I have been over to Melton mowbray to re-cover a pool table I supplied to this client last year
the table is finished in light oak cabinet and has the red and cream badge this table is around 5 years old now dating it from that badge .
Every staple is taken out of the cushions , the other week on another job , I had to remove three sets of staples from a cushion set that a fitter had left them in for two re-covers , this makes it very tedious putting right what other cowboy speed fitters have done ,
it was like stripping three sets of cushions down instead of one . and he had done 15 tables like this ! that was like stripping 45 sets of cushions down . I was fuming !
always make sure that a fitter takes all the staples out every cushion on every re-cover and never let them change over cushions from a set they bring with them already covered , you could end up with the old red rubber set and your new black rubber set disappears with the fitter as he takes these Home with him to sell to other clients !
Just as an example here is an old red rubber set off another job that I was working on , old red rubber has a tendency to go rock hard or Spongy with very little bounce so do not let a fitter exchange cushions keep your cushion on your table
and not his old past there sell by date rubber , this is a common practice but one that GCL billiards will not do .
The table is now finished , brand new 6811 strachan cloth , new ball racking cloth fitted , and the client was complaining of the coin mech giving free plays , by gently pulling back the 50p before it drops , this was an anti cheat ratchet spring that had broken inside the coin mech , a simple strip down and replacement of the spring and the coin mech cannot now be free played by the players , the spring keeps a ratchet against v anti return grooves on one side of coin mech . So the coin has to complete it’s full travel forward and drop before the coin slide returns ready for the next coin .
If you cannot hear a gentle click click as you slide the coin mech in , then the anti cheat ratchet spring is broken .
This pool table has limited play over the year and takes around £650 per year , with the broken coin mech I would have said the takings would have been closer to £850 per year or may be more ? , so it shows to keep the maintenance up on the coin mech as well as the cloth .
A replacement coin mech is around £75 delivered and fitted or £45 off ebay to fit yourself , a spring is £1 plus postage .
Lost revenue always exceeds the cost of a spare coin mech so it pays to keep a spare coin mech just incase it fails like this and when the fitter comes to re-cover it can be repaired and put inside the table as a spare which can be used if the replacement has a anti cheat spring malfunction .
there is only 6 screws to unscrew and screw back on to replace the coin mech so it is a DIY job to replace one and saves you around £35 .