Table spots

[Kryten]

Random question of the day I have a new Hainsworth cloth coming for my 6 footer, and something's been bugging me.
The majority of the spots people use appear to be the little stickers. Why stickers as opposed to, say, penned on like the baulk lines?

[culraven]

Most decent fitters will use pen lines, the problem is on a club table that gets heavy use the spots quickly wear down, you can simply replace them, where as if you start with just pen marks and then try and put the spots on later you will end up with a hollow and can never get the ball to sit right.

[Geoff Large]

Most decent fitters will put spots on your table it is what they should be trained to do as billiard fitters , only profesional tables with bed cloths that are only on for THREE days are the type without spots

The spots I use are available off Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ivy-Green-S.../dp/B002CW8ZOC

notice I use green , this is to help blend in and at only 8mm they are small spots , this I find is the next best thing to not using spots , you can get them in white and also black if you wanted to go down that route too .

These spots require ironing on once attached to help bond them to the cloth , otherwise they will just lift off if not ironed on

they are easy to remove even if ironed on by just lifting with your finger nail .
I recoemnd respotting weekly on a club table and monthly on home tables


Also marking out in white , this is for the Camera on TV to pick up , normally I suggest Black pencil rather than the white tippex pen as you cannot acetone the white tippex off the cloth and with black pencil you can at elast fade it back.
take a look at this re-stretch that i did that had Tippex white used , you definitely get a double line if you stretch it correct .
Can you spot the green spots ? they are on there too .

Restretch photo link here

http://gclbilliards.com/client-compl...-on-the-table/

[ferret]

I actually have a type of spot which is perfect for club tables, it has a hole in the middle and apart from that they are pretty much the same as the usual spots you see on club tables.

I will let the intellectuals on the forum figure out why these are better than the usual spots, if anybody wants some i'll put them up on Panjo.

[fredkite]

Table spots

I've never been accused of being an intellectual but I'd guess the colours don't roll off the spots?

[culraven]

I've never been accused of being an intellectual but I'd guess the colours don't roll off the spots?

Makes me cringe when you see players hammering them on the spots! Our fitters always mark the spots with x and don't put the spots on until the restretch effectively just patching up the damage, you can never spot the balls right after that, but the committee just ignore anyone that says different!
Friends who have decent standard cloth and look after their tables don't have spots though, admittedly some wear but not as much of a bump as a spot would produce, or at least the spots our club uses?

[ferret]

Here is a picture

[pottr]

You need spots on the cloth... The friction of the colour being potted from the spot is what causes the wear in the cloth.

I'm sure players who bang the balls on the spot contribute also, but they're usually the type of player who is a bit more casual than your usual forum member.

[itsnoteasy]

You need spots on the cloth... The friction of the colour being potted from the spot is what causes the wear in the cloth.

I'm sure players who bang the balls on the spot contribute also, but they're usually the type of player who is a bit more casual than your usual forum member.

Never thought of that Pottr, that the damage comes from the static ball kind of wearing the cloth, very good point.

[Geoff Large]

you only have to look at a pool table to see wear under a ball from impact

when you rack balls up you have a spot under the black but the lead ball takes the impact off the break , with all the weight of the balls behind you get full force downwards as well as backwards from the cue ball impact
look under the lead ball of a triangle on a pool tbale it will be very well worn unless it was also spotted , this is around 3.1/2 inch in front of black ball spot ... have a look next time you see a pool table .

now look at american pool tables which have a nylon type cloth , as a static ball is accelerated off its standing position you get a friction burn on the nylon , these look like white scuff marks , they appear in their thousands on a nylon or man made fiber cloth , next time you are at a bowling alley look at the american pool table cloths all over white marks these are scorch marks caused by friction burn .

now snooker has 100% wool cloth unless you use hainsworth then it is mixed cloth

wool does not mark as easy as man made fibre , but it still wears under the ball if a spot is not used
Spots are for cloth's lasting much longer than the 3 days a TV table has it's cloth on for

I disgree with hole spots being the answer , they may stop a large divot but the cloth is still unprotected in the centre of that hole spot

But at the end of the Day it is down to the owner or snooker hall /club owner if they have spots as they are the ones paying for the re-cloth not the punter / member .
we as Billiard fitters have to give an honest assessment of how long a cloth will last , a cloth with regular spot changes will last longer than one with out spots , and when stretched you will not have fear of opening up that black or pink spot hole even larger due to excessive unprotected wear from lack of spots .

I have a club who thought it was good to have a new cloth every year and then transfer the 12 month cloth to one of the normal tables in the club , but it never worked out due to excessive spot wear on the black and pink spots

The only time lack of spots cloth last, is those tables that do not get used much , we have all seen them covered up only a few selected players allowed to play on them

but pottr is correct static ball is also impacted downwards as well as forwards

[itsnoteasy]

We have just had our four match tables recovered and none have spots on, I asked why and the owner said some folk don't like them, thanks for the info Geoff, I will tell him what will happen.

[culraven]

We have just had our four match tables recovered and none have spots on, I asked why and the owner said some folk don't like them, thanks for the info Geoff, I will tell him what will happen.

Same here and all will have spots on come the restretch! The guys I know who don't have spots either have more money than sense or only have tables for guests to play, unfortunately the committee are easily swayed by the halfwits who think if they have the same set up as the pros they will play like them! The worrying thing is a lot of table fitters won't talk them out of it as it guarantees an early recloth, we've had or rubbers replaced yearly before now, even talk of tightening the pockets despite no one getting over a ton in the last 12 months!

[Kryten]

Wow, that's some great information, a few things I certainly wouldn't have considered. I shall order some spots
I may be a bit of a casual trying to get back into the game but I like to look after my things! Many thanks all.

[philip in china]

I saw a guy banging a ball down on a spot. I asked him why and he answered because he had seen other people doing it! We need to educate these people.