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Dead Cushions? Already?
You have a beautiful pool table, but something is just not right. You can’t put your finger on it, but it just doesn’t play like it did when you bought it. It seems like the cushions are just not bouncing right. But how can that be? The table is only 5 or 6 years old. Cushion rubber is supposed to last like 20 years, right? What is going on!?
Here’s the scoop:
Recently, we have seen many pool tables less than 10 years old with bad cushion rubber. Some less than 5 years old. Some were inexpensive to buy, but most weren’t. There are a few major pool table manufacturers that used a batch of rubber cushions that was inferior. It can affect only one or two cushions or all six. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason. But the truth is, if one rail has gone bad, the others are likely to follow suit shortly after. We’ve seen a few different brands of pool tables that have rubber issues, but at the top of the list are American Heritage Pool Tables and Artisan Pool Tables. We’ve even seen it on a few Beach Manufacturing and Goldenwest Pool Tables. These are all nice, well built tables that just had poor quality rubber on the rails.
The rubber is K-66 profile and most often pink in color. You probably don’t know what color the rubber is, since your cloth covers it. But, it is pink rather than amber or tan. Don’t take off your cloth to see the color! You can test your cushions by thowing a ball firmly against a cushion on the short side. It should make 3-4 cushion contacts before coming to rest. The telltale sign of a dead cushion is a “thud” noise on contact. Cushions should be quiet and lively.
Good pool table cushion rubber generally lasts 20-25 years, although some last longer. We can swap out your bad rubber for good rubber and get your table playing like new.
tablebilliard says:
There are many sizes and styles of pool and billiard tables. Generally, tables are rectangles twice as long as they are wide. Most pool tables are known as 7-, 8-, or 9-footers, referring to the length of the table’s long side. Full-size snooker and English billiard tables are 12 feet long on the longest side.
November 20, 2009 at 3:23 am
Darrin Brown says:
Your right on the mark, my 3 year old American Heritage pool table had 2 “dead” bumpers. I tried contacting the company where I purchased my pool table from (i think they’re out of business now) but at the time they were located next to the 55 freeway in santa ana. At the time i contacted them they were still in business and all I heard from them was the cusion rubber was not covered under their warranty. I spoke with Rory at DK Billiards in Orange,CA. She was very helpful and explained to me the difference in cushion rubber color and the normal life expectancy of “good” cushion rubber. The color does make a huge difference, anyway Rory’s husband David came to my home and dismantled my pool table’s rails and took them to his shop. David explained to me that since my pool table’s felt was only 3 years old there was a good chance he could save the felt on my rails so there would be no need to refelt the rails (aka bumpers). About a week later he came back and re-installed the rails on my pool table and I could tell the difference right away. My pool table was back to playing the way it should. David explained that the cushion rubber that he uses is amber in color and does not contain as much clay filler as the pink rubber does. This will allow the cushions to remain lively much, much longer than the previous rubber that american heritage used.
Thanks for the great service and education about pool table cushion rubber.
January 11, 2010 at 6:00 am
Yet Another American Heritage with Dead Cushions : OC Pool Table Experts says:
[...] finished up another American Heritage recushion job. A great looking, well built pool table that is about 5 years old should not need recushioning. [...]
June 17, 2010 at 8:37 pm
Eddie Stephens says:
I have several Vally and Dynamo pool tables with dead rails,all are 7′ tables except one and it’s an 8′ table all coin ops.Can you tell me how much the rails might cost or refer me to someone in the Atlanta,Georgia area? Any help is greatly appreciated.
October 28, 2010 at 5:25 pm
Rory says:
You can expect to pay about $180 per set if you buy 4-6 sets at a time. If you’re in the vending business you may be able to get a break on this price.
Contact Fred at Penguin Amusement in Sheppard, MI.
Phone (866)772-3636
November 1, 2010 at 7:27 am