This video will teach you how to: Increase airflow on your air hockey table Make the puck slide smoothly on air hockey table Care for your air hockey table
Nah the 1/16 bit is the same size as the hole, so you are not doing any drilling. There is zero resistance, you are just using it to pull dust out. I actually do this with a broken drill bit that no longer has a pointy head so I do not accidentally drill into anything. The key is to just lightly hit the drill button so you are only slowly spinning the bit
Literally just got an air hockey table from parents and the fan is on but not very much airflow. I didn’t want out any money into it, I’m glad I saw this video. I’m going to work on it tomorrow and hopefully it works! Thanks for the video!
Do Not attempt! you will ruin your table. use a welding file for cleaning tips on a mig welder. and if one side of the puck drags, use a piece of 120 grit sand paper laid on a flat surface and slide the puck in circular motions over it. a little sanding goes a long way.
@@youknoweverything7643 With literally 1000s of holes, anything risky is likely to screw up eventually. I think I would only go the drill bit route if we are at the point of discarding the table as everything else has failed.
Great video- comment about the puck orientation: The 4 "dots" on the puck need to face the table surface, not the smooth side. I discovered this accidentally after buying my used table and before watching this video. I had no idea there was a difference between the side surfaces so I marked the "up" side with an orange sticker. This makes it easy to quickly put the correct side up during play. Just FYI 😎👍
@@GoTips- my guess is that the 4 dimples add stability. The air is trapped evenly under the dimples when compare with the smooth side. I just ordered new Dynamo discs so we'll see if they are built the same way or if they're symmetrical.
@@Spudmuffin00 i have 4 of the 2.5" dynamo puck but they only have 2 dimples not 4 but honestly they arnt so much dimples as they are where it looks like imperfections in the plastic
I'm having a problem with an air hockey table that I don't own. It's at my favorite hangout. The old hair hockey table had a metal surface with no holes in it. The air came from the sides and it worked great. Now they put a new air hockey table in and it's got the holes but the puck doesn't move very good. I don't think they'd let customers go in with a drill. lol
Are you serious? Why would you need the top slippery?! The whole concept of the game is that the puck is levitating on air... That's why it's called AIR hockey! If your puck isn't properly gliding consistency across the entire surface of the table, something is wrong. It's not working correctly. The puck should never touch the surface of the table while playing the game. Lubrication won't help where there should be no friction. Also, if you are "reaming" the holes by pushing something into them, where do you think the particulate matter that was blocking your holes going to go? Unless you are able to only pass the cleaner tool through one direction, from the inside out, all the way through, anything that was blocking the holes will potentially fall inside, then when you turn the machine back on it will just get blown right back up to clog the holes. The air hockey manufacturer Dynamo specifically instructs the users of their tables to never spray anything onto the surface of their tables. They also strongly recommend NEVER insert anything into the holes to remove blockages. A vacuum cleaner with a hose, using a reducer attachment made for detail cleaning is best. It will suck out the blockages instead of pushing them in. That same vacuum can also be used to clean anything else that might get in the way of the puck on the surface of the table. That's it. You shouldn't ever need to lubricate the surface or even wipe it, unless something like a drink gets spilled on it accidentally. If that happens, turn the table on so that air is flowing out of the holes to keep any liquid out. Soak up anything still wet with absorbent towels and makes sure the surface is dry before turning off the air. If the surface becomes sticky when dry, turn the table on again, using a soft clean towel, spray some Windex or any ordinary window cleaner ONTO THE TOWEL NOT THE TABLE, and wipe the sticky area until clean. Again, Don't turn the tables air off until the surface is dry.
You find a lot of great deals on "broken" air hockey tables that are just poorly maintained. Especially if they original came from a bar or a smokers home. And always cover your table when not in use. It kills me that I will see someones nice rec room and their pool table will have this nice leather cover but their air hockey table is just out there collecting dust.
