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Pool Table Permanently On Casters?

1/25/2009 2:27:49 PM

Pool Table Permanently On Casters?

Hi Everyone - I am wondering if it is possible (or if anyone has done this) to have a pool table that his movable. I have a new 2 + car garage and was not planning on a table but it sure would be nice. I don't want to sacrifice my new garage as a game room esp. after 8 years of parking outside in the elements, its nice to have indoor parking. But I would move the vehicles out if it was easy to setup/play.

Has this been done? My thought is if the table was on some high end castors with good brakes, I could roll it about 4-5 feet to the center and lock into position. Marking the floor and putting the table to level. Then when done , unlock wheels and roll out of the way so the cars could then be parked back inside.

Originally was considering a "bar box" small table but if it was mobile, I could definitely go larger to like 4 x 8.

Or...buy a cheap table, and have someone fabricate some really good castors to the legs. But after much reading on the forum, those small tables will make you inherently lousy on larger tables.... some thing I already know.

My wife will not go for no cars in the garage for my (and her) desire to play pool/billiards. And actually, neither would I.

Any ideas?

Pool Table Permanently On Casters?

Replies & Comments
  1. Glennbo64guest on 5/6/2009 11:51:32 AM

    I was looking into the same situation but I wanted to put my table in the basement and be able to move it when we wanted the floor space for dancing etc.. found this answer on another site, might help..

    There are all kinds of locking casters on the internet. Just do a google search and many types will show up. The problem is that there is no good way to attach the leveling foot pad to the caster. What you could do is construct a rectangular frame out of 2" x 6" lumber. The locking casters should be installed on each corner below the leveling pad. The hard part might be lifting the pool table onto the mobile frame. Once this is done the table will need to be leveled in the exact spot where it will always be to play. When you wheel it away then bring it back to the play area, it must be on the exact spots that the leveling took place. You might want to mark the floor on those 4 spots. Now, the only thing that you might not like about this arrangement is the NEW height of the pool table. It could be 4" - 6" higher than it was originally.

    There is a piece of equipment that can be purchased that is made for lifting and moving a pool table within the same floor space. I included a web site below for one of the dollies. With shipping it could cost over $300. The wood platform with locking casters might cost $150 - $175. Also, if you build the platform, a sheet of plywood could go over the top of the frame and you create a great storage place under the table.

    CHECK OUT SOME OF THESE SITES:

    moneymachines.com/minimoverdolly.html servicecaster.com rtlairdcasters.com castercity.com nortechusa.com

  2. Glennbo64quickshot on 5/6/2009 1:16:49 PM

    As guest mentioned, the castors will raise the table 4-6 inches and that may not be comfortable especially when they start to wear down unevenly. I would go with the table mover. It is easy to handle and will move the table to the exact same spot every time, ,although you should always check the level every time you move you move the table. Do not take anything for granted when it comes to a level table. My gut feeling is, that in time you will use the table less and less or one of the cars will find a home outside.

    Good luck with the solution... The things we do for love?

  3. Glennbo64Justanotherevolutionary on 5/9/2009 11:41:34 AM

    You could always buy a cheap non-slate table. These are about 200 pounds at the most. Real easy to move, still would have to mess with leveling I guess. The quality isn't great and doesn't play exactly like slate, but as long as it's got pockets and rails, really all you need. Oh and some balls might help. =P I don't know, just a thought. Good luck to ya.

  4. Glennbo64Mitch Alsup on 5/9/2009 1:19:41 PM

    A few thoughts:

    • Can casters be used to move a pool table around? Yes.
    • Is there anything that will allow the table to remain level from move to move? No
    • That is, unless you build something that the table rests on with points that define where contact is made and hold those to within a couple thousandths of an inch.
  5. Glennbo64guest on 5/13/2010 5:17:26 AM

    I am also wanting to put my new billiard table on castors. My wife loves to rearrange the house furniture every 6 months and is really going to hate an immovable table in the middle of the room! Manufacturers tell me that the legs must be additionally braced or the movement will damage the legs of any billiard table. I am told the tables with the strongest legs are the ones pinned on one side and have two pins on the other and these types of tables are suitable for this. What I don't understand is why an alternative lighter weight material isn't used instead of slate. Has anyone made a billiard table out of cesar stone for instance? I imagine it would be lighter, thinner and won't fracture like slate does if it is dropped. So the billiard table would have lighter legs as a result and so might be able to be carried by two men. Perhaps a manufacturer should try this. If shorter legs with castors are also fitted it could be brought up to the industry standard height of 820mm to function well as a normal table. Surely a moveable billiard table can't be that hard to manufacture? Where are all the inventors out there? There's a big market for one out there and I daresay the manufacturer who does it will take 90% of the billiard market as sooner or later we all need to move the billiard table!

  6. Glennbo64Mitch Alsup on 5/13/2010 10:34:24 AM

    When a pool table is in use, players lean on the table to put their bodies in position to take the shot. If a pool table weights less than 800-pounds (or so) the person weight could push the table off its position, and cause the table to move. This would also alter the flatness of the table and cause unending amounts of grief. Heavy tables are good for pool players.

    Then there are the advanced pool shots where one impacts the cue ball above the equator and causes it to jump off the bed of the table. Anything softer than slate would not put up with this kind of use. Massé shots are another kind of shot that applies big forces between the CB and the slate bed.

    Finally, slate is dimensionially stable for millinia, even after taking the aforementioned abuse.

