DIY: Homemade Pool Ball Washer How-To

Follow my adventure as I attempt to build a custom ball washer for my new set of Aramith Pro Cup TV pool balls.
Cue It Up podcast interview: tinyurl.com/2k48d3p3
Website for my book on Straight Pool: www.ShortstopOnPool.com
Link to my book trailer video: • Book Trailer - A Short...
Facebook: ShortstopOnPool
Contact me: [e-mail]

[@jacobjones5269]

Now this is excellent pool content.. Instructional videos teaching people how to play for free DRIVE ME INSANE!..

[@FXBilliards]

At 4:00 I knew for sure that I would not be building this (I've got no shop skills) but I could not stop watching. Great job with the video Bob.

[@MrJdsenior]

Funny to see you here, but not terribly surprising. Love your channel, along with Dr Dave's (the best, MHO, but my god has he put work into that thing, unbelievably comprehensive and correct, there is obviously 'over the top' pool love there), Tor Lowry's, and a few other really top tier YT channels (Feijen's is another next tier down, and the Oyster guy), they have all been gold for my game skills, at least when I was practicing seriously. Lose the practice, and your game,m mine anyway, nosedives, about 13 balls handicap in a max handicap of 27, in my case for races to 40, called eight ball, arrrrrg. Not totally unexpected, though. I was actually starting to begin to approach the 30 year raised in the pool hall types, at least to some small degree, in that league, top 15%, nothing special, but tables run not totally infrequently, while the best of them are likely to do it at least once in each three game match, three and outs not unheard of). Not terrible, for a self taught with YT help, 5+ year guy without great sports skills. I WILL get back to the hour or two a day level when and if I finally get my table installed. It is quickly moving up the to do list. Cheers.

[@nigellee3266]

Hi, I made a smaller version to clean 8 balls at a time using the same type of polisher housed in a plywood box. I removed a weight from the shaft that caused the oscillation and didn’t need to add a wooden platter because it was already big enough. Well, the polisher motor burnt out very quickly,😢 so I simply purchased a better hand held polisher which I just place on top of the balls when they are in the polisher. The second polisher had a speed control built into it.

[@michaelmalvin8990]

I pay a $buck a ball to my daughter for now. She does a great job. I like this build.

[@ChaseMavrick]

I’m pretty sure that’s illegal, but hey if she needs $2 that bad it’s on her

[@michaelmalvin8990]

@@ChaseMavrick 16 X $2 is $32 for about an hour’s work. Seems legit 😳

[@robertcook2399]

@@ChaseMavrick didn't want u to think ur joke went over everyone's head. I not only got it but chuckled as well!!

[@affLOUence777]

NICE work ... CREATIVE SOLUTION & build ... Video included ...

[@dalenmills436]

From start to finish I just smiled. I wonder if you just put the balls loose in the bottom of the bbl with glued carpet, then used a buffing cloth on the buffer and just held the buffer down on top of the balls? Would that work?

[@davidparker8475]

Very nice Bob. I'd suggest any type of dense foam pad (yoga mat) between the micro fiber cloth and plywood.

[@mattedwards4533]

I believe you are on to something when you mentioned getting a motor than just spins and doesn't oscillate? Love the thinking that went into your ball cleaner!

[@frankrodriguez6424]

Pretty awesome dude. I did the HD bucket, I use all Ryobi tools so I got the battery one. My cost came in at $44 + bucket $5, carpet runner $5. It's amazing how well it cleans the balls. I did it by hand last night and then finished the polisher today. It took a bunch of more yellow shit off them. Balls are Aramith standard probably 18 yrs old, never cleaned. They look brand new now.

[@rjrotermund]

Nice job. I think I'm going to try something similar, but do 8 balls at a time. I'll have to run two cycles to clean all the balls, but that's not a big deal for me. I thin the smaller circumference would not tax the motor as much.

[@Petunia69]

Great video. Well edited. Bloody awesome design... I agree I didn't like the balls clanging together in order to get polished.