I have one mini big air hockey table for house not professional one it's motor was not that much powerful i have power on it the batteries were new but whenever I keep the pluck in the centre or any place it does not moves at all so can you tell an simple solution without dill or vacuum cleaner
I'm a professional arcade technician. I have many years of experience working in the amusement industry and own my own successful coin operated machines business. For the love of amusement machines... DO NOT EVER do this to a professional coin operated air hockey table!! It will completely ruin the table! And quite frankly, if you do have a professional table (made by Dynamo, etc.), you should never have this problem to begin with (unless somehow a barrel of super glue got spilled over the entire playfield, in which case then you could try this but you really should just buy a new playfield). The playfield on a Dynamo table is replaceable. It's not cheap, nor is it an easy task (I've done it, it definitely takes more than one person), but a new table top for your air hockey table can be purchased from the manufacturer (or a distributor) to be replaced and it's the recommended method (by the manufacturer) for the repair of low flow air holes or other damage that can't be remedied with standard cleaning practices. The reason the table in the video is having that problem is because it's a cheap, unprofessional table, made for home use only (HUO). If you bought an air hockey table at a retail store like Costco or Walmart, it was most likely poorly manufactured and it will have issues like the one in the video, right out of the box. Those types of tables are the only type you should ever attempt any "repair" of this nature, because replacement parts are unobtainable and the table is essentially manufactured to be disposable. Also, that "sheet trick" he shows us is absolutely BS! It only looks like the pressure is weaker on one side because he has the two sides divided with that piece of wood and has already DRILLED THE HOLES LARGER on half of the table! So obviously there's going to be more airflow on that side of the table! If he tried that trick before he drilled out any of the holes, there'd be no way to tell where there's more air pressure coming from as opposed to other areas, unless you literally sectioned off the whole table into little tiny areas of one or two holes each and compared the amount of lift you get out of the sheet in every tiny little area, all at the same time! If he showed us that sheet trick before he drilled any of the holes, how would you be able to tell where the pressure was weaker?! What do you think it would look like after all the holes are drilled out? Then sheet is going to lift the same over both sides, unless of course one side has significantly more air flow through a majority of the holes... which is exactly what he demonstrated in the video. Make no mistake! He's not cleaning dust out of those holes in the video. HE'S LITERALLY DRILLING THE HOLES LARGER! THAT'S NOT DUST THAT WAS STUCK IN THE HOLES! IT'S THE WOOD SHAVINGS THAT'S BEING REMOVED FROM THE INSIDE OF THE HOLE, MAKING EACH ONE A PERMANENTLY LARGER HOLE!! You don't wan't larger holes on an air hockey table! It can potentially change the dynamics of how the table works entirely. These holes specifically regulate the proper amount of evenly distributed air pressure needed to create the proper amount of lift on the puck while moving at any given time during gameplay. The game won't play the same if anything changes... -the size of the table top surface -the size/weight/shape/surface area of the puck -the location/size/quantity of fans installed -the size/shape of the large empty air cavity below the table top -the amount of holes in the playfield -the location of each hole and/or the relative distance between any two holes -the diameter of the holes themselves Now, If you take a powerful drill and sloppily ream out all the holes by hand (as he does in the video), there's no way to keep everything perfectly ideal to create the proper lift across the playfield. Technically some of the holes are going to be larger than others, some will be at different angles, the amount of air pressure overall will likely decrease because larger holes means more air is being able to escape all at once, thus creating LESS pressure overall to pass through the holes collectively, which means it's going to need bigger fans (or more of them) to produce more air to provide more flow from the bigger holes. Think of a garden hose. You turn it on and water streams out. What happens when you put your thumb over the end? The water stream is more powerful and squirts much farther. When you drill out the holes on an air hockey table, it's like taking your thumb off the end of the hose! After drilling every hole bigger, technically, they're closer together to one another also. In theory, if the fans on the table are powerful enough to still provide enough pressure to even play the game, having holes that are closer together could likely administer too much air underneath the puck at any given time, which would likely cause it to hover at an improper levels above the table and/or hover unevenly while in motion, which would most definitely cause the puck to wobble, fly off the table when struck and/or get stuck in areas around the playfield. To the poster of this video, Please take a physics class (or two) to learn and fully understand the concepts behind how a flat surface punctured hundreds of times for releasing pressurized air from electric air circulators can cause a round flat molded disk of polymer to defy gravity and levitate AND what happens when a cylinder of metal formed with a sharp concave helix channel spiralling up it (a drill bit) was rotated at a high speed while pushed through a premade cylindrical hole in soft materials consisting of a thin top layer of fiberglass pasted flat against a thicker soft sheet of pressed particleboard where the hole is slightly smaller in diameter than the diameter of the drill bit... before posting videos teaching people how they can potentially destroy an air hockey table completely.... Okey dokey?! Thanks!! ...Sheesh.
Another point, for the record, if it is, in fact, just "dust" clogging up the holes, why in the world would you need to use something as strong as a metal drill bit and as powerful as a 120v electric drill to remove it?!?! I thought that FEATHERS were a popular medium used to remove dust. What would clean dust out of things around your house better, a feather duster or something totally Overkill... like a wire brush?? The wire brush will remove the dust, sure... ...and everything else consisting of the top layer of material the dust is covering! I rest my case.
