Very informative. Did you also test any bowling balls with a polished finish? For instance the Wicked Siege at box finish is 500 grit plus rough buff polish. Was curious how quickly bowling balls with polish are effected vs the ones you tested with out.

Have these results been replicated enough to prove reliable?  I remember reading that over time surface friction causes the ball to move towards 2000. Is this  bad information?

I have not seen my 500/1000 finished covers reacting like 4000 finish covers after three to four games. Looking at the track on my 500/1000 finished ball where I now see  visible scratches in the track area, I have a hard time believing that the track is closer to 4000 after three games than to 500. The track was not visible when I took it out of the haus.

It says on the ball that started at 1500 it ended at close to 4500 or so after 3 games. It also said you would want to resurface the ball after every set.

Got to thinking, in many cases especially when buying a new ball, most bowlers don't start liking a balls reaction till they get 5-10 games on a bowling ball. We see that after 3 games on a high grit ball it pretty much maxes out with very little change in surface. So there may be something said for breaking in a ball, and for not adjusting the surface so often.

Great Questions 

What this machine does is read about 40,000 points along the equator of the ball in about 5 seconds.  It uses an optical laser to measure the Ra and RS values and gives a grit estimate based on this information.  One can have it display in Ra or RS but most people don't relate to a 1000 grit being 20 Ra, so this video was done in grit mode.  It also has a feature called feature enhance mode that helps identify the pattern of the surface (this was not shown in this video).  An easy way to think of it is to think about a tire.  The height of tread is (Ra), the distance between tread is (RS), and the pattern used is (feature enhance).  This means that there can be two identical balls that measure very similar for Ra and RS but have a different roughness pattern so they will have different on lane tendencies.

What we have learned with our testing is that if two surfaces are rubbed against each other, the softer surface will migrate closer and closer to the harder surface.  This basically means that a bowling ball will migrate to the surface of the lane.  A ball will migrate to a smoother surface on synthetic lanes than wood lanes.  A polished ball is already very smooth and the surface will stay more consistent for a longer period of time on a synthetic lane because they are similar.  The one factor that will change is the tread pattern from being skidded along the lane over and over.  This also means that a polished ball will also scuff up more on a wood lane because it is rougher.

Keep in mind that just because you are using a 500 grit pad does not mean that the ball is perfectly 500 grit.  It just means that a 500 grit pad was used to get this balls current surface.  Feel how rough the pad is before it is used on a ball, and then feel how rough the ball is after being scuffed.  The ball will feel much smoother than that 500 grit pad.

This is some exciting technology and is being used by almost every manufacturer in ball testing and production lines.  It is also being used by pro shops to help get bowling balls back to there ideal surface and for comparing surfaces of a customers arsenal.  Were just scratching the surface here on pro shop technology with this awesome tool, so please keep the questions coming.

Russ Wilson
Jayhawk Bowling
http://jayhawkbowling.com/   

so basically, a ball with surface is more likely to not have the same ball reaction through the 3 game set as a 4000 polished ball would?

I thought I remembered reading somewhere (a whileback) that over time the track area of a ball will tend to migrate towards ~800 grit.  I guess this shows that information/article was false...

Great information and application of technology.
Thank you for sharing.

Scott

I thought I remembered reading somewhere (a whileback) that over time the track area of a ball will tend to migrate towards ~800 grit.  I guess this shows that information/article was false...

Great information and application of technology.
Thank you for sharing.

Scott

No, it wasn't false, Scott. It's just old information.
On wood lanes, balls would tend to migrate toward a 600 grit US/CAMI surface. That was originally, as far as I know, from Bob Summerfield, deceased publisher of BTM. (he may have gotten the info from someone else.)

Synthetic lanes is another, different case.