Author Topic: Free Craigslist find - Bumper pool (restored) (Read 13435 times)

shardian · « **on:** June 03, 2008, 05:07:03 pm »

Well I have a few searches that I run thru craigslist once a week or so. One of which paid off big today - a bumper pool table (see attached)! I emailed as soon as I saw the ad, even though it was 3 days old. The guy called me in like 3 minutes. He said that he was waiting to hear back from a "maybe" craigslister this evening. I told him I could run over immediately, so it was all mine.
It is pouring the rain, but the guy was even nice enough to have it thoroughly wrapped in plastic by the time I got over there in 20 minutes. I'll take a few more pics this evening. It is older, and most likely needs a new felt and bumpers, but I am not complaining for free. As you can see, it came with 2 sets of balls, and 4 cues.

Ginsu Victim · « **Reply #1 on:** June 03, 2008, 05:34:35 pm »

Very nice! We used to have one in the early eighties. No clue what happened to it....

(Off topic....1000 posts!)
Man, that was quick. I only joined in Feb.

JeepMonkey · « **Reply #2 on:** June 03, 2008, 06:02:58 pm »

Nice score. My uncle had an octaganal one when I was a kid. We played it all the time. I have never seen a rectangular one. How long / wide is it?

Ummon · « **Reply #3 on:** June 04, 2008, 04:23:07 am »

I only saw one of these at a lesser arcade in around '79 or '80. Lesser meaning no Pac-Man, even. I don't know if anyone knew how to play bumper pool. How do you?

shardian · « **Reply #4 on:** June 04, 2008, 08:50:11 am »

It is a standard size, around 3x4 or something. The octagonal tables are actually the non-standard ones. Me and the wife unloaded it last night and set it up outside to play a few rounds. It has some stains on the felt that are most likely cat pee. Overall the cabinet smells like "old people house". You know that smell...

It needs a THOROUGH airing out and cleaning, and until then, it will remain in the garage as-is.

BTW, I've always liked bumper pool better than regular pool. It is more of a camaraderie game than pool. Anyone can play and be competitive. You can really ---fudgesicle--- your opponent good with blocks, and everyone will be laughing hysterically.

shardian · « **Reply #5 on:** June 04, 2008, 03:20:03 pm »

Anyone here ever recover a pinball table?

JeepMonkey · « **Reply #6 on:** June 04, 2008, 03:51:18 pm »

My coworker did. Is there something in particular you want to know?

shardian · « **Reply #7 on:** June 04, 2008, 04:23:56 pm »

Quote from: JeepMonkey on June 04, 2008, 03:51:18 pm

My coworker did. Is there something in particular you want to know?

Well, I was having trouble finding information on how to do it, but I finally found a decent guide. Of course, the guide is intended for full-size tables, but I'm sure a little bumper table is much easier.

My main question: Is pool table fabric special, or can I just buy high quality wool felt from the fabric store for much less money?

whammoed · « **Reply #8 on:** June 04, 2008, 04:32:11 pm »

Quote from: shardian on June 04, 2008, 03:20:03 pm

Anyone here ever recover a pinball table?

pinball...lol

I love playing bumber pool on a real table like that one. My grandparents had one when I was little.

I think the felt is special...to avoid rips and lay flat etc.
I would load it up and take it somewhere that sells pool tables. I bet you can find someone to do it for a good price if they don't have to come to you. They'll have the felt in stock and you will have a choice of colors too.

shardian · « **Reply #9 on:** June 04, 2008, 04:56:44 pm »

heh, pinball... that's what I get for delving into too many hobbies.

Pool table stores charge $100-$200 to re-cover a bumper pool table if I find a reasonable one. I wouldn't pay that unless I had a super high quality table - which I don't.

whammoed · « **Reply #10 on:** June 04, 2008, 05:48:46 pm »

Quote from: shardian on June 04, 2008, 04:56:44 pm

Pool table stores charge $100-$200 to re-cover a bumper pool table if I find a reasonable one. I wouldn't pay that unless I had a super high quality table - which I don't.