@@MoreEffinCowbell The reality is that 99% of the folks watching this video have a cheap table that was meant to be thrown away. They either bought it at a box store for a couple hundred bucks (like you said) and never properly maintained it, or they got it for $20 (or free) at a yard sale/dump because it took up too much room and never got used at the original owner’s house. For a majority of people, if they can get the puck to float AT ALL on their dirty, warped, clogged-up painted fiberboard table top, it will be a win for them… even if the play surface and efficiency is far less than perfect. Would I try to use this method on a beautiful expensive commercial unit? No way. Would I try to use this method on a table I just picked up for free on the side of the road? If other methods failed, yeah… sure why not. Got nothing to lose.
@@HammyHammbone Well, I can't argue with that. When you're right, you're right. I must admit, I got a little carried away with that comment. I was kind of having fun trying to make it as long as possible. LoL. But you see, I came here searching for tips and tricks on keeping a commercial table clean, and operating smoothly. I was trying to find interesting ways to teach the young employees of a pizza place how to keep from ruining the table at this one particular account of mine, a table that gets played and thoroughly abused by the general public daily, with lots of children playing it all day every weekend, armed with all sorts of food, drinks and gummy candy to get spilled, smashed and smeared all over it. So, when I saw this video... It made me imagine one of the employees there seeing this video and thinking they can do me a solid when I'm not there and try fixing an area of the table where the puck has been getting stuck... WITH A DRILL! ... when it's most likely just a sticky spot from a small soda spill and just needs a proper cleaning... and honestly, it scared the living PUCK out of me! 😂
Hi I have an arcade Elephant AIR Hockey Table. It doesn't seem to give out sufficient air flow to play properly. I have seen alot of videos on UA-cam trying to figure out what should be done to fix the problem. I bought a 1/16 drill bit and drilled holes and cleaned them... Than Light sand the whole things to get it smooth and than clean it off.. its nice and smooth the pucks are fine as well... the blower works great I took it out of the table to see if its work fine and blower is very powerful. Blower is mounted right in the middle of the table underneath it . And where the blower is mounted the air flow is fine there but on the right and left side the air flow is almost non existent... Can u suggest what should I do plz
It could be that your table is poorly designed, as most seem to have a fan on either end, but an alternate theory is this: Another commenter has noted that most air hockey tables seem to have 3/64 holes, and 1/16 = 4/64. Poor design does come in to play here, but mostly it was designed to have smaller holes, meaning less air would come out the middle and it would instead be pushed out to the sides. According to said commenter, although the difference in hole size may not seem like much, about 77% more air can be let through when you go from 3/64 to 1/16. This would explain why your blower can no longer handle the whole table. I would recommend getting a second fan and moving the fans so that they're somewhat evenly spaced across the table.
Okay, counter thesis: 1) your puck worked better on one side vs the other because the puck was rough on one side from abuse, not because of holes that don’t contact the table. This would explain non reproducibility with alternative puck. If the same puck, you are testing on the side of the table with widened holes, so perhaps the air gap between puck and table is now wider than the damaged bit of the puck so less of a problem. 2) the original holes were smaller than 1/16th and the “dust” that you claim to have collected is sawdust because you are eroding the original holes. FWIW, I measured my table a couple of ways and the holes are 3/64, not 4/16=1/16. Method 1 is measure the inner and outer distance between two adjacent holes with a set of calipers and divide the difference by 2. Method 2 was take a hi res picture with iPhone and compare hole pixels with pixel distance between holes. In both cases about 0.05” = 3/64. It may be that the performance is better drilled out. It depends on the capacity of your blower fans, whether they are up to the task of keeping uniform pressure with the new hole size. However by drilling with an up cutting bit, you risk snagging the edge of your table surface and tearing it up, in effect creating a burr for the puck to run into. Generally wood workers choose down rotating bits for routers in this case to prevent this sort of blowout. Assuming 3/64 (less contaminant) was widened to 4/64, we expect the hole cross section to widen 16/9= 177%, or nearly double. I did do something similar to clean the holes just using a push pin to excavate the holes. It seemed to be about the right size. Use Push pin not thumb tack, so you can get it back out easily.
YEAH! A pin or brad matching the ones working. (Sheet test - A+, D D- A needle could go thru and damage/rattle etc. Good Lord, don't compromise the original air pressure specs. Stay away from that table top. Try vacuuming lint brushing from or top finish. those 2 or 4 dots are neglible remains of the plastic injecting (gates/sprues/techo-blahblah😂). All fixed? All family playtime! For each a Solo cup outstretched for soda you will pour. Yay! The use of two hands soon will truth reveal!
