[darragh windows]

can anyone give me advice on how to remove permanent marker from a snooker table (green felt) the felt has been taken off and restretched over the table and now the permanent marker lines do not line up they need removed then redrawn, at a guess the origional lines were drawn on about a year ago

any advice much appreciated

[Jim_77]

I think the clue might be in the word "permanent"

[Roger Koh]

These pictures shows the before and partial removal of:

Permanent Marker, Gel Point Pen and Ballpoint Pen off Car Interior Fabric.

I believe it will work equally well on the Permanent Marker Stain Felt too!

#1. Before


#2. Partial



Roger Koh
Leather Doctor®
Master Textile Cleaner – IICRC #942

[Ian Rochester]

http://www.extracta.co.uk/chemicals.html

Extracta's Multi Purpose Solvent Cleaner in a spray can will take it off, spray it onto a towel then dab it on

[stevie wonder]

Be careful with some solvents as they can take the colour out of some fabrics.Do a test  to be sure.
Steve.

[Martin S]

Try Methalated spirits

[Karl Wildey]

A picture paints a thousand words.

nice photo Roger

[Ken Wainwright]

With all due respects to the excellent results achieved by Roger, a workshop test spread over a few minutes, or even hours or days, may produce different results to something that's been  "burbling" away for years, possibly oxydised a little and absorbed loads of contaminants along the way.

My primary concern with the felt would be causing damage to the fabric. Why not contact a snooker/pool/billiard table supplier and ask for their advice?

Safe and happy cleaning
The Ken

[Mike Halliday]

if the felt has been taken off before I would do it again and replace it.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

You may lighten it but it doesn't go, car interiors are synthetic where as the majority of pool/billiard/snooker cloth is wool although they do have a few 80-20's, then there's the nap which could affect the way the ball rolls.

My brother supplies and refits tables and cloths and I have tried to remove marks before for him most of the time he takes the cloth off and flips it to give a new side unless it's spray glued onto the slate which happens with smaller tables and pool tables.

Solvent is the only way but Roger uses cotton swabs and I would try that to reduce the staining just too time consuming when a 'restretch' which what they call them can be say £100 and the table can look like new again.

Shaun

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Guys

As you know I usually do demos of solvent removal of stains at the CCDO and carry a range of solvents.

However permanent ink is designed to be chemically resistant and on something like felt, with it's high absorbency the chances of removal are slim.

I would try isopropanol, acetone, amyl acetate etc but would not expect great results.

Cheers

Doug

[darragh windows]

You may lighten it but it doesn't go, car interiors are synthetic where as the majority of pool/billiard/snooker cloth is wool although they do have a few 80-20's, then there's the nap which could affect the way the ball rolls.

My brother supplies and refits tables and cloths and I have tried to remove marks before for him most of the time he takes the cloth off and flips it to give a new side unless it's spray glued onto the slate which happens with smaller tables and pool tables.

Solvent is the only way but Roger uses cotton swabs and I would try that to reduce the staining just too time consuming when a 'restretch' which what they call them can be say £100 and the table can look like new again.

Shaun

thanks for that shaun didnt realize the cloths could be reversed , we are recovering them ourselves, its a snooker club which we have just formed ourselves in the upstairs of a rented out warehouse the tables have been bought cheap from an auction and all we want is for the place to pay for itself and not make any money so we are on a tight budget which is why we have chosen to recover them ourselves and so far they have turned out well apart from the lines in the d being a bit wonky , there is three tables altogather the first one is fine the second we had a go at this morning with oil free nail varnish remover and vodka and it has faded the lines enough for them to be redrawn in the proper place .

we had thought about reversing the cloth but where not 100% sure if you could do this it will help us out a lot doing the third table if you could have a chat with your brother to confirm it can definatly be reversed thanks again.

thanks to eveyone for the quick helpful replys

[Shaun_Ashmore]

The re stretches are the hardest part of the job IMO I did work with my brother in law (mentioned brother in other post by accident) you have to pull the cloth very tight to nearly ripping but it has to be even or you get the nap to run off when it should run on and it may repel the slower running ball around the pockets and also you won't get even wear on the cloth.

To keep it cheap I would take the cushions off first undo the ball rails and then you make way for the panels to slide out you then undo the bolts that the cover then shows, the bed cloth is tacked on underneath and you have to pull them all out I would then leave them and get a professional in and he will pull the bed cloth to the correct tension and mark out the 'd' and spots also you may have to consider new cushions especially if you can see wear or the rubbers.

The idea of me telling you this is so if you do the hard work he can come in and do the professional bits and you can then save £'s.


Shaun

PS are the tables perfectly level? you do know they have a spirit level that is so accurate that they can spot unlevelled tables a mile off and if it's not running true then it's a waste of time.

[jonsruby]

before trying any solvent read manuals first and then do.

[peter maybury]

there is a solvent that will work on most things it is a matter of finding out what one you need. over the years I collected many and even have a solvent that will remove the inks that they use for digital printing on vinyl this I got by asking a digital printer what they used to remove ink spill etc. Most of the time it is just a matter of taki ng the trouble to find things out most people dont have the time for such things.
Or you could just say that it cannot be removed which is what most people do.


Peter

[james roffey]

from a different angle excuse the pun   i have played snooker in a local club for over twenty years and know a bit about tables and the cloths, they are changed about every 8 years in our club but re stretched two or three times in that period the balk line and D lines you refer to, are permanent you may be able to fade it as Doug said but no one in there right mind should expect you to remove it. be very careful using anything that may remove the green of the cloth you could first try on a piece under the table if you climb under the table somtimes you can see the excess cloth that has been pulled.