    Back to movable pool tables:

    Be forewarned that a pool table with fast felt must be shimmed within the thickness of a sheet of typing paper or the balls will not roll true. This is a formidable task on a movable pool table. Maybe not unsolvable, but formidable, none-the-less.

    Modern pool tables have their beds at ~30" above the floor, turn of the previous century tables were typically between 31.5 and 32". It is thought that the 30" bed heights are partially responsible for the back problems pool shooters often have, and that raising the tables 1"-2" would be good for the average player. Thus, it is conceivable that one could engineer casters into (square sided) legs and address both portability and bed height issues.

  7. Glennbo64guest on 7/10/2014 10:01:45 PM

    This is for a snooker table but it should work with pool table.

    This company makes movable slate bed snooker tables with castors:

    fcsnooker.co.uk/castors/castors.htm

    Here are some pictures:

  8. Glennbo64Zeke on 7/11/2014 8:45:29 AM

    Take a look at piano casters. They only elevate the piano by an inch or two given their dropped center design.

    ebay.com/itm/like/390879184838?lpid=82

  9. Glennbo64Zeke on 8/31/2014 7:00:16 AM

    Actually, a Brunswick Gold Crown would be the far better investment.

  10. Glennbo64Mikey on 6/13/2015 3:02:54 PM

    I don't think so.

  11. Glennbo64Martin on 9/20/2017 7:47:36 PM

    I tried to put my full sized 12 foot Snooker table on rails because the cellar room was too small. Yes, it works for practice anyway, but more importantly, it works for playing frames and matches.

    The balls do not move when I move this 1.5 ton monster. This is my movable monster...

    Rollender-Snookertisch.png

  12. Glennbo64user1533644121 on 8/7/2018 5:15:22 AM

    I am also looking for wheels for the bottom of my snooker table. Any advice on which ones to get?

  13. Glennbo64Martin on 8/8/2018 3:44:13 AM

    There are may wheels to buy in the industry. Here are my thoughts on picking the right wheels for under your pool table.

    1. A minimum of 3 wheels (out of 8) have to carry the whole weight of the pool table plus the player's weight. This is so you can be sure that what you put together will last forever. I found some wheels in Austria which can support 750 kg per wheel. That is more than enough.
    2. The height of the pool table with the wheels have to be the same as the height of the pool table without wheels. You can do this in a few ways:
      • You can make the basement floor higher around the pool table (hard Job)
      • You can embed the 8 wheels in the 8 feet of the pool table. That to me is the more elegant solution. I took my legs to a professional woodworker to do that for me.
  14. Glennbo64user1578513738 on 1/8/2020 12:02:19 PM

    Has anyone tried retractable casters that can be attached to the legs of a pool table (legs need to have a flat surface on side)?

    These casters do not engage with floor normally. When the pool table needs to be moved, the lever on top of caster has to be pushed down with foot which will have caster engage with the floor and lift the table just enough. Of course, each caster will have to be engaged before the pool table can be moved.

    I do not know if our feet can press the caster enough to lift 800 pound table.

    Also, we cannot press on all casters simultaneously which means pool table will not be leveled for those few minutes. Does that matter?

  15. Glennbo64user1585527766 on 3/29/2020 5:22:08 PM

    So from the little I know about pool tables, the potential worry with having multiple casters going up and down and different points, is that if you’re using a table that is a 3+ slate table (which is supposedly the preferred by most serious players/table owners and table manufacturers for its ability to be more accurately leveled, and it’s resilience against sagging/warping over time) the way those separate slates tend to be stuck together to create a smooth gap-less surface, is basically some combination of superglue and bees wax.

    If you’re repeatedly lifting and dropping different segments all the time, i can easily see that fairly easily cracking or breaking the seal between the different slates.

    The only way to fix that seal is basically to first take off the bumpers, then completely removing the cloth (the application of which usually involves a mess of glue + drying and/or a bunch of wood stables), followed by resealing the gap with wax, scrapping off any excess and repeating the process until completely smooth.

    All in all, it’s probably 1-2+ hours work.

    If you don’t seal those gaps, the balls are going to do weird things every time they hit one.

    Alternatively, you could try to grab a solid single piece of slate table. Supposedly they have warping problems, and are much more temperamental to level, requiring both more effort to initially level , and more then frequent leveling over time because of the way it tends to set.

    I do know that Fusion Tables use single slate to get around this exact problem (retail $8,000 to $12,000+ USD. they ones convert in to dining tables and have a lift system to raise the table about a 3/4 a meter higher to be at a better playable height). That said, they also use a thinner 3/4 inch and smaller “7’” slate (as opposed to 1 to 1-1/4 inch slate). I also have no idea how they fair on warping, or how much that lift system itself might mess with the slate or leveling over time.

  16. Glennbo64user1578513738 on 4/2/2020 2:23:50 AM

    Thanks for your response. I understand better now why retractable casters/wheels will not work on a pool table.

  17. Glennbo64RayMills on 1/4/2022 12:18:09 PM

    There's now a video on YouTube which has taken Martin's rails example (above) to the motorized level.

    Check it out on this site or search YouTube. It is under "A remote control sliding pool table on rails".

    Like Martin's, this invention is designed to only move the table closer to an obstructing wall, albeit in-between shots.

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Pool Table Permanently On Casters?

  • Title: Pool Table Permanently On Casters?
  • Author:
  • Published: 1/25/2009 2:27:49 PM