[@giraffeapproved]

This is freaking AWESOME. Very cool, and seems to work well!

[@JamesStreck0312]

Kudos for a great first attempt. I agree a rotory tool would probably yield less vibration than that oscillating tool. I'd be concerned about the carpet fibers getting everywhere - I noticed you already have quite a bit of debris on the platter after only running it briefly. That seems like it would be difficult to control, especially as the detritus likely will develop a static charge. I might have used some layered microfiber cloth in lieu of carpeting... just a thought.

[@ShortstopOnPool]

Oh - microfiber cloth would also make smaller tubes possible.

[@MonacoMike]

A hinged padded cover to push down on the top would keep the balls from bouncing all over and keep them in contact with the polisher.

[@Blessed.2.Teach.4God]

Would also greatly increase the buffing surface area which theoretically should polish them better/faster.

[@TonyUrryMakes]

Dimmer switch for a motor is not a good idea. Get a router speed control from harbor freight. The motor won't burn out and your house won't burn down.

[@elonever.2.071]

I think you should consider removing the cam action of the polisher by removing the recessed screw and attach the plywood to the center recessed screw. I think a lot of the vibration is from the thinness of the plywood sheet and the torque of the thinner plywood whipping around. If you try a piece of 3/4" it may be more stable. Thank you for your effort. I think I am going to go with a basic lambskin buffer skin on the intact buffer and glue a soft carpeting on the inside perimeter of a 5 gallon bucket...and go from there. I learned a lot from your video and I appreciate it. Im looking at the HF battery operated model but I have to make sure it isnt cam driven. It will be a double batch to do a rack of balls and the cost is about $30 more with a lot less work. Like you said it is a prototype that needs some adjustment. Thanks again.

[@anthonyhorton845]

Add rubber feet to keep it from walking away

[@oldseer6936]

You forgot to mention the costs of your total material and equipment necessary to build this pool ball washer. You also forgot to mention the amount of time you actually spent shopping and to completely building the washer. I myself figure my time is worth at least $15.00 an hour (if not more). I for one look forward to more of your videos. You are gifted with your voice over. Thank you.

[@ShortstopOnPool]

Costs are at 20:25. Time and labor is always a factor, but I enjoy doing it so that doesn't matter to me. Thanks for watching!

[@Petunia69]

What does it matter the amount of time costing? If you're passionate enough about something you will do it regardless of time...It's a home buffer, not doing it to sell it on a market. Although it's not a bad idea. Especially for those cost effective budgets.

[@SeanHiggins.]

The dimmer switch was genius.

[@williambrodmanvi5944]

As to the life span of your harbor freight buffer my build is in a shorter than normal 5 gallon bucket and holds 19 balls I went thru 6 h/f buffers in the first year and have since purchased an electric ryobi same style and with proper ventilation have had of no further issues 3 years on and at 39$ vs multiple 23$ purchases hope that helps! Nice job I didn't think you were going to get 10 min out of the 17" board adding additional load to the buffer but I guess the bearings are holding up! I stuck with the original pad on the buffer as you can buy additional micro fiber bonnets for it and the top of a short 5 gallon bucket fits 19 balls I spray glued a piece of table felt around the top 3" inside the bucket and just add 3 extra balls usually practice cue balls or what not! I had a friend try to copy mine with a normal 5 gallon bucket and it didn't work out as well as the taper of the bucket to the top 5 gallon size presented issues as it did not clear the rotation of the buffer as well! Mine is no where near as violent as yours but it is still loud I like the individual ball places as I wanted one to wash them all as well! Were I to go that route it would be in the effort to quiet the whole deal! Your dimmer switch is an awesome addition that I may install! I have grown to accept of the noise and come to realize that you can actually hear when they are done and have buffed themselves dry from any polishing compound that was applied as they make just the slightest altered noise when the do dry off by the sound of them knocking together ever so slightly more like on the table in play rather than wet with polish good luck I love to hear how long it lasts for ya! My issues were definitely in keeping it from over heating for the most part I believe! Oh I did cut indavidual circles in of a lid that closes securely and it could be made to hold each ball individually in place rather than letting them all spin as they do with some additional effort I believe! I did that so that I could apply one drop of polish on of each ball prior to starting it and it works well for that all and all having the ability to clean all the balls in under 5min is a total win win in my opinion! Many great shots to you and yours, nice job enjoy!

