Rubber Tips

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Yesterday on the BBC's Masters coverage, a viewer emailed in about the use of rubber tips; John Parrott had coincidentally been given a cue recently to try that had one fitted, the Champnio of '91 said it had some dimples on the top and would be trying it out soon. Have you ever used one - would you, could it catch on? (Sorry Admin; not sure how to use Polls!)

[Redguy1986]

I hate a mate who used one the only problem is that u have alot of practice with one before u can get any good with it.

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Hi redguy, nice birthday... hate him? no guilt in beating him then - or was it 'had a mate'? freudian slip eh redguy!
So once you've adjusted and got the feel back they're okay, interestin; wonder how long they'd last and if you need anything to keep it gripping? If only cue makers put screw-in tips on cues, you could try it out on your own stick. It'd take me ages to stop reaching for the chalk in my (worn out) back pocket! Highest break with it?

[twiglet]

I think using screw in tips is a bad idea, if you have ever played pool with cues with screw in tips, you will be familiar with the tinny sound that it makes

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cheers twiglet, so if the clunking impact noise could be solved then it's plain sailing? All I know is that for the amount of snooker (I'm lucky enough) to play, there's too many times I'm thinking, I wish I could have a new tip NOW but not have to play 10 or 20 frames before I'm really settled with it.

[twiglet]

i think people are set in their ways, and won't move away much from the leather tip. have you any idea who makes the rubber tips and if John Parrot eventually tested it?

[twiglet]

cheers twiglet, so if the clunking impact noise could be solved then it's plain sailing? All I know is that for the amount of snooker (I'm lucky enough) to play, there's too many times I'm thinking, I wish I could have a new tip NOW but not have to play 10 or 20 frames before I'm really settled with it.

If you have an old white ball, then you can use this to knock your tip in before you use it on the table. I use an old white to flatten any fibres, although it doesn't knock a tip in completely it goes a long way to it being knocked in.

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not sure who's asked jp to try one out and Googling doesn't help; maybe he shouldn't have tried it against "flukey o'fergal" tho!! Pity, i really admire john, saw him at sheffield when he won, he used to play in the same liverpool league team as my mum's recently passed away partner.
'set in your ways', lot of truth there, but i'm an early adopter as they're called so i'd jump at the chance of using a screw-in. In an email to me, John Parris said, "...Screw tips don't really work, you cannot get a good quality screw tip and it is never on as solid as a glued tip. Regards John".
Funny u should say about an old ball, that's what I did last time while waiting for my frame to begin a while back - I think chalking the tip wears it out more than anything (see attached pix, not mine but not far off!).
Bit cheeky, but I asked Mr.Parris if he ever gets a 'Links' section on his website, would he consider putting this forum's address on their... maybe! Imagine getting HIM to up your REP power!

[twiglet]

Thats how bad my chalk gets. I chalk my cue leaving crosses like that. Some people chalk leaving the highly acclaimed "Hot Cross Bun" TM pattern. Then you get some that chalk around and around like Fast Eddie Felson from the Hustler!!

Back to the topic shame about Parrot, but i think his media work has caught up with him, i know he has packed it all in over the last few seasons to concentrate on snooker. But it may be a case of too little too late. Shame cos i like the fella.

I think if you find a new tip which hasn't split when you try to pull it apart, then you know that its gonna be okay. I don't think screw in tips will ever take off maintream in the Pro game and that is the acid test for everyone.

[silverdragon]

I did make a rubber tip myself before. It was a different experiance for sure. It actually worke dout pretty well until it started cracking. I took a screw on tip, took of the leather tip and glued on the rubber. From there i attached it to a drill and shaped it on sandpaper.
It would impart a lot of english for short distances, but in the long run. it would basically have the cueball rolling. Perhaps this was because the rubber i used was a very soft rubber.

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thought we had some ufo's for a minute!!!

silverdragon - did you find it better than a leather tip? Could you see yourself using it in the future, was the rubber you used the best? What could make it better? How did you keep the grip?

gagging!

[silverdragon]

Im no expert on rubber, so i cant exactly say if it was the best. It probably wasnt. I still think leather tips are better. You cant hit as hard with the rubber tip, and like i said before, it had a nice amount of english for the first 2 feet or so, but then that would be it since you cant hit hard with it. If the tip didnt crack, i probably would have used it longer though. I think maybe next time i will try to find a harder rubber to see if that would be better. A few weeks ago, i found a website with some pool stuff, and the person who made the site also made a rubber tip. but instead of a piece of soft rubber, he cut apart a super ball.

How did it play? Strange... very strange. All shots generated a vibration that ran up and down the cue. This makes sense because the plastic tip would naturally deform more then spring back slower than a leather or phenolic tip. Without chalk, English shots easily put two to three times the amount of spin on the cue. But, they also had a sticky feel as if the tip didn't want to let go. Chalking eliminated this but also reduced the spin. Weirder still was the fact that squirt went through the roof. I believe this was because the edge of the tip deformed it creating a significantly sharper angle of contact with the cue than with a harder leather tip. Then when it bounced back it pushed to cue ball sideways at this increased angle. The greatly increased spin and squirt would make controlling a cue with a tip like this a nightmare.

Even worse was the fact that the tip self-destructed. Bits of the edge started flying off with the first stroke. I remember when super balls first came out (Yes, I'm old enough to recall that happening.) they had a tendency to explode if thrown down too hard. Once they were cut, this problem became much worse. I believe that slicing the ball created many fracture lines that easily tore loose. The final problem was that the entire tip ended up flying off the cue. The cement I used wasn't formulated to hold this type of plastic.

I havent been working with the rubber tips for a while now (around like 10 months to a year). Ive been working on hardening tips for a jump/break cue. Once thats done (which would probably be soon) im going to see if i can make a better rubber tip. I still feel that it was because the rubber was so soft. But that person who made the tip out of a superball said it fell apart fast. My tip lasted around 2 months before it cracked. If i can find a durable rubber that is med-hard, then i think that tip would be pretty good.

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interesting, I guess if the cracking can't be overcome, then a screw-in rubber tip could combine 2 ideas in one. No 'knocking-in' needed, and as soon as the tip perished, a spare could easily be fitted in seconds with a reliable tolerance of performance.

Keep it up.

[Phired]

Only problem, I find, with screw on tips other than the noise when striking a ball is that they tend to unscrew themselves slightly after playing a few shots which becomes annoying as your constantly checking/screwing the tip back on tightly. Might just be my cues though if no one else has experienced anything similar.

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That would get to me too.
If a snooker cue could be adapted to take a screw-in tip, and use a rubber tip, it would solve a host of problems. Easier to change your tip, easier to knock a few in and have them ready, less time wasted getting used to your tip, less kicks if you both don't use chalk. Someone could make a bit of money out of this.