my table and lots haven't been steel blocks.

[capella166]

Interesting, it's the first time I hear that wooden rail could be as good or close to steel rail...

I have enough canadian maple on hand to build the 6 rails entirely...
I could also get some marine or russian plywood, not sure which one could be a good choice for the different part of the rail...

Maple seem to be a good choice for the part to glue the rubber on, not sure if there could be better choice that I can access easily...

I could also laminate layer of maple to make it stiffer and more warp resistant...

I have seen a video on Youtube where high quality plywood is use for the hidden part of the rail and good looking grain wood for the visible part...

[itsnoteasy]

I think they are normally mahogany but I'm not sure. How does Canadian Maple rate against wherever Mahogany comes from nowadays?
If I had to choose two out of three of great cloth, good rubbers, steel blocks, it would be the first two for me every time as long as the table is in good condition everywhere else.
when I first got a table with the steels on and a number 10 cloth fitted, I hit the cue ball up and down the spots at pace expecting to get at least an extra length out it, it was pretty much the same as a good club table, and playing during the game there isnt that much difference imo, don't get me wrong, it's still better than 90 percent of club tables but there's not much between it and a well maintained , well set up club table.
Might be better getting an expert fitters opinion, maybe Geoff Large would like to comment, he'll have forgotten more than most will ever know.

[Cue crafty]

Old thread here, where Geoff talks about this,if you look at the last sentence he reckons there's only small amount of extra bounce really off steels.

https://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/bo...249#post447249

[capella166]

Thanks, very good informations to consider...
I will continue to read more post, there's so much pertinent information....