I also have the same issue with my table….Gonna try the drill out thing for sure…..hey But one other thing…. I have the same Classic sport table as yours Just got it It also has the same scoreboard But The seller gave me the wrong ac adapter plug I’m unable to find out what I need to replace it If You could let me know what voltage I need That would be a huge help The adapter she gave me is Input. AC 120V 60 Hz 9W Output DC 7.5V 500mA If this is it…. The connection doesn’t fit ……just falls out So I’m thinking it doesn’t even go with the scoreboard Let me know if anyone can help! That would be great!
The casing for the fans could be leaking. You will have to get under the table with the unit on and visually inspect for cracks and feel for any air coming out of the fan casing. If there are leaks, you could use caulking to seal them up.
Not clogged it's just not fully drilled through from factory and the machine that did the holes I promise you I had a brand new table like yours same thing first time playing holes was not opened up all the way I took it back said hell with drilling thousands of little holes I'm just gonna buy a arcade airhockey table and that's what I did qith no problems ten years later
You could use light sandpaper or even just your hands. If you use the right size drill bit (1/16 inch) and keep the drill straight up and down, you shouldn't have much issue with rough edges around the holes.
Not a good idea, these tables are engineered to get a certain air flow across each hole, putting in bigger holes my decrease the actual pressure across the table
Anyone that’s EVER worked with a drill knows that ain’t dust! That’s your shaky ass hand dragging out wood and plastic when you REDRILL the hole, lol! Glad it worked, but that’s REAL freaking aggressive…
If it is just "dust" you're removing from those holes, why in the world do you need to use a sharp metal drill bit and a powerful electric drill to remove it?!?! I thought that FEATHERS were good medium to remove unwanted dust from surfaces, not WIRE EFFIN' BRUSHES!! Jeez!
We just purchased this exact table from someone and we were informed that the scoreboard adapter connection was loose Now realizing it was not the adapter that even came with the table/ scoreboard We are trying to find a replacement for it? We just don’t know which voltage it is… We purchased a universal adapter from Amazon But without trying every combination…. Could someone that owns this scoreboard tell us what we need?
This is a great idea for sure, but that’s not dust from years of buildup, that’s the dust from what you just drilled. 😉
Nah the 1/16 bit is the same size as the hole, so you are not doing any drilling. There is zero resistance, you are just using it to pull dust out. I actually do this with a broken drill bit that no longer has a pointy head so I do not accidentally drill into anything. The key is to just lightly hit the drill button so you are only slowly spinning the bit
I get where ur coming from, but the holes are the exact same size as the other non-drilled ones, and it’s from buildup.
Yes use a syringe needle instead to clear the holes.
Literally just got an air hockey table from parents and the fan is on but not very much airflow. I didn’t want out any money into it, I’m glad I saw this video. I’m going to work on it tomorrow and hopefully it works! Thanks for the video!
Got it done and glides great now! Thanks again!
@U. I drilled the holes like he did in the video. The fan was not dirty and worked fine.
@@abelgonzales618 Any idea how to make the game less boring?
Thanks UA-cam for recommending this. I don't own an air hockey table but now I know a few tips on proper maintenance should I ever get one haha
I did this on mine and now I can finally feel air coming out of the holes
Do Not attempt! you will ruin your table. use a welding file for cleaning tips on a mig welder. and if one side of the puck drags, use a piece of 120 grit sand paper laid on a flat surface and slide the puck in circular motions over it. a little sanding goes a long way.
Those are to flimsy the drill is perfectly fine as long as you go slow
I use torch tip cleaners...gas torch, not mig. Just small reamers of many sizes.
@@youknoweverything7643 With literally 1000s of holes, anything risky is likely to screw up eventually. I think I would only go the drill bit route if we are at the point of discarding the table as everything else has failed.
Thank you! The process was explained so well.
Great video- comment about the puck orientation: The 4 "dots" on the puck need to face the table surface, not the smooth side. I discovered this accidentally after buying my used table and before watching this video. I had no idea there was a difference between the side surfaces so I marked the "up" side with an orange sticker. This makes it easy to quickly put the correct side up during play. Just FYI 😎👍
Why?
@@GoTips- my guess is that the 4 dimples add stability. The air is trapped evenly under the dimples when compare with the smooth side. I just ordered new Dynamo discs so we'll see if they are built the same way or if they're symmetrical.