I see. Happ sells cloth. Bunch of different brands. Example:
http://www.happcontrols.com/amusement/billiards/26123600.htm
Is that much more than what you would pay per yard for felt at the fabric store?
Maybe get some next time you need something from happ so the shipping not such an issue?

SirPeale · « **Reply #11 on:** June 05, 2008, 07:10:34 am »

I've assisted in recovering a few tables.

You may want to have a pool table place do it. You've never done one before, and there are things you don't want to screw up, or you'll have to do it again. That $200 figure (I would think less for yours since it's small and there are no pockets) would be worth having no aggravation.

Is this a slate table, or a wood one?

shardian · « **Reply #12 on:** June 05, 2008, 07:17:34 am »

It is a wood table. An ebay vendor is sending me samples of his red and green felts. I'll take them to the fabric store and compare. It appears that most standard pool table felts are a 75/25 wool/nylon blend.

Happ is out of the question due to their outrageous shipping charges.

I was looking at the table last night, and disassembly appears to be pretty straight-forward. The rails are in excellent shape. If I could match the green color of the rails, I would only recover the table.

Hoopz · « **Reply #13 on:** June 05, 2008, 02:37:06 pm »

You may email Divemaster to see if he can carry it. I know he says he carries all their stuff but I dont know if that means stuff outside arcade parts etc. Can't hurt to ask.

shardian · « **Reply #14 on:** June 05, 2008, 09:08:29 pm »

I took a rail apart to see how complicated this was compared to a real pool table - it doesn't even compare. The rail felt is stapled on top and bottom - no channels to deal with. the table felt is merely spray glued down and trimmed to the top only - no fold over at all. Everything is screwed together and very straight forward. The way it is designed, there is tons of room for error, so I can just cut big and trim to fit.

shardian · « **Reply #15 on:** June 13, 2008, 09:52:00 am »

Ordered all of my restore supplies yesterday. I have been trying to find the cheapest felt and was about to order from a guy when I did one last ebay search.

I found a guy who had two auctions on ebay with all of the stuff in these pics:

I got all of that for $62 shipped!

Before I came across these auctions the felt alone was going to run $40 shipped at a minimum for cheap stuff.

shardian · « **Reply #16 on:** June 29, 2008, 09:16:40 pm »

Bumping this up today. I just finished putting the felt on the bumpers. That is some labor intensive work. It took several hundred staples! Some time later this week I will get around to thoroughly cleaning the frame, and then I will felt the playfield. I'll try to get around to taking a few pictures. I have been horrible about that so far - not a one! All that matters is the end product though, right?

SirPeale · « **Reply #17 on:** June 30, 2008, 11:33:24 am »

I hate felting tables. I guess if it were in my own place I wouldn't feel bad about taking a few breaks and leaving it alone for a while if I get frustrated with it, but doing it on location you do it start to finish usually.

The staples suck. Not so much putting them in as pulling them. Guy I worked with showed me a technique with an awl that worked pretty well.

shardian · « **Reply #18 on:** June 30, 2008, 11:44:06 am »

Quote from: Peale on June 30, 2008, 11:33:24 am

The staples suck. Not so much putting them in as pulling them. Guy I worked with showed me a technique with an awl that worked pretty well.

I thought I had mentioned stripping the table here, but apparently I didn't!

The rails had a million staples holding the felt down. These rails differed from a traditional pool table, as the felt is stapled into a channel on top and bottom. I used the biggest jewelers flat blade I could find to pull them, as they were sunk into the wood pretty good in most places. Once I pulled the top rail, I could just zip across most of the bottom side by pulling the felt. It was labor intensive of course, but not too bad.

The table felt was just glued down of course. I peeled it right off no problem. I need to clean the top to get rid of some glue residue, and neutralize the two cat pee stains. I might just sand/prime the whole tabletop. It would be really nice to laminate the top. That would make the thing much more durable, but would add more to the cost than I am willing to commit.

unclet · « **Reply #19 on:** July 14, 2008, 07:42:35 pm »

Here is bumper pool table I just picked up today. It is a slate table by Valley. It is an arcade model and is very heavy. The actual bumpers are metal with rubber rings. It looks great so I am not going to need to do any work on this thing at all. It has a leathery/vinyl covering and everything works perfectly.

