Today I was at a club Re-covering two 7×4 supreme winner tables , in the same club there was a 9ft American Sam K steel pool table that was also being dismantled by another Firm From Birmingham by the sound of their accents .
the fitters arrived to take this table out just as I was gluing the slate beds of the two UK supreme pool tables .
One of the fitters started laughing and pointing at me saying I should be using spray on Glue , little did they know that the owner who was stood next to them was not amused by this , as I had shown him the pitfalls of Gluing pool cloth on with spray on Glue many years ago and that’s why he use’s me to do his work , he quickly shut the fitter up when he told them he did not like his tables being re-covered by fitters using spray on glue and also informed them that the fitter they where laughing at for using a comb to spread a contact adhesive glue on had nearly 40 year experience in the trade as a fully time served Billiards fitter.
And here are my reason’s that I do not use spray on Glue for all you so called billiard fitters and pool table Re-covers out there .
Photo 1 , a typical spray on glue , note the build up of overspray , this overspray prevents a ball rolling true down the side cushions , in my opinion spray on Glue should not be used for re-covering , it is used in the factory when the table is new , but after this any re-covering should have combed on Contact adhesive .
Even from new , you can see a problem of overspray from this Factory first re-cover of Brand new slate when using spray on glue , unless you cover all the area’s you will get overspray .
Note the thick line around 6 inch down the slate going across the slate , the ball was rolling off this , so we where asked to strip the table to find out what was under the cloth .take a look at how clean the table is inside on the ball rails , this table was less than a week on site from new .
Below , Here is a slate that I have started to clean the overspray off , note the date 12 dec 2012 , again the ball was stopping on a slow shot into this pocket due to the bad over spraying of thick spray on glue that the fitter has no control over , by using a spreader the fitter puts the glue exactly where he wants it to go on the edge and on the upper part that is under the cushion and not in the play area of the table , no build up of glue to make the ball wander off , and no complaints about the table rolling off .
Now I could have made a scene and had a go back at these fitters , but I thought no , they are only saying this because they have not thought it out , and was most probably taught to re-cover pool tables with spray on Glue which is ok for Car Carpets or sound deadening but should not be used anywhere near the playing surface of a Cue sports table .
I used to buy cloth in a kit that came with a set of balls , a 7×4 bed and cushion kit , a triangle , 12 chalks , a brush , a tin of cloth cleaner spray on type , and a tin of that spray on Glue .
I now have around 50 tins of spray on glue never used and in one box , if any of these fitters wants to buy these off me they can have at £2 a tin , Because it has no use for anything I do in the billiards / Snooker and pool trade. I only bought these kit because of the other items I could use like balls and brush , the cloth cleaner too . the spray on glue was never used .
It is messy to use , it will not grab well and has been known for the cloth to become unstuck as the fitter is walking out the door . and I have seen some very nasty recover work by fitters who have got overspray not only on the slates playing surface but in the ball runners and inside the table , also all over the coin mech and tipping ball mechanisms .
this is how I do all my Pool table re-covers , Note no glue overspray !
glue is applied to edge of slate 1/2 inch on top and side edge but not on top of pocket opening .
it is also applied by hand comb spreader around pocket falls and under pocket falls .
Old cloth is put over the new cloth to protect it as we have to glue the underside of the cloth
and another example progress of work when gluing and finished table
we also clean out the tables we are working on , cleaning all grease and sweat muck wax off all moving parts and ball runs and side tray
cleaning a Super league tables ball runs , using a dish wash brush and plenty of washing up liquid and hot water .
this is what I was removing , idle Fitters who leave this to build up , all tables should be cleaned inside making sure all the balls are running smooth over the ball runs and side trays , when a ball rolls over this it picks up dirt and grease off these dirty ball rails , it then deposits the grease on cushion facings and other balls and all over that nice new cloth you have just had fitted at great expense !
this is another bad example of spray on Glue !
and this is how I get rid of it , Acetone and elbow grease .
A clean set of ball runners under the slate , it appears that many fitters rely on the What the Eye cannot see
At GCL Billiards we do not leave anything to chance , we protect our reputation as a Firm that can carry out Re-covering on any Cue sports table in a proper manner , making sure the table performs to it’s best , next time you see a pool table fitter using spray on Glue point him to this Write up on my web site , I would like all fitters to see this .
and the moral of this story is ,
and Why do Fitter’s use this spray on Glue …..SPEED !…….. They want to do as many re-covers in a day and they are not too fussed in how they go about this .
so What is best for Gluing a cue sports table slate bed , Spray on Glue or Spread on contact adhesive ?