[@VoyagerXII03]

Big thing on the ventilation. Have seen several burn up, but none if drilling vent holes in the container.

[@raydimmock4336]

By the end of the video I was eager to make butter tarts............. :)

[@peteparsells2620]

Great design! I am going to build one like this one as well, mounting 4 small ball bearing on the outer edge beneath the plywood should stop the bouncing, I am guessing. just an idea.

[@jamesmcdevitt5327]

Fantastic video watching this from the uk . But I’ll be crap at building this lol

[@josephgarhart2628]

I used the same buffer (inside a bucket, I could go approximately 7-10 times of polishing???? Went to harbor freight the last time but they didn't carry the electric one so I went to battery operated buffer

[@coreyquante2616]

Gotta take the oscillator off and attach the plywood directly to the motor unit.

[@danielrice5474]

I wonder if a motor mount (or something like it) shouldn't be used to connect the motor to the barrel. Might allow the motor to move around in it securely without transferring all the vibration to the barrel. In a car, the engine shakes a lot, but it don't shake body of the car, thus the people setting in the car.

[@ShortstopOnPool]

While cleaning the balls again tonight I realized the 1/4" plywood platter is not perfectly flat. It probably was flat until I cut it. I'm trying to think of a material that will be flat but also lightweight (thin). Possibly a synthetic plastic like from a kitchen cutting board. I would have to find a big one - minimum 17" dimension. Open to suggestions....

[@reneliue]

Acrylic sheets

[@bobbycuesroadhouse2204]

I think the ball holders are too large and the balls try fo exit the cleaner, great job either way

[@ShortstopOnPool]

@@bobbycuesroadhouse2204 Yup. Next one will have smaller tube and just rotate, not oscillate. Still working good for now, though.

[@MrJdsenior]

Aluminum is one possible choice, then fiberglass, lastly carbon fiber as the best (pricey, though, but stiff, light, well damped, and strong). I would suggest about 1/16" to 3/32", off the top of my head for aluminum (weigh or look up the density and multiply by the volume to check relative weight, pi r squared for the main disk times the thickness). Also the lightest usable carpet you can source. Some edge movement limitation with three or more simple sliding (teflon or purpose made plastic will work on a smooth surface, like the aluminum) in some C shaped wooden brackets at a first thought would GREATLY further limit the need for stiffness, and I suspect would to a large extent further reduce all that unwanted vibration/walking/noise. However, if you want to go with just rotation, which I believe is a much better answer, consider making the centers offset a bit between the polisher and ball holder, to encourage spin orientation movement in the balls. You won't need a lot, maybe a 1/2 to 1 inch. Obviously weight is not nearly the consideration with a rotation only design, which I think makes much more sense, so I think your current polishing platter would work there, in that respect, anyway. And I would not go too high speed on the platter, think high hand polishing speeds times maybe three to five, to keep the balls from heating excessively and possibly even burning (melting) at really excessive rates. You can short time polish the first run to make sure this is not a problem (I'm likely overthinking this, but often when I don't I wish I had). Hope this helps. I'm going to leave now, before I end up writing yet ANOTHER novella. My bad.

