If youre Snooker table is due for a Re- rubber than do not settle for anything less than northern rubber , make sure it is northern rubber that the fitter is fitting , we often come across tables that have had lower priced canvas backed Taiwan rubber fitted which only realy lasts around 5 years , where northern rubber if kept at room tempreture will last around 20 to 25 years.,
here are a few photo’s of what it takes to get the pockets cutt at the correct angle ,
After marking around the template , the rubber is cutt with a very sharp knife to just outside the pen mark to allow for sanding exact .
once the rubber has been sanded exact , the undercutt of the rubber is done , again with the same sharp knife , notice that I have left a flat nose of rubber all the way around the angle this is the modern way to undercutt , in the 1980s and before this date , the angle was to a point in the curve and did not have the flat edge all the way into the pocket , if youre table has pointed undercutt rubber without the flat nose , then the rubber is about due to be renewed , this photo shows the rough cutt before it is sanded smooth , you can see the knife marks in the undercutt , I often see work where the fitter has just left the undercutt like this and not smoothed it out , this is not good for a smooth entry of the ball into the pocket like the smoothed out undercutt.
This is the finished undercutt , notice that all sharp angles have been smoothed out , and those knife cutt marks also have gone , this is how a good Re-Rubber should be done , if youre fitter is time served you will have a job done as good as this , the actual undercutt is concaved to allow for the curve of the ball to get under the angle nose of the rubber and deflect into the fall of the pocket .
It has been my observation over the last 20 odd years that some companies and even one man operations are just in the Cue sports trade for as much as they can get out of it quickly , this means cutting corners , speed fitting has never been one of my like’s , and I have always insisted I have enough time especialy on intricate work like re-rubbering , if the job is not done to a high degree then you will not be satisfied with the result , At GCL BILLIARDS we may be £20 to £30 more expensive than other firms on a re- rubber or re-cover , but as they say you get what you pay for we always use top brand materials and top quality time served billiard fitter to do the work . as can be seen from the results a smooth well done finish takes a bit more extra time, 2 days on this job when some would have speed fitted it into one day , and at the end of the day that extra time is what you are paying for .
an old stock photo of the stamp that is put on every Rubber , always ask to see this if the re-rubber is being done on site , a good fitter will not take this printed stamp off the rubber , it may be under some tape though , a good fitter will allways show the customer this stamp , there is also raised lettering on the under edge of the rubber that also informs you that the rubber is Genuine northern rubber .
all the above photo’s of the Riley table was work carried out 2 days before christmas day (includeing working christmas eve) , the customer contacted us on 22nd December and was desperate for the work to be done as a Christmas present for her young son who is an up and coming snooker player aged 12 ,from Leicester , he plays on a couple of star tables in Leicester and wanted his Riley to have similar sized pro pocket openings of the star tables , these openings at the fall are now 3.1/2 inch they used to be 3.5/8ths, the cushions are not steel block , but he will get that valuable practice on tight pockets which should improve his skill of accuracy , the cloth was a second hand ex pro tournament number 10 cloth grade ,that the customer supplied themselves via a local professional tour player , the cushion cloth is 6811tournamant and the new rubber is Northern rubber date of manufacture in August 2012.
The only other improvement to this table now is the lighting , he would be much better off with new pro type tube lighting with the white light tubes , two 5 foot units approx 5 foot above the bed is recommended GCL BILLIARDS also supply these., I would not recommend fitting steel blocks to this table ,if the young lad improves to a much higher standard and joins the pro circuit , then he will not settle for anything less than a proper professional Star table with the steel blocks cushions and the heated slates , in the meantime this table is good enough for improveing his skills .
GCL BILLIARDS are time served fitters and can do Re-rubbering to a very high standard , please contact Geoff if you would like this work doing . or wish to enquire for an estimate.