@@Spudmuffin00 i have 4 of the 2.5" dynamo puck but they only have 2 dimples not 4 but honestly they arnt so much dimples as they are where it looks like imperfections in the plastic
@@GoTips - I think the dimples are where they fill the mold with plastic. These are guesses on my part.
Great tip, thank you!
Also vacuum brush to the top works pretty well.
This is AMAZING! Thank you!!!!
Great video! Thanks! I will try this on my air hockey table in a few weeks.
Thanks for this.
I'm having a problem with an air hockey table that I don't own. It's at my favorite hangout. The old hair hockey table had a metal surface with no holes in it. The air came from the sides and it worked great. Now they put a new air hockey table in and it's got the holes but the puck doesn't move very good. I don't think they'd let customers go in with a drill. lol
Great idea, I'll give it a shot! Thanks for the video.
Tried this...I think it's a bad idea. The debris coming out is material from table and the bit actually creates bumps on the surface.
Thbank you! Totally helped!
Use silicone spray to make top slippery....won't clog holes either. I use a torch tip cleaner to ream out holes, avail. at welding supply shops.
Are you serious? Why would you need the top slippery?! The whole concept of the game is that the puck is levitating on air... That's why it's called AIR hockey!
If your puck isn't properly gliding consistency across the entire surface of the table, something is wrong. It's not working correctly. The puck should never touch the surface of the table while playing the game. Lubrication won't help where there should be no friction.
Also, if you are "reaming" the holes by pushing something into them, where do you think the particulate matter that was blocking your holes going to go? Unless you are able to only pass the cleaner tool through one direction, from the inside out, all the way through, anything that was blocking the holes will potentially fall inside, then when you turn the machine back on it will just get blown right back up to clog the holes.
The air hockey manufacturer Dynamo specifically instructs the users of their tables to never spray anything onto the surface of their tables. They also strongly recommend NEVER insert anything into the holes to remove blockages.
A vacuum cleaner with a hose, using a reducer attachment made for detail cleaning is best. It will suck out the blockages instead of pushing them in. That same vacuum can also be used to clean anything else that might get in the way of the puck on the surface of the table. That's it. You shouldn't ever need to lubricate the surface or even wipe it, unless something like a drink gets spilled on it accidentally. If that happens, turn the table on so that air is flowing out of the holes to keep any liquid out. Soak up anything still wet with absorbent towels and makes sure the surface is dry before turning off the air. If the surface becomes sticky when dry, turn the table on again, using a soft clean towel, spray some Windex or any ordinary window cleaner ONTO THE TOWEL NOT THE TABLE, and wipe the sticky area until clean. Again, Don't turn the tables air off until the surface is dry.
I wiped mine clean with a bunch of wet wipes and used a vacuum with a suction carpet kind of option
You find a lot of great deals on "broken" air hockey tables that are just poorly maintained. Especially if they original came from a bar or a smokers home. And always cover your table when not in use. It kills me that I will see someones nice rec room and their pool table will have this nice leather cover but their air hockey table is just out there collecting dust.
I have one mini big air hockey table for house not professional one it's motor was not that much powerful i have power on it the batteries were new but whenever I keep the pluck in the centre or any place it does not moves at all so can you tell an simple solution without dill or vacuum cleaner
Yes! Buy a drill and vacuum cleaner.
Thank you Norm
Thank you sir
Do you know where can I buy the sensor for the scoreboard ? I have the same exact table
I'm a professional arcade technician. I have many years of experience working in the amusement industry and own my own successful coin operated machines business. For the love of amusement machines... DO NOT EVER do this to a professional coin operated air hockey table!!
It will completely ruin the table!
And quite frankly, if you do have a professional table (made by Dynamo, etc.), you should never have this problem to begin with (unless somehow a barrel of super glue got spilled over the entire playfield, in which case then you could try this but you really should just buy a new playfield). The playfield on a Dynamo table is replaceable. It's not cheap, nor is it an easy task (I've done it, it definitely takes more than one person), but a new table top for your air hockey table can be purchased from the manufacturer (or a distributor) to be replaced and it's the recommended method (by the manufacturer) for the repair of low flow air holes or other damage that can't be remedied with standard cleaning practices.
The reason the table in the video is having that problem is because it's a cheap, unprofessional table, made for home use only (HUO). If you bought an air hockey table at a retail store like Costco or Walmart, it was most likely poorly manufactured and it will have issues like the one in the video, right out of the box. Those types of tables are the only type you should ever attempt any "repair" of this nature, because replacement parts are unobtainable and the table is essentially manufactured to be disposable.
