Levelling a snooker table

[gg339]

Hi all,
Thanks for taking the time to read this post.

I have recently aquired a snooker table, and am in the process of setting it up my house - luckily I had a room suitable for it. Unfortunately I am not in a position to get a professional installer to set up the table so will have to go it alone.
At this stage I have the frame put together, and am now looking for advise on how to correctly go about levelling the table, and any advise or guide on how to do this would be greatly appreciated.
What I am wondering is the following...

Should I level the frame to the floor first, without putting on the 5 pieces of slate?

The original slate seams was sealed with car body filler and sanded, however I have read that beeswax seems to be the preferred method - which should I use?

Should I seal the slate, and then level the table by jacking it ans slipping it?

As you can see I have no idea how to go about the process, but have no choice but to do it myself, so any advise, or quick step by step goide to put me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards,
Ger

[ferret]

Best bit of advice I can give is put the whole thing together first, then think about leveling it, when you put the slate on you will have to leave the tabe for say 48 hours for the wood to settle, then you would go about leveling it.

I am sure some people on here will give you a more intricate process of leveling but form what I have always been told you do need to put the slates on to allow the wood frame to settle.

You may want to chat to Bill Johnes - http://www.truelevel.co.uk he is a member on here and may be able to help, also Moglet is an expert on these things may be worth sending him a PM

ferret

[gg339]

Ferret,

Many thanks for your quick reply. Appreciate it.

Regards,
Ger

[Son of Cliff]

If I was you I would get somebody to do it for you, the frame might be out and it might need some carpentary work to sort it out. It will take you an age to put it up right and a Pro will take just a few hours. Small tip if you do try yourself, when I used to help put tables up, the fitter used to use a type of polyfilla to fill the gaps between the slates. Good luck you will need it.

[Son of Cliff]

You may want to chat to Bill Johnes - http://www.truelevel.co.uk he is a member on here and may be able to help, also Moglet is an expert on these things may be worth sending him a PM

ferret

£300.00 to level a snooker table, I would want the table put up and levelled for that price. :snooker:

[bongo]

I would definately get a professional fitter to do it if you do not know how. It is a difficult job, especially for a full size table.

[gg339]

Hi,

Thank you all for your input - unfortunately the installer is not an option - so looks like I'll be in for a steep learning curve!

Thanks

[garysnooker]

i managed to installed a snooker table with afrend didnt have a problem i Levelling the frame frist then put the slates on work out ok

[steedee]

i can only speak from a pool table point of view but i would have to agree with ferrett.

get the table right first, then worry about the levelling

[Son of Cliff]

i managed to installed a snooker table with afrend didnt have a problem i Levelling the frame frist then put the slates on work out ok

Good advice its a must that you level the frame first, let the table settle for a while, then put on the slates, then finish off levelling the table by packing each of the eight legs, if you levelled the table well without the slates on then most of the table will be level anyway. We always used beer mats for under packing the legs might be because they were handy as most of the tables we put up were put into clubs, but they work fine. and make sure you use a good jack with packing used not to damage the underside of the table. And for safety reasons make sure you have a jack that is rated for over two tonnes. Good luck again :snooker:

[garysnooker]

go for it i did you might need a engineering level or roll a ball up and down the table builders level is useless are you near london

[bongo]

From a coaching point of view here. Don't just hit the white up the table with your cue, any amount of side on the ball and it will ruin the test. Place a plant (touching balls) right up the cushion from near a baulk pocket and knock the white onto the plant, you can see if the slate dips near the middle then. It is one way.

[gg339]

Hi,

Again, thanks for your comments. I'm located in Ireland - didn't see the part on signup which asked me for a country (oh well).
I'm going to give it a shot over the next few evenings, and i'll report back on how I got on - might (or might not) be useful for other members.

Regards,
Ger

[barracuda911]

You've been given some decent advice on here.
Ideally, well more than ideally....essentially, you need to have the frame put together and in position, then make sure the frame is level..level over all the cross sections and main frame.
Once you've done that, you'll need a straight edge (piece of aluminium channel or similar that is straight) which is at least as wide as the table, you'll use this straight edge to look for any high spots in the frame. you don't want your slates sitting on a part of the frame that is a little high in the centre etc. If the frame checks out nice and level and flat, no worries. If it isn't overly straight and flat, then you'll need the old hand plane and rectify it.
Once the frame is levelled and sorted, then your slates can go on...then you can go about getting them in the right position and with the right amount of overhang all around.

[cocked hat]

table levelling

Good advice on here so far,Barracuda mentions a piece of extruded aluminium.If you get a couple of pieces,say about two feet long,lay them on the table at right angles,when you put a ball on them,unless the table is absolutely level you won't be able to stop the ball rolling.You should do this before and after fitting the slates.
The filler you use to fill between the slate and imperfections must be fine enough(not compo)and strong enough not to crumble if a ball is accidentally dropped on the playing surface.