Buying a set of snooker balls

[Geoff Large]

If you cannot afford the £200+ for a proper Dowsing Billiards iron and no second hand ones at decent prices are available on ebay as most gr for £80 to £120 second hand plus postage .
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DOWSING-SN...9wGC6farEuQFvw

look at these
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Sn...QAAOSwU8hY7Sc5 no thermostat and if left on could burn cloth if you are not experienced enough to realize .

these two old ones cleaned up and use a baby belling hot plate ring and heat up from outside as they http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-Dowsings...YAAOSwU8hY5R1B

cleaned up this one is one to follow http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Electric-S...oAAOSw03lY6qfx

one hour to go and at £60 , expect this to go for £80+ http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dowsings-s...IAAOSw4CFY4BIC

although a lot smaller than a full size billiards iron and less weight how about this iron which I recommend for pool tables .
OK the snooker table is a lot larger , but this iron is better than no iron and at only £29.99 on line inc delivery from Decathlon on line only .

http://gclbilliards.com/alternative-...t-just-29-99p/

this iron has a thermostat and is controllable , do not use domestic irons as the plate is not the correct shape , and on no account use a steam iron even if it is empty , I have seen saudden gusts of steam coming out of one hole from water residue in tank and this leaves a raised cloth streak that balls will not negotiate .

[jamesg19851]

@ Geoff Large

Thanks for that, yes a secondhand iron might be the best way forward from ebay. When I have saved up I'll get your advice on irons on ebay.

@ phillip in china

Thanks, that's reassuring that the cloth won't wear more quickly if it is not ironed. It's not as urgent as I thought to get an iron, but it will make a big difference.

@ Bigmeek

That's great thanks, that's the cheapest I've seen for a set of TC 3Gs.


Thanks everyone, I'm looking forward to getting some TCs when I'm paid next month. A secondhand iron will make a difference to our match table too and the 2 other tables in our home venue.

[jamesg19851]

I'm thinking about bidding on the iron with no thermostat. If I was to get this, would it be difficult to make sure it was the right temperature? Would a temperature probe be needed? I'm just worried about burning the cloth, thanks.

[philip in china]

Just keep a piece of scrap cloth and test it on that. You will be fine.

[Geoff Large]

I'm thinking about bidding on the iron with no thermostat. If I was to get this, would it be difficult to make sure it was the right temperature? Would a temperature probe be needed? I'm just worried about burning the cloth, thanks.

like Phil says a bit of old billiard cloth the same as the one on your table is used to test for scorching , but you will after time and experience get used to the time the iron has to be on , you can set a egg chiming timer to warn you that the iron has been on for that period of time from cold , or a smaller amount of time for reheat .
the good thing about none thermostat irons they rarely go wrong or burn out , the thermostat ones can blow at any time and in club use if forgotten about blow very often , then it is very expensive to send back get repaired and pay for return postage .
Never leave an iron unattended or get distracted when plugged in , i have seen a farm house badly part burned down through someone leaving a Billiard iron on and left on a floor board upright , it heated up and burned its way through the floor boarding and started the fire .

[itsnoteasy]

Hi Geoff after a bit of advice to do with irons. Our club has one with the thermostat and a plate to rest it on with some type of padding or mat on the plate. if you are going to wander off and do something else should but leave the iron on should you stand it up or should it be laid flat on the plate or does it not really matter?

[jamesg19851]

It should be stood up, from what I have read, to avoid warping.

[philip in china]

Yes, I have seen Geoff recommend that.

[itsnoteasy]

It should be stood up, from what I have read, to avoid warping.

Is it the plate on the iron that will warp? And why does that happen, if it's on a thermostat will it not just cut off?
I'm only asking as there are two lads who do the tables at our club and I kind of got caught in the middle of a situation about the iron being stood up or laid flat, with one saying it will blow the thermostat of left lying flat and the other just ignoring him and lying it down and then asking me who's right , as if i would know lol,but I thought to myself I know Geoff will.

[Geoff Large]

Always stand the iron upright to let the heat get away from the thin plate , trapped it makes the plate distort , what looks like a 1/2 inch thick plate is actually less then 1/8ths thick it is scalloped out for heating element to sit in .

after use again stand on end to let it cool down

as a result in warped iron plates , we also recommend you angle the iron on the downward sweep of each length , thus allowing the front an back edges to do the ironing and not if sideways resulting in tram lines ,
you will always get a tram line especially if you iron often as you should to keep the speed of the cloth up , but in warped irons it is more prominent if iron is square on to cushions .

some of you will question what I just said as nonsense , I too also dismissed it from the fitter who was teaching me 40 years ago , but after time I found out that this is good information as it does actually occur .

The only reason a thermostat was fitted is to make sure un-experienced people did not overheat the cloth
irons left on for long lengths of time will over use the thermostat resulting in it giving up and when they blow they take the element out with them too on most occasions .
i know a Snooker club that regularly blows there iron because they forget to switch them off when they start serving customers or the club gets too busy , mainly Bar staff blow them as they are expected to iron the tables in between other chores , if you had a designated table cleaner he would know not to leave it on .

therefore a timer plug adapter is another way to auto switch the iron off like this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Kingavon-2...sAAOSwT6pVslku

or an egg boil bell alarm settable timer like this to remind you the iron is now ready http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Multi-Shap...J5_4X4Jjl0Kbnw

simple low cost gadgets that could save you from burning out a thermostat ,

or from a none thermostat iron burn onto cloth .

set to a time you experiment with until you find the setting which is best for you and your table.

[itsnoteasy]

Thank you very much Geoff, you have answered my question brilliantly, also another question I had about the tramlines, without me asking lol. The same lad that leaves the iron flat , leave tramlines on all the tables, it's awful looking, are these permanent? Sorry just reread your post, if he's leaving tramlines does that mean the plates warped already?

[Geoff Large]

Good possibility of warped plate if tram lines are more prominent to the edge of the iron, if used in line square to side cushion when using , hence why we turn the handle slightly to make iron slanted and the back edge and front edge do the work avoiding warped high spot of iron making less contact with cloth .
too high a temperature can also cause tram lines .
also rough edges to iron or pitted iron can cause streak marks in cloth .


if you iron regular like very 10 hours of use as recommended , you will of course cause tram lines , more so than someone who only irons once a week .
it is unavoidable .

[andy carson]

another thing not mentioned, after brushing give the table a good block to get the nap all uniform again on the table, go from D to black end only and iron last of all..

even just a good brushing and blocking of the table will remove 99% of the problems and stuff, an iron is just an added bonus to it for the end.

[itsnoteasy]

another thing not mentioned, after brushing give the table a good block to get the nap all uniform again on the table, go from D to black end only and iron last of all..

even just a good brushing and blocking of the table will remove 99% of the problems and stuff, an iron is just an added bonus to it for the end.

Yep to be fair to the lad he does brush and block them, but he only does three tables a day and we have fifteen ( don't ask) . It's the middle third of the cloth, that is a different colour to the two outer thirds of the cloth. It's quite noticeable, I always thought it could be temperature of the iron but I dont know.

[Mellow Yellow]

Yep to be fair to the lad he does brush and block them, but he only does three tables a day and we have fifteen ( don't ask) . It's the middle third of the cloth, that is a different colour to the two outer thirds of the cloth. It's quite noticeable, I always thought it could be temperature of the iron but I dont know.

is this not the table lights being brighter in the middle, bleaching the cloth?