Billiard tables are traditionally characterized by a wood base frame, four legs, hardware to hold it together, slate, cloth, and rails. The difference, of course, is the way in which which manufacturer puts a table together. Fat Cat for example uses a KD apron bracket for increased apron strength and a center brace with a bolt to prevent the frame from sagging or spreading while increasing the tables overall strength. Fat Cat also uses a larger slate support area to keep the slate flat and level and minimize wood movement.

The competition may make claims such as dove tail joints and additional hardware in assembly for increased strength. They may also market the benefits of a "nut plate" verses a T-nut for rail fastening. Or, they may advertise increased stability by having frame stabilizes and interlocking subframes.

We have found that regardless of the manufacturer, the fundamental components of a billiards table consist of wood and slate. And all tables require leveling for accurate play. Due to the variably inherent of wood and slate, and to some extent human error during manufacturing, a billiard table's wood base frame is not always level after the base frame has been leveled on all four corners. Therefore, the slate bed must be leveled by shims to compensate for any variability in material or installation.

Commonly shims are placed between the wood base frame and slate to adjust appropriately. Unfortunately, leveling a billiards table by means of shims tends to be time consuming and over time shims may fall out or move. Consequently, the table is no longer level and its play is no longer accurate. Our leveling system, however, with a simple adjustment from its point of slate fastening, can be made to adjust the slate a fraction up or down to compensate for any variation in the slate or wood.