Thought I would share a photo.

shardian · « **Reply #20 on:** August 25, 2008, 10:42:59 am »

Figured I would bump this up. I got the pinball where I wanted it, and finished the trim work, so the bumper pool is no longer my miter saw staging area.

This week will be spent getting this table done. I cleaned up the base and table body yesterday. Nothing special, just spray cleaner and Goo-gone. It is cleaning up much nicer/easier than I expected. Tonight I need to try to remove the glue/felt residue from the table top with goo-gone. I'll also snap a few pictures for your viewing pleasure.

HaRuMaN · « **Reply #21 on:** August 25, 2008, 11:10:38 am »

Awesome... I'd like to find a bumper pool table, I used to play that a lot as a kid.

shardian · « **Reply #22 on:** August 27, 2008, 09:58:37 am »

Last night I cleaned the felt/glue residue from the table top. I had bought some goo-gone extreme for this purpose, because I thought it would be a real pain. With the GGE, you spray your cloth, and dampen the surface. It was working, but leaving a sticky residue. I was putting the water down to dampen by dipping my fingers in a bucket and spreading a thin amount around. As I did this, I noticed that my fingers were lifting some of the felt/glue. Sure enough, simple water and light pressure with my hand was way more effective than goo-gone. I had the tabletop spotless in 20 minutes or so.

ChadTower · « **Reply #23 on:** August 27, 2008, 10:31:10 am »

With a lot of old adhesives I'm finding that simple 50/50 white vinegar/water does the trick pretty well. I removed a small room's worth of 25 year old wallpaper glue that way. Had to do a little bit of sanding at the end to get the last 2% but the stuff was a lot gentler on the base material than a commercial product.

shardian · « **Reply #24 on:** August 28, 2008, 08:33:38 am »

I got a substantial amount done last night on this (and I finally took pics!)

First off, I laid out the felt. I decided to go with the staple underneath method. I was just not a fan of the glue method originally used, because once the glue lets up, there is nothing there to hold tension on the felt.

That was the end of the 'easy' part though. As usual for me, things don't just magically fit like they do on the woodworking/home improvement shows. The pocket holes were a bit too snug for the rings I had. After trying to force them for a while, I cracked out my problem solver - the belt sander. I swear I have used the sander on more plastic than wood.

After beveling the liners, I drove them into the table with a hammer and a piece of scrap plywood.

After that, I thought it would be a breeze to insert all of the bumpers. Wrong again! It appears the bumpers I got were made for a 3/4" tabletop. Mine is a higher quality 1" top. So, I had to make some modifications to the table as seen in this photo. Do you know how hard it is to use a spade bit with a 3/8" starter hole?

I had to quit here because I couldn't drill anymore due to noise.

ChadTower · « **Reply #25 on:** August 28, 2008, 09:21:41 am »

So... over the last day or two you have been working on your pin, finished up the pool heater, and did all this? Has the meth arrived in your house or something?

shardian · « **Reply #26 on:** August 28, 2008, 09:45:55 am »

Haha. We are having a birthday party for the wife on Monday and SHE wants some of the games working and projects done by then.

Thus, she has been granting me substantial 'project time' over the last few weeks.

SirPeale · « **Reply #27 on:** August 28, 2008, 03:37:03 pm »

Quote from: shardian on August 28, 2008, 08:33:38 am

First off, I laid out the felt. I decided to go with the staple underneath method. I was just not a fan of the glue method originally used, because once the glue lets up, there is nothing there to hold tension on the felt.

If that's the case, you're using the wrong kind of glue.

ChadTower · « **Reply #28 on:** August 28, 2008, 03:39:11 pm »

Quote from: Peale on August 28, 2008, 03:37:03 pm

If that's the case, you picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue.

fixt

shardian · « **Reply #29 on:** August 28, 2008, 03:52:08 pm »

Quote from: Peale on August 28, 2008, 03:37:03 pm

Quote from: shardian on August 28, 2008, 08:33:38 am
First off, I laid out the felt. I decided to go with the staple underneath method. I was just not a fan of the glue method originally used, because once the glue lets up, there is nothing there to hold tension on the felt.

