Rubber Band Test
Ken Bour
Tony S. (Cuemaster) spent some time with me on stroke mechanics along with
designing a custom cue for me.
In one experiment, he stretched a rubber band (approx. 10 mm width) over the
tip and taped it along the sides so that it would stay in place. He then
asked me to shoot a simple straight-in shot. It took several tries before I
could make it. Unless I hit the cueball dead center (vertical axis), there
was no hope of pocketing the object ball.
Tony believes that this exercise is useful to illustrate how difficult it is
to strike the cueball on the center axis. He explained that there is
virtually no contact time with a rubber tip, therefore, the hit must be
precise. Any english at all exaggerates the spin and causes the object ball
to miss the target. I would have thought that the contact time was
extended, which is why the rubber can influence the cueball's trajectory so
much.
Any thoughts out there on this experiment and what principles it might
demonstrate (other than "Don't shoot with a rubber tip!")?
--
Ken Bour
Sterling, VA
http://www.erols.com/kbour
barenada
carved a tip for my Dufferin out of a Super Ball. I had theorized that I'd
be able to get some kind of Super English, be able to stop using chalk, etc.
What I found instead was that for any shot with more than about 1/2" of
english the tip would grab the cue ball and sort of ride along it until the
cue ball would finally finally escape the tip's grasp and roll off in a
nearly random direction.
For draw shots, the cue ball would bounce in the air every time. For follow
shots, the tip would often trap the cue ball so completely that the cue ball
would stop dead along with the tip at the end of my stroke.
For shots hit within about 1/2" of center the tip seemed to perform about
the same as a normal tip.
Over the years I've thought about this way too much, and thanks to Ken's
reminder I've renewed my resolve to try making a tip for one of my house
cues out of a piece of old tire tread. Since it's much harder than Super
Ball material the tip may not grab the cue ball as forcefully. I let you
know how this turns out.
Damn, now I'm thinking about a tip made like the Bunjee Jumper tips, with
ground up reconstituted leather, but with tiny bits of recycled tires mixed
in as well. I wonder what the leather/rubber ratio would have to be to make
it a legal tip.
--
Dave <-- too much free time between work projects
dha...@cyberweek.com
$12.99 "nitro rubber composite" tip that supposedly eliminates
chalking, mushrooming, miscues, etc.
http://www.aprozrubbercuetip.qpg.com/
'Course, I wonder about a guy who leads off with, "There's nothing more
relaxing than a good game of pool. Unfortunately, there's also nothing
more frustrating than a pool cue that requires constant chalking."
Y'think he's ever actually shot a game? ;-)
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
barenada
highly illegal.
I'd like to see the infomercial program "Incredible Inventions" dedicate a
show to this tip sometimes. I can just picture the host's face as he
laments "Sure pool is fun, but don't you get tired of chalking your tip
after EVERY shot?"
Then they could do an actor portrayal where some doofus gets frustrated
because he keeps dropping the chalk, and when he finally manages to get a
good grip on it and clumsily chalk his tip he sends up a cloud of blue dust
that gets all over the place and probably causes lung cancer.
They could also do bits on the ubiquitous local hustler spitting on his
victim's chalk, shots of old worn out chalk cubes clogging landfills,
poolroom brawls breaking out over stolen chalk, etc.
--
Dave
dha...@cyberweek.com wrote in message <8btesl$afu$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>...
t78...@aol.com
It's too bad that we've met a few times and I've never seen your stroke.
With the amount of time you spend on developing a straight stroke it you must
be convinced that it is flawed. What do others think of your stroke, such as
Jerry Briesath and the aforementioned Tony S. Are you agonizing over a minor
inadequacy or is there something drasticly wrong. BTW, are you buying
another Black Boar? Didn't you just pick one up at VF expo? I may not envy
your stroke but your equipment is top shelf :-)...................Paul Mon
dha...@cyberweek.com
"barenada" <bare...@aye.net> wrote:
> I just checked out this site. No mention at all that the tip is
probably
> highly illegal.
Hey, I figgered anyone who glues Super Balls to his cue wasn't worried
about that! :-)
I originally found this guy through his eBay listing, which says the
tip is "BCA approved."
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=295715978
I gather the BCA has sanctioned at least one other oddball tip for
tournament play: the FUTURE Tip ("spaceage polymer") people have an
image of the BCA's sanction letter posted on their site.
http://home.flash.net/~jlowery/homergv.htm
barenada
dhalaka wrote...
> I gather the BCA has sanctioned at least one other oddball tip for
> tournament play: the FUTURE Tip ("spaceage polymer") people have an
> image of the BCA's sanction letter posted on their site.
They person most responsible for teaching me to play used to swear by these
Future tips. He miscued a lot with them. At the time they seemed pretty
expensive ( I want to say about $5 per tip) but with tips like Mooris out
there now $5 is pretty cheap.
--
Dave
dha...@cyberweek.com
> They person most responsible for teaching me to play used to swear by
these
> Future tips. He miscued a lot with them.
Sooo... was he swearing by or *at* them? :-)
barenada
dhakala wrote...
>> They person most responsible for teaching me to play used to
>> swear by these Future tips. He miscued a lot with them.
>
> Sooo... was he swearing by or *at* them? :-)
He kept claiming to love them. But after about 3 years when the tip finally
wore out I noticed he went back to leather.
--
Dave
dhakala
to know I just bought a "nitro rubber composite, BCA-approved"
tip for the new shaft Sheldon LeBow is making for me.
We'll see if it hits better than a rubber band or Super Ball
carving. :-)
More news @ 10:00...
Dave Hakala
"barenada" <bare...@aye.net> wrote:
>I just checked out this site. No mention at all that the tip
is probably
>highly illegal.
>
>>Y'think he's ever actually shot a game? ;-)
>>
>>
>>
>>Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
>>Before you buy.
>
>
>
>
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astrodabu
very top of it was slightly flattened, but it might be really
hard to do. And has anyone tried putting a very thin coating of
plastic on the tip. 10mm seems way too much to me.
-Dave