Gold Crown IV

Gold Crown IV
FastMikie's Fun House, Del Mar, California

Monday, May 01, 2006

New Balls


Brunswick Centennial vs. Aramith Super Pro

With nothing better to do on a Sunday,
I wandered into my local billiard supply store
(Billiards and Barstools)
and bought myself a new set of balls.

I had been using the Aramith Super Pro balls,
and the "measles" cue ball
for the last couple of years.
Needless to say, they have been
getting pretty banged up and grungy
and were way overdue for a serious cleaning.
But even a day without my balls
would leave me feeling like something
was missing...

And, I've been wondering if
there is any difference
between the Aramith and Brunswick product.

So, before I started playing with
my new Brunswick balls,
I completely vacuumed the table,
and cleaned it with Quick-Clean.

Then I got down to weighing each ball
and found that eight balls weigh 169 grams each
seven balls weigh 168 grams each
and one ball was 167 grams.
Not exactly the kind of quality control
I would have expected!

Next, I got down to some shooting.
The Brunswick balls seemed heavier,
more sluggish than the Aramiths,
but that could just be an illusion.
"Feelings" are not very scientific.
Maybe I was just looking for a difference.
Was it the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle?
Who knows!
And isn't that what the Principle is all about?

What I do know is that
the Centennials have richer colors,
especially the 7-ball...
but, again, that's a personal opinion
and nothing scientific.

Something I did notice that was interesting:
The numbers on the Brunswicks stripes are in the white
but the numbers on the Aramith stripes are in the color.

On to the micrometer test...
The Brunswicks seem a smidge fatter.
A "smidge" is not exactly measurable
using my micrometer,
but it's significant,
especially considering that I'm
measuring dirty Aramiths.
I'll have to redo this test
after I get the Aramiths cleaned.

More later...


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5 comments:

Erik J. Barzeski said...

Balls shrink over time as they slowly wear. So naturally your old balls will be smaller and weigh less (i.e. feel less sluggish).

Robert Johnson said...

I cannot find Aramith ball statistics, but Brunswick claims 0.001 inch radial tolerance. That means 2 balls could be nearly 0.004 inches different in diameter. So if one is 167 grams then another could be 1.012 times heavier or 169 grams.

Robert Johnson said...

Does anyone know how quickly a ball wears over time? More than 0.001 inch over ten years of play? Or is the wear less significant?

Anonymous said...

Mikie - love your blog.

I would be interested to know how you clean your balls(!). I have found various techniques from the internet. My favourite is to put them in the dishwasher with organic detergent and then polish them using a home-made ball polishing contraption - consisting of a bucket and some lambswool stuck on a rubber disk that is attahced to an electric drill. Brings them up sparkling - like magic!

Robert Johnson said...

Brunswick FAQ says abrasives are bad, but I rub my Pro Tour (measles) ball with toothpaste and a hand cloth if it gets badly marked. Should I do something safer?