Also, that "sheet trick" he shows us is absolutely BS! It only looks like the pressure is weaker on one side because he has the two sides divided with that piece of wood and has already DRILLED THE HOLES LARGER on half of the table! So obviously there's going to be more airflow on that side of the table! If he tried that trick before he drilled out any of the holes, there'd be no way to tell where there's more air pressure coming from as opposed to other areas, unless you literally sectioned off the whole table into little tiny areas of one or two holes each and compared the amount of lift you get out of the sheet in every tiny little area, all at the same time! If he showed us that sheet trick before he drilled any of the holes, how would you be able to tell where the pressure was weaker?! What do you think it would look like after all the holes are drilled out? Then sheet is going to lift the same over both sides, unless of course one side has significantly more air flow through a majority of the holes... which is exactly what he demonstrated in the video.
Make no mistake! He's not cleaning dust out of those holes in the video. HE'S LITERALLY DRILLING THE HOLES LARGER! THAT'S NOT DUST THAT WAS STUCK IN THE HOLES! IT'S THE WOOD SHAVINGS THAT'S BEING REMOVED FROM THE INSIDE OF THE HOLE, MAKING EACH ONE A PERMANENTLY LARGER HOLE!!
You don't wan't larger holes on an air hockey table! It can potentially change the dynamics of how the table works entirely.
These holes specifically regulate the proper amount of evenly distributed air pressure needed to create the proper amount of lift on the puck while moving at any given time during gameplay. The game won't play the same if anything changes...
-the size of the table top surface
-the size/weight/shape/surface area of the puck
-the location/size/quantity of fans installed
-the size/shape of the large empty air cavity below the table top
-the amount of holes in the playfield
-the location of each hole and/or the relative distance between any two holes
-the diameter of the holes themselves
Now, If you take a powerful drill and sloppily ream out all the holes by hand (as he does in the video), there's no way to keep everything perfectly ideal to create the proper lift across the playfield. Technically some of the holes are going to be larger than others, some will be at different angles, the amount of air pressure overall will likely decrease because larger holes means more air is being able to escape all at once, thus creating LESS pressure overall to pass through the holes collectively, which means it's going to need bigger fans (or more of them) to produce more air to provide more flow from the bigger holes.
Think of a garden hose. You turn it on and water streams out. What happens when you put your thumb over the end? The water stream is more powerful and squirts much farther. When you drill out the holes on an air hockey table, it's like taking your thumb off the end of the hose!
After drilling every hole bigger, technically, they're closer together to one another also. In theory, if the fans on the table are powerful enough to still provide enough pressure to even play the game, having holes that are closer together could likely administer too much air underneath the puck at any given time, which would likely cause it to hover at an improper levels above the table and/or hover unevenly while in motion, which would most definitely cause the puck to wobble, fly off the table when struck and/or get stuck in areas around the playfield.
To the poster of this video, Please take a physics class (or two) to learn and fully understand the concepts behind how a flat surface punctured hundreds of times for releasing pressurized air from electric air circulators can cause a round flat molded disk of polymer to defy gravity and levitate AND what happens when a cylinder of metal formed with a sharp concave helix channel spiralling up it (a drill bit) was rotated at a high speed while pushed through a premade cylindrical hole in soft materials consisting of a thin top layer of fiberglass pasted flat against a thicker soft sheet of pressed particleboard where the hole is slightly smaller in diameter than the diameter of the drill bit... before posting videos teaching people how they can potentially destroy an air hockey table completely.... Okey dokey?! Thanks!!
...Sheesh.
Another point, for the record, if it is, in fact, just "dust" clogging up the holes, why in the world would you need to use something as strong as a metal drill bit and as powerful as a 120v electric drill to remove it?!?!
I thought that FEATHERS were a popular medium used to remove dust.
What would clean dust out of things around your house better, a feather duster or something totally Overkill... like a wire brush?? The wire brush will remove the dust, sure...
...and everything else consisting of the top layer of material the dust is covering!
I rest my case.
That ain’t dust, that’s wood and plastic from his shaky ass hand! 😂
@@joshradick6096 You are correct! 😉
@@MoreEffinCowbell
The reality is that 99% of the folks watching this video have a cheap table that was meant to be thrown away.
They either bought it at a box store for a couple hundred bucks (like you said) and never properly maintained it, or they got it for $20 (or free) at a yard sale/dump because it took up too much room and never got used at the original owner’s house.
For a majority of people, if they can get the puck to float AT ALL on their dirty, warped, clogged-up painted fiberboard table top, it will be a win for them… even if the play surface and efficiency is far less than perfect.
