One Pocket Pool Table?
by Tom Shaw
We’re starting to see more pool-themed inventions coming into P&B, and that’s a good sign about the renewed interest in our sport. One item that caught us by surprise however was a new highly creative pool table.
Take your preconceptions outside; this is a pool table re-thought from the floor up.
First, it’s small, roughly 6 ft 8 inches x 2 ft 3 inches. And it’s light, too: 50 pounds. It only has one pocket ,which is located in the center of one end rail, so you’re only shooting one direction, more or less, which means the table can be placed near a wall more or less. It fits in a room with little extra space, an apartment, or a condo. The parts fit neatly in a single-door closet.
The table can also be easily taken apart by two people (the top separates from the base).
“A highly creative pool table”
All of that is pretty unusual, but we haven’t mentioned the most unique characteristic of the table yet. It moves. On purpose. There’s a small, almost silent motor underneath that tilts the table up to 5 degrees to the right or 5 degrees to the left. Naturally, that tilting makes the balls roll around during the game.
Such a unique table requires a new and unique game, and the 599 has that, although you can play variations of some of the games you play now.
If it’s difficult to picture all these creating features in your mind, while picturing how to use the table, just hop over to the web site of the inventor and check out one of the videos.
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Community Outreach
Mike McElhiney, Community Outreach Chairman
John Costello’s pool table is not your mother’s pool table. It does not weigh a ton, has a small footprint, does not have six pockets, and is only briefly level, and looks remarkably easy to build. The single pocket, located in the center of one end, is diabolically difficult to hit.
Only one hole and hard to hit, you ask? That is the key to this offshoot of the pool table. The lovely, solid floor of the standard pool table is no longer there. It’s been replaced with an electric, gear driven mechanism that tilts the end of the table back and forth so the playing field is always in transition. The tilt, about five degrees to the right and then five degrees to the left, is the key to this pool table.
Several games are possible. One player can compete against the table or more players can take turns. John’s video is helpful at this point.
On John’s website, there is a video about construction. Making this table is so simple and easy that even l could make one. If you go to his website and look at his video on construction, you’ll quickly notice two things. The construction is simple and elegant and John works in a minimalist shop. There are no table saw or band saw. A skill saw, your standard small bench with an assortment of screwdrivers, wrenches and other small hand tools on a crowded pegboard plus a door, and a pair of sawhorses for a workbench. That is it.
John buys lumber from Home Depot. He has them cut the ½” birch plywood into strips of the right size, uses his Skill saw to miter the edges of the box and buys angle brackets to tie it all together. He buys the motor and the single pocket from Amazon. A remarkable feat and one that may find its way into the Design In Wood competition next June.
This leads me to make one more observation. Let me quote Gary Anderson, our current chairman in charge of finding and funding a member shop. Gary thinks, “This might be a perfect example of a ‘Special Project’ for our new Member Shop!”
John wants to donate the first table to Fire Engine Station #27 and to make all the parts available to whomever wants to construct the first table. I am pretty sure that Captain Ronnie Dizon and several of his crew will want to help build the table for Station #27. And to John, a special thanks for helping out the community and our local firemen!.