There is often someone who comes to my shop with an interesting request. This one.
His desire is to have his logo painted (?) on the felt of his new pool table. It is new felt and will be installed on the table. The color is blue/green.
The sports shows sometimes have a logo projected down on the grass during play. That is one option.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how to accomplish this? Can it be done? What type of paint? Does it need some kind of frisket on it to spray? Any ideas? I would really like to do this job as I like to be challenged
Thanks in advance...
Jackson
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
No clue, but wouldn't paint on the felt effect the direction or speed of the balls.
Old Paint will know.)))
Posted by Jackson Smart (Member # 187) on :
Yes Don....
I asked that question. His table is in his "man-cave" and as such it will seldom be played and none of his friends are serious about pool...it seems....so it doesn't matter to him. He just wants it to look cool?
Jackson
Posted by Douglas Hancock (Member # 29758) on :
dye-sublimation printer?
maybe you can "paint" some fabric dye. just som quick thoughts. let us know what you find out.
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
Here's an idea I got from your original post. What about blocking out the light above the table with a reverse? of the logo, so that the logo is projected onto the middle of the table with light instead of paint? LED lights?
Posted by Si Allen (Member # 420) on :
Jacson ... start with a frisket and sweegee down hard.
Cover everything to prevent overspray getting on the felt or wood.
Mist on a couple of dry coats so as not to le it wick out under the frisket.
Spray on a final coat.
Carefully peel off the frisket.
Posted by Sam Staffan (Member # 4552) on :
airbrush to get a nice logo with a fine amount of paint
Posted by Dennis Kiernan (Member # 12202) on :
Tell the guy he will never look cool, especially if he puts a logo on the felt. Whether it's painted on or projected, it will interfere with play. Best yet, he shd give the table to someone who wd know what to do with it, and just get himself a larger TV screen for the room.
Posted by Bill Davidson (Member # 531) on :
I'm with one of the above, airbrush water based tee shirt printing ink. I think it could be set with an ordinary clothes iron. Just a thought. If it's light on dark, little coats to bring the color up. Course the big job will be standing the table on it's end!!!!
Posted by Bill Modzel (Member # 22) on :
Boy, good luck on green felt. We used to screen print thousands of assorted, Army, Air Force and ROTC logos on 16" white felt that were than die cut and sewn to flags. We didn't use plastisol t-shirt ink as they didn't want the plastic look and feel on the felt. Even going immediately from the press through the gas dryer, we still had drop in of the color. It was acceptable though. The thing was, even where there were trapped overprinted colors, the felt didn't "seal" well and the second color was a bit brighter but not noticeably.
If I'd go another direction and digitally print something like PhoTex and apply that of he's not concerned about the ball action on the felt. It would look great and although you could pull if off easily, I don't think it would curl up by itself.
Posted by Sal Cabrera (Member # 1236) on :
what I would do is clean the surface make sure is no dust on at , cut an outline paint mask of the logo and live the area where the logo is goin to be and cover the rest to prevent for overspray, once you have place the mask I will use my airbrush and airbruch two coats of Trasparent Extender (CREATEX) then I will came back with an Iron with a middle sitting no to hot and iron over the Extender to seal the Felt, now since the felt I'm assuming is green you may going to need to airbrush one or two coats of white color over the extender (createx) , you may get a way with one but you will see as you along do not go to heavy on tha paint or you will get some bright spots and you don't want that, by now you will have a nice smooth surface to work for you logo once you have done this you can start with a frisket and sweegee down hard . I hope this helps .
If you have any question you can e-mail or call me.
Posted by Checkers (Member # 63) on :
To do it right, you must use dye sublimation. Otherwise there will be a different texture where the paint/ink is laid.
The last time I checked into it, there was a dye-sub printing company in England that specializes in printed billiard table felt. However, that was a couple of years ago and more vendors are coming online in the USA...
I can not say anything pro or con about these companies though.
Havin' fun,
Checkers
Posted by Ken Henry (Member # 598) on :
Another possible alternative that might be worth investigating would be using a thermal transfer for textiles. Siser make these primarily for t-shirt transfers, but they also offer masking materials for both hot and cold applications.
They have a website at :
Siserna.com
They also provide a contact phone number on their webpage where you can call them for their awnsers to questions such as this one.
Posted by Ricardo Davila (Member # 3854) on :
Jackson,
However you put paint on it, you are going to end up ruining ( for the game ) the texture of the felt and that will affect the trajectory of the balls and, consequently, the game......The game, on that table will never be the same.....Obviously this man is not a real pool player.
