Thurston 1908 table breakdown and reassembly

[thelongbomber]

Nice little story I found showing the complete dissambly and reassembly of a Thurston table made in 1908. It was purchased by the Provincial government for the Government House. Click the link below.

Enjoy!!

http://www.snookerbc.com/THURSTON/as...ack/index.html

[DeanH]

many thanks for this, I am sure it is very interesting but to me I only see the right half of the screen as in my IE8 on Win7 the presentation is pushed over to the left
Is it just me?
Anyone know who to fix this?
Never seen this before
Cheers
Dean

just tried IE7 on XP and that is the same

[bricktip]

Very good. You really get a sense of the amount of skilled work that goes into setting a table up from scratch.

[thelongbomber]

many thanks for this, I am sure it is very interesting but to me I only see the right half of the screen as in my IE8 on Win7 the presentation is pushed over to the left
Is it just me?
Anyone know who to fix this?
Never seen this before
Cheers
Dean

just tried IE7 on XP and that is the same

Use Chrome man. Chrome. Google Chrome.

[DeanH]

Use Chrome man. Chrome. Google Chrome.

I am in a corporate environment here, so may try later at home.
Thanks

[Ex Enbild Fitter]

Well that was interesting! Never heard of leaving a table mid-fit for three weeks to settle into a carpet, and sorry but wedges between the frame and the slate are certainly not allowed in my book. Maybe I've been away from the game too long but there was a few other things happening there that I would never have done. Overall pretty interesting if you've never seen it before I suppose.

[s.h442]

i think there was a thread on here a while back which stated that packing wedges between the slates and frame should not be done in any circumstances i also noticed in the desciption it said billiard mechanic??? Should it not be time served billiard fitter?

[Geoff Large]

A table sides and muntins should be planed perfectly flat , so that hand floated slates would also sit flat and true without packing between slate and frame , some old tables had thin slates and these did sag in the middle muntin area , NO wedges or thin bits of card should be used , BUT on some modern not so well built and not having hand floated slates do require some shimming on the slate joints .

Shooting frame sides and inner munins is the first step to follow , if that will not cure the problem of stepped slate joints or dipping slates then the only other option is to shim .

If a table is made correctley then it will never require shimmming under the slates between the frame and slate , But just go down to any Club and take a look under the table , I think you will find a good percentage have a playing card tucked in around a slate joint , one reason for this is if some cowboy had not got the level correct in the first place and then decided he would Sand down the slight step on the slate joint , the next time a skilled time served fitter comes along he has to shim to get it right then Feather fill because some idiot has sanded the bed away on the joint .

one BIG improvement in table design is the adjustable muntin , this can make the slate adjustable upwards by simply turning a bolt on the muntin metal bracket , this takes out any bow or dip in the centre of the slate , I once set up a very old Thurston circa 1850/60 Thin slate it was around 1 inch thick , the table had a good dip in the centre of the slate , I had no option but to make many small hard wood wedges and tap these in the triple muntin design all 9 muntins , This made the table very level , it took me a long time to get it level , but it worked out fine and is still level to this day many years after instalation .

YES wedges should not be used , but on some tables the fitter has no choice , if he cannot shoot the frame then he has no option but to use a shim or wedge to rectify the problem . I am not recomending the use of them , I prefer to use none at all .
some times it is because a speed fitter has done the job , if the fitter is given the correct time to set a table up then cutting corners by not shooting a warped frame will not be taken on board .

Next week I am rectifying two Birmingham billiard tables that where fitted without any muntin's at all and the slates have dipped in the middle because of this , I am custom fitting two sets of adjustable muntins , I have made these from Joist hangers from B&Q , they will have a welded nut and bolt for the adjustment and on these tables they can be fitted with the slates still in place , I have customised the Brackets , normaly the slates would have to come off .

Geoff

[thelongbomber]

Interesting replies and thanks for sharing the info gents. I'm have forwarded this thread to the table fitter as well so he may get a chance to respond or learn a thing or two from the more experienced here. In Vancouver, Canada there aren't really many table fitters around. Yes, Simon is a newer entry into the table fitting business (the other two have been playing pool/snooker for 30+ years each) as far as I know.

[DeanH]

Geoff - "shooting the frame" exactly what does this mean/intail?
cheers

ps. at home with Google Chrome the presentation worked.

[Geoff Large]

Taking a Wood plane and shooting the frame square and level .

a wood plane with at least an 18 inch sole plate pref two foot is required for this .

the side rails are the things to get right then plane all inner muntins to same level , adjustable muntins can just be planed sepperatley and screwed upto the same hieght as the side rails .
You will also require a good long straight edge to check that the frame is square and level .

Geoff

[DeanH]

thanks
cheers

[philip in china]

Very interesting presentation though. Thank you for sharing it with us.