Put your balls in the microwave

[vmax4steve]

It was standard practice back in the day with super crystalate balls to warm them on a radiator before the match or exhibition. I did this myself many times and it certainly livened the balls up and they played better for a couple of frames before they cooled down.
As for phenolic resin balls I wouldn't know but they're cr^p anyway and as the pro tables are heated to 50 degrees the balls must heat up a little through conduction from the table surface and it doesn't stopping them kicking like a mule.

[itsnoteasy]

Tell you what's amazing is that Ryanahs club has ten sets of TC s , ours has none.

[moglet]

.......the pro tables are heated to 50 degrees.......

Is your figure a typo? Either too cold for one scale or far too hot for the other.

[DeanH]

Is your figure a typo? Either too cold for one scale or far too hot for the other.

IIRC - the heating elements are set to 50 degC to get the slates and cloth to 20 deg C

[moglet]

It is the playing surface heat that is important and should be several degrees above the ambient temperature to prevent the cloth from sucking water out of the atmosphere, usually the table surface would be in excess of 25C in tournament conditions.

[DeanH]

I should have put over 20C as the cloth temp, but usually in UK closer to 20 would be ok

[jim evans]

the 3/4 team i play for the balls are left on either a pump or the glass washer and they get fairly hot and they do seem to react better.

[damienlch]

Put the word 'snooker' in front of balls but the thread is far more amusing to read without!!

Lol, I was like wtf when I first saw the title and thinking to myself no way anybody does that... but apparently people really do heat up their balls, snooker balls i.e.

Learn something new everyday.

[Redphex]

And now - welcome to Mythbusters (Snooker edition).

Since I have old / unused / unmatched English Billiards ATC sets in abundance, I took one of them to the kitchen

Microwaved them for 15 and 30 seconds on full power - and out they came warmed through to about 35-40°C (15s) and 50+°C (30s).
Took the shorter heated ones over an hour until they were back down to ambient temperature (in my case 25°C)

Can't give an opinion yet on how they play, but I guess it will be fine - and certainly better than cold balls which tend to attract condensation.

Conclusion for now: Microwaving is great, but I wouldn't follow the description in the first post in this thread. Less (time) is more.

[itsnoteasy]

I love the folk on this forum, well done Redphex. Although Mythbusters would have kept going till they exploded them(hint hint)

[Catch 22]

And now - welcome to Mythbusters (Snooker edition).

Since I have old / unused / unmatched English Billiards ATC sets in abundance, I took one of them to the kitchen

Microwaved them for 15 and 30 seconds on full power - and out they came warmed through to about 35-40°C (15s) and 50+°C (30s).
Took the shorter heated ones over an hour until they were back down to ambient temperature (in my case 25°C)

Can't give an opinion yet on how they play, but I guess it will be fine - and certainly better than cold balls which tend to attract condensation.

Conclusion for now: Microwaving is great, but I wouldn't follow the description in the first post in this thread. Less (time) is more.

But in mythbusters they would then see what it WOULD take to make them explode ........... I look forward to your reply :-)

[itsnoteasy]

Damn, I was just adding that to my post but Catch was too quick for me

[Redphex]

I'm already looking out to get a few old microwave ovens for further tests ... can't sacrifice my actual kitchen utilities.

stay tuned

[DeanH]

been there before, and the missus was not happy

(wasn't snooker balls though )

[itsnoteasy]

been there before, and the missus was not happy

(wasn't snooker balls though )

Come on Dean you can't tease us with half a story