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Author Topic: Dirt or oil when cleaning?  (Read 1855 times)

Moon57

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Dirt or oil when cleaning?
« on: August 26, 2009, 11:42:56 PM »
Does how black the cleaning cloth gets indicate how much oil, how much dirt, or both that is being removed? It seems to me it would only indicate how much dirt. I bowl at 3 different houses and on the one that seems to have heavier oil, the cloth comes out cleaner. Maybe some others could give their opinion on this.
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Moon
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dizzyfugu

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Re: Dirt or oil when cleaning?
« Reply #1 on: August 27, 2009, 07:45:47 AM »
"Dirty" residues on a towel are either oil/grime from the mmachines, and/or dust from the lanes that gets caught in the lane conditioner. The lane conditioner itself is clear, so you can hardly recognize it on a towel.
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charlest

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Re: Dirt or oil when cleaning?
« Reply #2 on: August 27, 2009, 09:38:00 AM »
I don't think you really can tell what type of "dirt" you're picking up on your towel.

Yes, when the lanes and the mmachine surfaces are clena, it is always oil that will be on the ball. If there's dirt on the lanes and/or the machines, the oil will collect the dirt and your towel will show black from the dirt but will also contain the oil, that it takes off the ball. If there's very little oil, the towel can be dirty from plain dirt it picks up or it can be clean if there's little dirt also.

So you must change/wash your towel regularly, because by the time it feels "oily" or greasy, you've already been wiping a ton of oil back onto the ball and the towel is not absorbing oil any longer. Same with a towel that just looks dirty.
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No Revs00300

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Re: Dirt or oil when cleaning?
« Reply #3 on: August 27, 2009, 10:20:53 AM »
You want to see a dirty towel, that means your cleaner is dooing it's job. If you have a spinner you will really notice.

Moon57

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Re: Dirt or oil when cleaning?
« Reply #4 on: August 28, 2009, 04:10:17 AM »
Now my next question is, can a cleaner that is good at removing dirt be not so good at removing oil?
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Moon
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dizzyfugu

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Re: Dirt or oil when cleaning?
« Reply #5 on: August 28, 2009, 04:28:46 AM »
I do not think so. But an issue can be the difference between the dirt on th ball's surface like dust and grime from the machines, and the oil that gets absorbed into the porous shell.
From my experience, any ball cleaner and home-made solutions are very effective for surface cleaning. But the absorbed oil is another thing - I think you only have a chance to delay (not block) oil absorption if you clean a ball immediately after use, and when you wipe the ball after each shot. Therefore, a frequent oil extraction is also a vital part of equipment maintenance, unless you just use polyester and hard urethane.
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charlest

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Re: Dirt or oil when cleaning?
« Reply #6 on: August 28, 2009, 08:46:37 AM »
quote:
Now my next question is, can a cleaner that is good at removing dirt be not so good at removing oil?
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Moon
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So many questions, so little time but I'm having fun.


Yes!
Isopropyl (household) alcohol is a prime example. It can remove oil that comes off your skin and other dirt but is not very good in removing the heavier viscosity lane oil from the ball. While, the other way around, a cleaner good at removing lane oil will probably also remove most types of plain dirt from  your ball.
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"None are so blind as those who will not see."
"None are so blind as those who will not see."