Would I try to use this method on a beautiful expensive commercial unit? No way.
Would I try to use this method on a table I just picked up for free on the side of the road? If other methods failed, yeah… sure why not. Got nothing to lose.
@@HammyHammbone Well, I can't argue with that. When you're right, you're right.
I must admit, I got a little carried away with that comment. I was kind of having fun trying to make it as long as possible. LoL.
But you see, I came here searching for tips and tricks on keeping a commercial table clean, and operating smoothly. I was trying to find interesting ways to teach the young employees of a pizza place how to keep from ruining the table at this one particular account of mine, a table that gets played and thoroughly abused by the general public daily, with lots of children playing it all day every weekend, armed with all sorts of food, drinks and gummy candy to get spilled, smashed and smeared all over it.
So, when I saw this video... It made me imagine one of the employees there seeing this video and thinking they can do me a solid when I'm not there and try fixing an area of the table where the puck has been getting stuck... WITH A DRILL! ... when it's most likely just a sticky spot from a small soda spill and just needs a proper cleaning... and honestly, it scared the living PUCK out of me! 😂
"Make sure you are drilling in the clockwise direction"😂. Also dont for get to breath in and out
Good info 💫💯Thanks
I've always thought it was dots down! That's so funny.
It is dots down. And don't drill holes in your air hockey table.
Hi I have an arcade Elephant AIR Hockey Table. It doesn't seem to give out sufficient air flow to play properly. I have seen alot of videos on UA-cam trying to figure out what should be done to fix the problem. I bought a 1/16 drill bit and drilled holes and cleaned them... Than Light sand the whole things to get it smooth and than clean it off.. its nice and smooth the pucks are fine as well... the blower works great I took it out of the table to see if its work fine and blower is very powerful. Blower is mounted right in the middle of the table underneath it . And where the blower is mounted the air flow is fine there but on the right and left side the air flow is almost non existent...
Can u suggest what should I do plz
I'm not sure what you can do about this. My table has two fans - one on each end. Perhaps yours is poorly designed.
It could be that your table is poorly designed, as most seem to have a fan on either end, but an alternate theory is this: Another commenter has noted that most air hockey tables seem to have 3/64 holes, and 1/16 = 4/64. Poor design does come in to play here, but mostly it was designed to have smaller holes, meaning less air would come out the middle and it would instead be pushed out to the sides. According to said commenter, although the difference in hole size may not seem like much, about 77% more air can be let through when you go from 3/64 to 1/16. This would explain why your blower can no longer handle the whole table. I would recommend getting a second fan and moving the fans so that they're somewhat evenly spaced across the table.
Should've had a vacuum next to it when drilling
Thanks
Okay, counter thesis:
1) your puck worked better on one side vs the other because the puck was rough on one side from abuse, not because of holes that don’t contact the table. This would explain non reproducibility with alternative puck. If the same puck, you are testing on the side of the table with widened holes, so perhaps the air gap between puck and table is now wider than the damaged bit of the puck so less of a problem.
2) the original holes were smaller than 1/16th and the “dust” that you claim to have collected is sawdust because you are eroding the original holes. FWIW, I measured my table a couple of ways and the holes are 3/64, not 4/16=1/16. Method 1 is measure the inner and outer distance between two adjacent holes with a set of calipers and divide the difference by 2. Method 2 was take a hi res picture with iPhone and compare hole pixels with pixel distance between holes. In both cases about 0.05” = 3/64.
It may be that the performance is better drilled out. It depends on the capacity of your blower fans, whether they are up to the task of keeping uniform pressure with the new hole size. However by drilling with an up cutting bit, you risk snagging the edge of your table surface and tearing it up, in effect creating a burr for the puck to run into. Generally wood workers choose down rotating bits for routers in this case to prevent this sort of blowout. Assuming 3/64 (less contaminant) was widened to 4/64, we expect the hole cross section to widen 16/9= 177%, or nearly double.
I did do something similar to clean the holes just using a push pin to excavate the holes. It seemed to be about the right size. Use Push pin not thumb tack, so you can get it back out easily.
But if it was dust that accumulated in the holes, wouldn't the dust vac have solved the problem instead of going through the trouble of drilling?
Not good enough, it seems
The debris in the holes builds up over time and really sticks to the edges. It won't come out with just a Shop Vac.
@@jonathanvonah7631 exactly and in fibre board when you drill a hole there are wood fibers that hold the dust there also
@@jonathanvonah7631 Couldn't you just use an air compressor to blow the dust out of the holes saving you from having to drill all those holes?
@@jasonb5941 You can try an air compressor. I don't have one, so I did not try this option.