If that's the case, you're using the wrong kind of glue.

There were several spots on the original felt that had gotten wet wrinkled where the glue had partially released. I am quite happy with the stretch and staple method.

unclet · « **Reply #30 on:** August 28, 2008, 10:35:31 pm »

Looking good .....

shardian · « **Reply #31 on:** August 29, 2008, 08:24:19 am »

Well, it is mostly finished. I saw mostly because you will notice the white markers are mostly missing along the edge. A few originals were missing, and the rest were yellow with age. I finally hunted down an opaqe white replacement, but they are a bit different design. Instead of just having a few legs, the body is long with the legs attached to the bottom part of the body. Why in the world did they use this design, I don't know. Anyways, the problem is that the body of the plug is too long for the hole. Why anyone would have a 1/2" countersunk hole to accept these things, I don't know. I cracked out my trusty belt sander again and ground them down. Unfortunately, I had to grind the bottom ring off which hold the retention legs to get them to fit all the way down in the hole. I simply am not satisfied with this solution, but hope I can get over it.

As to reassembly, that table had TIGHT original tolerances. That made my reassembly difficult because I wrapped the felt around the table and bumper ends. I had to 'gently' force the table and bumpers back into the frame. In the end, I am quite satisfied with my work.

ChadTower · « **Reply #32 on:** August 29, 2008, 08:32:32 am »

Looks good. Do you have a spot with a little more toom to play it?

shardian · « **Reply #33 on:** August 29, 2008, 08:34:30 am »

Quote from: ChadTower on August 29, 2008, 08:32:32 am

Looks good. Do you have a spot with a little more room to play it?

It will be coming inside for a while. Its final resting place will be in the garage. As you can see in the background of the pics, the garage is not exactly clean.

SirPeale · « **Reply #34 on:** August 29, 2008, 12:16:27 pm »

Quote from: shardian on August 28, 2008, 03:52:08 pm

Quote from: Peale on August 28, 2008, 03:37:03 pm
Quote from: shardian on August 28, 2008, 08:33:38 am
First off, I laid out the felt. I decided to go with the staple underneath method. I was just not a fan of the glue method originally used, because once the glue lets up, there is nothing there to hold tension on the felt.

If that's the case, you're using the wrong kind of glue.

There were several spots on the original felt that had gotten wet wrinkled where the glue had partially released. I am quite happy with the stretch and staple method.

If it worked for you, good. But if it released when it got wet you used the wrong adhesive.

This has a wood "slate"?

shardian · « **Reply #35 on:** August 29, 2008, 01:13:45 pm »

It is 1" particle board, laminated on both sides with a hardboard veneer and a chalkboard like finish coat. When you tap a ball on it, it sounds almost like a slate table.

It was the original felt that I took off. Apparently cat pee just isn't good for adhesives.

SirPeale · « **Reply #36 on:** August 29, 2008, 01:53:23 pm »

Sorry, I'm just used to the coin-op stuff. If we ever used an adhesive that came off when it got wet it would be a frequent service call when a drink got spilled on it.

Wade · « **Reply #37 on:** August 29, 2008, 08:47:54 pm »

Dude, that turned out really nice!!! Good job on the refelting. That whole top looks new now.

Wade

leapinlew · « **Reply #38 on:** September 28, 2008, 09:46:24 am »

Bump!

Shardian, how you liking the bumper pool? I like bumper pool, but I don't think I could find anyone to play with me. (kind of like Pong).

shardian · « **Reply #39 on:** September 29, 2008, 08:30:55 am »

We play occasionally, but most of the time the wife has the table converted to her laundry table.

Our little girl loves it too. She will take all the balls out and put them up on the table, then ask me to lift her up so she can put them all back down the hole. I'll sometimes put her up there and I'll shoot around her to practice my bank and bumper shots.


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