Clean Gleem is a powerful commercial billiard ball cleaner that can handle cleaning and polishing an entire rack of balls at a time.
Why is cleaning & polishing your billiard balls important?
Before we jump into the review, it is important to spend some time up front talking about the importance of keeping your billiard balls clean and polished.
Besides the balls looking nice, keeping them clean is important because the condition of the balls significantly impacts the playability. Pool is all about friction. Friction between the cue tip & the ball, the balls and the cloth & balls with other balls . Balls that are dirty or covered with chalk will react very differently than balls that are clean and polished. Balls that are dirty can skid, will not take English, follow or draw consistently. It can also have inaccurate effects on the interaction of the balls impacting other balls with regard to the accuracy of cut shots, caroms, etc. It is important to keep the billiard balls clean to assure the balls play consistently & properly and in addition, it will also prolong the life of the table felt.
Reviewing the Clean Gleem
Unboxing
The Clean Gleem is a relatively expensive product, so assuring that it was well packaged to assure there could be no damage during delivery was a high priority for me. The unit arrived exceptionally well packaged and upon opening the box & viewing the packaging, I had no concerns about damage during shipping. The box was sturdy and the unit was well cushioned inside with good amounts of foam panels on the bottom, on all sides and on the top of the unit. The unit fit very snugly inside the box with no opportunity for movement and the foam all around assured protection for the unit itself.
There was no assembly required. I Just pulled the Clean Gleem right out of the box, plug it in, and it was ready to go.
My impressions of the unit
My overall impression is that the Clean Gleem is solid and well made. It weighs in at approximately 45 pounds and feels sturdy and significant. The exterior of the unit is an aesthetically pleasing wood cabinet. The cover where the balls sit lifts off giving easy access to the motor and rollers. The rollers are heavy and covered in what looks to be a durable thick carpet-like material. There are notches in the cover between the holes that the balls sit in, which make it very easy to place the balls in and retrieve them. The machine is open underneath, providing extraordinarily easy access to the powerful motor and belt drive system that power the machine. Overall, I think the manufacturer did a good job paying attention to details and thinking the unit out.
The one thing I would have changed, and it is a small thing really, is I would have had a notch for the power cord in the back of the unit vs. the side of the unit. That would have allowed me to hide the power cord while the unit was plugged in
Cleaning and polishing the balls
Prepping the balls:
Before cleaning and polishing the balls, the balls required prepping by hand in advance, which I found to be a bit inconvenient. Following the instructions, I applied Aramith ball cleaner to each individual ball first using a soft cloth and letting them dry & film before placing them into the unit for cleaning. There is an alternate method of applying the cleaner articulated in the instructions, which is to spray the balls down while in the tumblers. I did not try that method during this review, but that might help make the process more efficient. I would think the spray method would work satisfactorily if the balls were relatively clean and just needed to be freshened up. If the balls are relatively dirty, as they were in the case of the balls I cleaned for my review, I would think coating the balls first would be the more effective method.
Cleaning and Polishing using Clean Gleem:
From this point, the process was super convenient and easy. I simply dropped all 16 balls into the chambers, set the timer for 5 minutes and let the unit do it’s thing.
Observing how the balls were actually spinning in the unit, I noticed that while the balls were spinning on a single axis, they were actually vibrating against the pads as they spun, assuring that the entirety of the ball was getting cleaned and polished as the balls rotated. I was initially concerned about the ball spinning on a single axis and how that would actually result in polishing the entire surface of the ball, but this answered that question for me.
The balls spun at a nice velocity. One of the things I did to assess the power of the unit was to try it with a different number of balls. The balls spun equally as fast with a single ball as it did with a full load of 16. There was absolutely no degradation of power with a full set of balls. The unit was also surprisingly quiet given the power and the speed with which the balls were spinning.
The following video illustrates the Clean Gleem cleaning & polishing the full set of balls in this review
The results were on par with my expectations and I think the unit did an adequate job cleaning and polishing the balls. The following are before and after pictures. You may want to click on the picture to bring it up in full screen to better see the difference
In Summary
The Home Market
Many casual players that have pool tables at home may be reluctant to spend this kind of money for a ball cleaner, regardless if it is Clean Gleem or one of the other commercial ball cleaners. Even with Clean Gleem’s lower price tag than some of the others, you are still talking about spending over $400 for a unit. I can understand the reluctance of the home market to spend this kind of money on a ball cleaner. 1) Their equipment does not take the same wear and tear as a commercial establishment and 2) There are alternatives that many home players employ for cleaning their billiard balls including manually cleaning them or building their own do it yourself cleaners. Having said that, a good commercial ball cleaner will last for many years & over the long haul will be more convenient, will stand up better and will provide more overall value as a long term investment. So I do encourage the home pool table owner to consider a commercial ball cleaner.
The Commercial Market
Commercial ball cleaner and polishers have much more genuine applicability to commercial establishments. I cannot see using any other method to keep commercial billiard balls in top shape and playing great for their customers. For a commercial establishment, Clean Gleem’s ability to do a full rack of balls at once at a lower price point is advantageous. I also think it is made well enough to stand up to the extensive use it will see in a commercial setting. The one aspect that could be a bit cumbersome in heavy use is applying the wax to each and every ball. So the key will be to use it often enough so that you can use the spray application method to just keep the balls fresh in an an-going manner.
Overall Assessment
Clean Gleem is a relatively new entrant which has some tough competition in this market with some very established, solid brand name units that have stood the test of time and have market share. As far as results go, I would say it is average or on par with other alternatives in terms of cleaning & polishing results. Clean Gleem does provide a good value as there is no other commercial ball cleaner on the market that will do a full 16 balls that is within the same price point at the time of this publishing. I also appreciate that the manufacturer is not out for an on-going money grab and lets you use whatever ball cleaner you desire, and the cleaning pads can be replaced by using standard pads available at many big box stores or hardware stores. Clean Gleem is well made, looks good, and I appreciate, and think it is important to mention, is made in the United States. If you are in the market for a commercial ball cleaner, Clean Gleem is worth your consideration.
