Pockets & Templates

[Slasher]

Okay, here is a set of photos of some comparisons between my Aristocrat standard cushion, an Aristocrat steel block that came from a recent pro tournament and a set of templates I was told were from the tv tables or WPBSA spec.
Now I know this steel block has been checked with a set of WPBSA templates and was deemed very close, however the corners have been pushed out about 1/8" as it was too tight for the club players.

I'd say the corners on both our tables are very close to the templates, the middles are another matter. I know the cut is not as critical but these are so different I am supposing the template is way out to lunch, opinions?

This is my corner pocket



My Middle pocket



Aristocrat steel middle



Aristocrat Steel corner

[tcollick]

Slasher, those middle pocket templates look too tight to me.
Maybe they are the Wiraka M1 templates for the IBSF. (no longer Wiraka apparently, changing to Shender from this year).
Anyway, I've played on a few M1's and the middles are notoriously tight.
For example, check this out: http://www14.plala.or.jp/GSPC/DSCN1622.JPG

So I think your middles are fine as they are. Yours look the same as the steel block Riley, in which case they are WSA tournament cut (atleast when Riley where the official table), which I assume is what you want.

[Slasher]

great answer! thanks, this exactly what we were thinking, they used to have a wiraka at the club and we thought these templates looked similar.

[Geoff Large]

3rd photo chipping of wood shown from above , this show's impact of wood capping where ball has hit it , between end of pocket plate and where the cloth tucks behind the steel block end .
a common fault with steel block tables , and something that happens over a period of time , the tables on TV are replaced every tournement or the cushions are sometimes changed in that tournement , which is one reason why you never see this on TV .

But you sometimes see the cloth splitting on the end of the steel cushion just before the cloth is tucked behind the end of the cushion , on a centre pocket shot , observe on the next TV tournament .

2nd photo , shows standard centre pocket , note how the rubber comes all the way around the angle to meet the pocket plate the capping having an angle cutt back in the wood to allow this (unlike the steel block type cushion ), preventing the ball coming into contact with the end of the wood capping , although down the slate fall the cloth is a little loose and has a few wrinkles and if wrinkles are present hjere the cloth will not be tight on top , can you damp youre fingers and push down the nap of the cloth , will the cloth wrinkle up in front of the fingers as you slide them down the cloth nap ?

I would have gone over the differance in the corner pockts in design , but youre top photo is not showing enough of the top wood capping to show the simular angles cutt back to allow the rubber to meet the corner plate rather than end short of it , and you can also see that the ball has come into contact with the end wood capping on the 4th photo .

as for the card templates Bin them , I do not think they any where near the correct size , have you down loaded these at 100% scale ? they are only the top edge templates not the undercutt templates so should never be laid on the bed but held at the top edge of the rubber , level with the top of the cushion .

[Slasher]

Thanks for the info Geoff,
Photo 2 The cloth has pulled away at the middle pocket, will correct this when we do the rubbers.
The templates should give the same perspective when photographed from above, just trying to show the big difference on the middles, the corners when held to the rubbers edge are very close.
All the steel blocks in this club have the same chipping.
As a side note I notice on the Wiraka M1 middle pocket cut there is more rubber and it wraps round like the corners so this does not happen. was this by design or just following IBSF templates?

[Geoff Large]

I have never used Wiraka Templates , so cannot comment on how they differ from official templates that I use which are from the 1980s , but one tip I do give people who are happy with their pocket openings is to make a template in hard cardboard of one side angle before you strip the rubber off , you can then use this one angle to make a cutt on any new rubber , the result being if you keep to this template then the cutt rubbers will be the same dimensions .
don't forget to make sepperate card board template of centre angle and do not get them miixed up , i.e corner cutt a middle or middle cutt a corner angle . IT HAS BEEN DONE .

I never use official templates on standard cushions , they are in my mind only for steel block cushions , I use them only as a rough guide on standard cushions , prefering to make my own cardboard template that can be flipped over for the opposite angle , all angles are then identical in shape and entry to the pocket .

I will not divulge how I go about cutting and rasping plus sanding , you can use my other tip to practice with the old removed rubber to figure that one out .
Practice makes perfect ...lol

[Slasher]

My intent was to make templates of my existing pockets sans undercut as they are very close in size and shape to the steel block anyway.

[robertwolf]

Robertwolf I am embarking on a table recovering task and before I do the rails I would like to check the pockets for correctness. I noticed that official templates are quite expensive. Anyone have suggestions where they could be had at a reasonable cost. Free would be best.

[philip in china]

Free is my favourite word.

[Trapper]

Where are the official templates for sale at?

Trapper