[@MrJdsenior]

I was going to just gen up my own design (an engineer, so why not?) but watching this it looks pretty good. I will probably make some minor mods, buy hey, thanks for the starting point. Always nice when I don't have to fire up my aging pinhead brain more than is necessary! Good packing factor exercise, too. :-) And what do you know, Murphy strikes again at that stage of the design/fab 'protocol'. Yeah, he knows me too, in a big way. I think I will probably bit the bullet and do mine with a dedicated box design, though I fully understand your criteria, as well. I'll probably go epoxy rather than hot glue, but your pipe connection scheme is probably overkill, as is. Mine always just tend to be order of magnitude overkill, but then they pretty much always last forever, as I expect yours will, as well. Solid wood on the edge screwed bits, probably. And knowing Harbor Freight as I do (all too well, I'm afraid) their stuff is SEVERELY hit and miss, Some I have found is quite good for the price, like their current Hanson socket set, especially the ratchet (that thing is s m o o t h, and so far holding up well), some is beyond junk. And a DA is not a device where a junk design is a great idea, ESPECIALLY under the mass loading you are presenting there, which is much higher than the normally designed service mode, which is very light. I expect that is another area I will diverge, possibly lightening the mass of the ball vibrator/spinner a good bit, but there is still the obvious problem of the ball mass, and lowering the number of one pass polishable balls is about the only way to do that. I recently had one of their cheapest 4" angle grinders literally last about two not all that extensive jobs, the other extreme. And their drills are junk, garbage plastic gears and lousy bearings/bushings being the worst problem. Motors aren't first class, either. Hopefully that DA is one of the better side tools, longevity wise. The screw in the handle obviously negates any warranty they might have provided. I might actually go with their extended warranty for this application, which I almost never do, and figure a simple hold down that doesn't require tool modification. Some softer type large rubber feet, worst cast maybe with some sprung mountings, they are available pre made, or screwing down will stop the self propulsion across the surface, I expect. The sound and velocity of that DA action, with that choice of driver, really concerns me, given the above discussion on longevity. I expect that DA is not long for this world, not long at all. Obviously, I could be wrong, but I think it is a VERY valid concern. That high velocity spin is not remotely the DA action intended, that spin is very low speed in typical application, but I think with balls loaded that will not be a problem. $64k question, how long did/has it lasted, so far? Also I don't know if it was a design consideration but making the ball driver portion waterproof is a good idea for the occasional hose cleaning that will be necessary. Yes, I've done significant finish polishing with DA's. The initial polishing is much better done on a car though, with a large sander/grinder equipped with a pad like the Shlaegal (sp?, do NOT skimp here, and it needs a large edge radius built in like this pad incorporates) and don't overspeed/sit in one area or the paint can definitely burn, and avoid raised crease areas of the body...I do these by hand. Hope this helps someone. You took a LOT of time to make this video (thanks) so I took a bit of time to try to give some useful feedback.

[@nascarplanet9858]

I'm a fan

[@bobgentes7896]

add 3 or 4 rubber feet / carpet bottom of unit = less noise vibration. Bob

[@brianmurphy4016]

maybe you could have put the wood disk in a lathe and shaved the edges to a more balanced disk

[@OTM87]

Any update on this? How is it holding up?

[@ShortstopOnPool]

Still works fine

[@OTM87]

@@ShortstopOnPool that's great! Have you needed to replace the carpeting?

[@Iwbenny]

Nice

[@gman5051]

Hello Bob ..how is your ball polisher holding up , after this amount of time ? April 2022 presently Thank you

[@ShortstopOnPool]

I don't use it much but it is still working fine.

[@daaam2160]

Maybe a fan motor. Already has speed adjust

[@billbloom6401]

Did you use any kind of ball cleaner or just run things dry? If cleaner is used, any recommendations?

[@frankrodriguez6424]

Aramith ball cleaner

[@sociologie4507]

respect!

[@glendawest9871]

Could be just me I'd roll with it. If ya have to fix whats working I think I'd add a plywood top and glue piece carpet with a handle maybe a cabinet door handle from Lowes.Mike west Nephew.

[@geniusofnati]

If it’s still wobbly, add 2 small bricks to the base

[@danielrice5474]

Since you put the dimer switch on it, how does it do at a much slower speed? Would have been nice to see it working at the different speeds. Slower speed with more time might yield great results without the balls possible jumping out or being injured.