So, I am inclined to agree with this part of what Dennis wrote:
"Best yet, he shd give the table to someone who wd know what to do with it, and just get himself a larger TV screen for the room."
On the other hand, if he doesn't care about the game, maybe an MDO cut out of his logo, screwed on to the center of table, would look really cool.
RD
[ December 14, 2012, 03:08 AM: Message edited by: Ricardo Davila ]
Posted by Dennis Kiernan (Member # 12202) on :
Apart from the texture of the felt, just the distraction of a projected image wd affect a real player's sighting of his shot. Uneven lighting on the table will do it, such as bright in the middle and shadow toward the rails.
Posted by Sonny Franks (Member # 588) on :
Dennis, you obviously hang out in fancier pool halls than the rest of us - I'm happy if there's chalk....
Posted by Don Hulsey (Member # 128) on :
Chalk??? Hell I'm happy if I can find a straight stick.
Posted by FranCisco Vargas (Member # 145) on :
"I think" you could almost treat this like you would painting on umbrella awning. Also what Sal said...cut a mask either using your plotter but before you line it up and place it on the table, spray some "Sprayway 82c Mist adhesive" on the back of the vinyl, let it tack up a minute or two then lay it down and squeegee. I would use some type of fabric spray ink. sounds like a good challenge though. BUT the best way would be to go to a pool supply and get a sample of felt and practice. It would be messed up to make a mistake on a pool table...
Posted by Tim Barrow (Member # 576) on :
assuming it is a quality table with slate under the felt I would be cautious about the possibly of paint or ink seeping thru the felt and ruining the table altogether so new felt will still not repair any damages done by this insane request,.,.I like Dennis' advice about giving the table to someone with enough sense to use it properly
Posted by jack wills (Member # 521) on :
I would probably start with sandblast mask and a clear spray to begin with and then airbrush white over that and go with colors when that dries...
Posted by Ricardo Davila (Member # 3854) on :
Jackson,
If,after having read the opinion of the "Letterville Pool Sharks", mostly two or three of us, you still want to please your customer with this project, I think it would help you to find out who does the Black Jack and Roulette table tops for the casinos......Whoever is doing those, seems to know something I don't.....Here is a link that might help you to start your search:
[ December 14, 2012, 01:16 PM: Message edited by: Ricardo Davila ]
Posted by Dennis Kiernan (Member # 12202) on :
How about a logo printed on glossy paper and put on with thumb tacks?
Posted by Cal Trauter (Member # 10938) on :
I would airbrush the requested logo with 1shot paint. It has worked good on t-shirts, sweat shirts etc.. I would also try to do this prior to the felt installation so it can be washed. Good luck and let's see a photo when done.
Posted by goddinfla (Member # 1502) on :
Why not forgo the logo on the table and have a lamp above with the logo internally lit. Same effect, not messing up the table.
Posted by Jackson Smart (Member # 187) on :
Thanks to everyone for their input. I am still researching this. I have a friend that is a screenprinter...so she is looking into this also. I know it can be done but he wants to put the felt on first and then do the logo. If I take this on...I will take pictures and submit them for your viewing pleasure. I like the lamp idea also as I suggested this to him but he wants something on the felt
On a side note...I am also concerned about the usability of the table with a distracting logo on the felt. I am a serious pool player, have done many tournaments and placed in the money several times....so I can't understand why he would think this is acceptable. Dunno!
Oh well....I will keep you posted.
Thanks again and have a happy holiday.
Jackson
Posted by Ricardo Davila (Member # 3854) on :
Good luck and happy holidays!
RD
[ December 15, 2012, 05:45 PM: Message edited by: Ricardo Davila ]
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
I like Dennis Goddard's idea. Posted by Jackson Smart (Member # 187) on :
Update:
After much research into this idea of putting a logo on the table felt...I advised the client that, in my opinion, it would be a bad idea. There are, however, a couple of places that do this sort of thing (dye-sublimation) that Checkers mentioned. One is "Pimp my Table" (clever name) that will do it but it has to be off the table. He got in a hurry and had the felt installed so that will eliminate that part. I suggested the light idea...nope...not interested in that. So i suggested a hand painted sign for the inside of his "man cave". He said he will think about that, so maybe I will get to do that for him. He appreciated my research and now I know more then I did a week ago.....no?
![[I Don t Know]](graemlins/dunno.gif)
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