What kind of air hockey table is this? Have you tried synthetic spray wax? Conventional wax would clog the holes
wow thank this helped alot
Can some of you tell me wich Fan(s) are in your table? I dont know much power I need...
this is so helpful, i have learnt so much from this video. Truly inspiring, thank you Jonathan Von Ah
Would’ve been a better idea to just grab a sewing needle or something because that drill just made way more sawdust debris than was probably in it 🫤
YEAH! A pin or brad matching the ones working.
(Sheet test - A+, D
D- A needle could go thru and damage/rattle etc. Good Lord, don't compromise the original air pressure specs. Stay away from that table top. Try vacuuming lint brushing from or top finish. those 2 or 4 dots are neglible remains of the plastic injecting (gates/sprues/techo-blahblah😂).
All fixed? All family playtime! For each a Solo cup outstretched for soda you will pour. Yay! The use of two hands soon will truth reveal!
Does the scoreboard work on your air hockey table?
Ahh man! Now I have hundreds of holes to clean!
wow that fans loud!
Drop the fan channel and clean it so the drill debris doesn’t get blown back in the holes.
What size and type transformer is needed for the low voltage part.
The scorekeeper? Should say near the input Jack. Maybe 3 to 9 volts
Battery in air hockey score keeper
I also have the same issue with my table….Gonna try the drill out thing for sure…..hey
But one other thing….
I have the same Classic sport table as yours
Just got it
It also has the same scoreboard
But
The seller gave me the wrong ac adapter plug
I’m unable to find out what I need to replace it
If You could let me know what voltage I need
That would be a huge help
The adapter she gave me is
Input.
AC 120V 60 Hz 9W
Output DC 7.5V 500mA
If this is it…. The connection doesn’t fit ……just falls out
So I’m thinking it doesn’t even go with the scoreboard
Let me know if anyone can help! That would be great!
Hi Robert. Did you get this info? I can send to you if needed.
Would this be called or explained that the fan casing is leaking?
The casing for the fans could be leaking. You will have to get under the table with the unit on and visually inspect for cracks and feel for any air coming out of the fan casing. If there are leaks, you could use caulking to seal them up.
Not clogged it's just not fully drilled through from factory and the machine that did the holes I promise you I had a brand new table like yours same thing first time playing holes was not opened up all the way I took it back said hell with drilling thousands of little holes I'm just gonna buy a arcade airhockey table and that's what I did qith no problems ten years later
What you using after you drill to Smooth the edges
Sand paper
You could use light sandpaper or even just your hands. If you use the right size drill bit (1/16 inch) and keep the drill straight up and down, you shouldn't have much issue with rough edges around the holes.
Maybe getting a slightly larger drill bit to let more air flow come through. You said a 1/16 inch, what about maybe using a 3/16 inch drill bit?
Not a good idea, these tables are engineered to get a certain air flow across each hole, putting in bigger holes my decrease the actual pressure across the table
You would decrease the velocity of the air through the holes if you drill them larger. Do not do this.
@@wushuguy1 Thanks. That's good to know!
Those are weights
Dingbat you are making the top surface uneven from drilling that ain’t dust that’s you messing up your table
Anyone that’s EVER worked with a drill knows that ain’t dust! That’s your shaky ass hand dragging out wood and plastic when you REDRILL the hole, lol! Glad it worked, but that’s REAL freaking aggressive…
Good fix
Don’t trust this! He’s an air hockey table salesman and wants you to buy another table after you unwittingly destroy yours!!! 😂😂😂
My air hockey not moving boll why ?
If it is just "dust" you're removing from those holes, why in the world do you need to use a sharp metal drill bit and a powerful electric drill to remove it?!?!
I thought that FEATHERS were good medium to remove unwanted dust from surfaces, not WIRE EFFIN' BRUSHES!! Jeez!
Hows it working out?
I drilled out the holes on the other side of the table and it works great!
@@jonathanvonah7631 that's good i did mine in about a day, definately more air flow, so you use the Murphy oil to clean your table?
We just purchased this exact table from someone and we were informed that the scoreboard adapter connection was loose
Now realizing it was not the adapter that even came with the table/ scoreboard
We are trying to find a replacement for it?
We just don’t know which voltage it is…
We purchased a universal adapter from Amazon
But without trying every combination….
Could someone that owns this scoreboard tell us what we need?
@@robertlord5714 should say near the input Jack. Might be a battery door too. Mine does.
@@GoTips do not use any oil, it could swell the wood at each hole. Use very light coat of silicone spray.
😂