[@ShortstopOnPool]

The dimmer switch does not effect the speed much or at all. Not sure if I installed it wrong, not compatible, or motor not adjustable. At some point I will swap out for a different polisher and then revisit the dimmer.

[@danielrice5474]

@@ShortstopOnPool Interesting. Way you learn is by experimenting! . Will the next polisher still oscillate, or just turn in a perfect circle?

[@ShortstopOnPool]

@@danielrice5474 Just turn in a circle.

[@danielrice5474]

@@ShortstopOnPool Figured so. Bet that alone will take a lot of the shakes out. I hope you do a video on version 2. I just got a pool table and Aramith premium balls. I'm lazy so will probably end up buying the Ballstar at some point, after I get tired of cleaning them by hand.

[@TonyUrryMakes]

@@ShortstopOnPool Dimmer switches are not for motors . It burns them up and creates a fire hazard. Use a router speed control from Harbor Freight. They're cheap.

[@boxingaudits7522]

You confirmed that I won’t be making one , lol, rather pay $280 lol

[@ShortstopOnPool]

Ha Ha! Nothing wrong with that.

[@mattcushing4978]

1 year review? How has it held up?

[@ShortstopOnPool]

Still running the same. I still use it. The cloth on the rotating bed is saturated. I think that contributes to the balls bouncing a lot. I need to attach a thicker material.

[@mattcushing4978]

@@ShortstopOnPool awesome! I’m gonna start making one today. I’m gonna build the wood box though. But it will all be based around your concept as I think it will work great!

[@ShortstopOnPool]

@@mattcushing4978 When I build my next one, it will be a box. My next idea is a good motor (not a car polisher) connected to a shaft with thick replaceable polishing fabric. 8 balls in separate "holes" on each side of the shaft.

[@mattcushing4978]

@@ShortstopOnPool that’s exactly what I started to design. I’ll email you what I’ve come up with so far.

[@richmilhoan]

How long did it last

[@ShortstopOnPool]

It's working great. I use it almost every other day.

[@williambrodmanvi5944]

Yes please keep us posted! ??? I'm dying to know how long the plywood loads allow of it to last! But h/f could very easily fail from of any number of different issues! Or with any luck it may last for ever! 👈🤘😎

[@aceliu5997]

can i order one from you please?

[@ShortstopOnPool]

Too much work, you might as well buy one of the manfactured ones.

[@marcusthorpe7688]

$88 dollars for parts, $1000 worth of labor, you could've purchased the diamond ball washer for how much work that was put into it, innovative thou.

[@ShortstopOnPool]

It was mostly for fun, opportunity to tinker around the shop. I have an idea for a different design. Finding the time to build it is the hardest part.

[@johnstorton]

There are LOTS of people who ENJOY doing stuff like that.

[@andrecampbell691]

How about a lint free cloth, dampen with water, and individually wipe let dry takes about 15 minutes. Cost 1$, works for me.😁

[@pawelmiechowiecki7901]

Once I made a similar prototype but with a rotating upper part (with balls). Once started it was hard to stop. It was like shooting billiard balls by a crazy gunner. Don't do it at home.

[@fonzie6125]

Maybe adding weight to the base And a lid to add weight

[@paulgronda7778]

Sheesh I would of just bought the the diamond

[@majidmanion5476]

You did very good make me one too for $100

[@macm31]

That is not a ball polisher, is a machine for training the balls on how to jump. Why not using the Diamond replacement kit for 70 bucks and start from there?

[@red88alert]

Man my set of pool balls cost 500 lol another 550 isn't that much if it does its job right. I'm coming from a much more expensive hobby though lol

[@josemendez9681]

big mistake you forgot to clean dirty balls not clean ball need to see another video good luck.

[@midnightmadness6676]

Sell it for $500 and buy the diamond

[@malakitity5799]

just put in a bucket

[@youtubeguy.6472]

I do love this idea but I think I would’ve done it with eight balls at a time with out The plywood piece do it in a bucket but use the same principles you did with each individual ball spot.