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Author Topic: Surface adjustment: still work in progress  (Read 2979 times)

no300yet

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Surface adjustment: still work in progress
« on: February 09, 2010, 05:09:16 PM »
Before attempting to adjust the surface on my ball( Mutant Cell) I usually had to move left about 1-2 boards every night( I am a right hander).

After adjusting the surface to 1500 Siaair at first I gained about 3 boards of hook. Yes! Great reaction! Then gradually the ball would lose reaction and I had to move right. Until at the end of the night I would be standing 3 boards right from where I started. The ball "appeared" to be smoother also.

Do synthetic lanes tend to smooth out the surface faster( they were heavily oiled)? Will the surface last longer on a ball with harder shell( like a pearl)?

Is it OK to re-adjust between games during league play? So far it has not benefited me much........

 

dizzyfugu

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Re: Surface adjustment: still work in progress
« Reply #1 on: February 10, 2010, 01:26:20 AM »
Sounds to me as if you used the ball with a fresh pad and after some use it "broke in", starting to track out. That's normal, because with a fresh pad you get real "sharp" and delicate sanding lines - they simply do not hold on for long. You could refresh the surface after each use, but that's IMHO ridiculous and nerdy.
Nothing to worry, though. But to achieve a stable, stronger reaction, you might try a slightly rougher pad, e. g. a 1.000 grit pad, and look how the ball reacts after the surface settles again.
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lenstanles703

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Re: Surface adjustment: still work in progress
« Reply #2 on: February 10, 2010, 05:11:36 AM »
You could be getting some carry down on your line. Try wiping the ball off with a microfiber towel before every shot too. I usually tend to speed up as the games go on so I move to the right as well.

Dan Belcher

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Re: Surface adjustment: still work in progress
« Reply #3 on: February 10, 2010, 06:39:40 AM »
It's very possible that the oil's going away in the front part of the lane and the ball isn't rolling at the right time.  I've been struggling bigtime with my Mutant Cell to get more than one game of use out of it (even after a redrilling and about four different surfaces) because it's just so dependent on a high volume of head oil to help it get down the lane.  I also see the ball hook less and less as the night goes on.

With my other equipment, I don't see this quite as much on a house shot, but I see it a lot on PBA shots where the heads tend to dry a little quicker.  On the Chameleon pattern, for example, I started off with my Cell at 2000 playing around 11 at the arrows to 7 at the breakpoint.  After a game or so, I started moving right because the ball just wouldn't pick up as hard in the midlane and wouldn't turn as hard on the backend.  I moved four boards right and finally was in the pocket but left back to back flat 10s.  I realized that the heads had already dried up so much that the ball was rolling a little too early and burning up energy.  I switched to a Gravity Shift with a little surface on it and moved left to play about 13 to 8.  The extra head oil from moving left plus the pearl surface to increase skid in the front part of the lane meant the ball actually hooked more and carried much better, and also gave me some miss room to the right where I had burned up a spot.

icewall

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Re: Surface adjustment: still work in progress
« Reply #4 on: February 10, 2010, 07:31:28 AM »
lets see, you say the surface appears smoother? then what? if you mean OOB well then yes i will appear smoother as the oob is 500 then 2000 grit abralon.

and if what you did was just straight 1500 grit pad then the ball will grip more in the heads expending more energy throughout the lane... probably smoother on the backend as well. but this more aggressive surface at the heads will cause the ball to loose energy when the heads start to dry up.


IMO a proper surface matchup to the lanes should have you moving left through the night as that means the ball is clearing the heads as you find just the right amount of oil to carry. but if you have to move right and your not doing so because of carrydown, the ball will start hitting weak (not good!)
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charlest

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Re: Surface adjustment: still work in progress
« Reply #5 on: February 10, 2010, 09:15:09 AM »
quote:
Before attempting to adjust the surface on my ball( Mutant Cell) I usually had to move left about 1-2 boards every night( I am a right hander).

After adjusting the surface to 1500 Siaair at first I gained about 3 boards of hook. Yes! Great reaction! Then gradually the ball would lose reaction and I had to move right. Until at the end of the night I would be standing 3 boards right from where I started. The ball "appeared" to be smoother also.



Since the stock surface is P500 grit with a P2000 grit "smooth over", your P1500 grit surface is ultimately a smoother surface than stock, but not by a lot.

quote:

Do synthetic lanes tend to smooth out the surface faster( they were heavily oiled)?



As compared to wooden lanes, No. The surface itself should need refreshing less often, but more depends on how worn the surface is than what type it is. There are older synthetics that have not bene cared for and that are,thus, rougher.

If you're bowling on true heavy oil with a dull ball, you need to keep the oil off the ball between frames and use a good strong cleaner immediately after bowling and before putting it back inthe bag. Cleaners like: Remedy, Zapp-It, Lanemaster, Hook-It. You should also be using Cleanand Dull at home, after every 2 - 3 sessions. These procedures help  the ball to last longer and maintain its performance for longer periods of time between oil extractions.

All balls lose their performance overtime. The heavier the oil, the more you rev the ball, the duller the ball, the quicker they lose performance and the more strict you have to be with maintenance.


quote:

Will the surface last longer on a ball with harder shell( like a pearl)?


Pearls are not harder than solids. They are less elastic. That is the surface deforms less at the point of contact with the lane.

Polished balls absorb oil slightly more slowly than dull balls. Only slightly. There's a bigger difference in absorbancy rates than in polished vs dull balls.

quote:

Is it OK to re-adjust between games during league play? So far it has not benefited me much........


It is illegal to roughen the surface of a bowling ball during sanctioned competition. You can do it before, like during warm-ups until the first ball for count is thrown by the first bowler (more or less), and afterwards.
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RevLefty

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Re: Surface adjustment: still work in progress
« Reply #6 on: February 10, 2010, 09:41:20 AM »
My bowling teammate was having a similar trouble with his as we do not bowl on the type of condition that the ball is designed for.  He would start off with a great look in practice and his reaction would be gone by frame six of first game.  The mutant cell needs alot of head oil to retain energy for back end reaction.  So to combat this problem i took the factory surface down to 1000 abralon and then threw a good brunswick factory finish polish on it and it still handles a good amount of oil but saves energy and has a great backend motion to it and he cal use it for most of three games depending on the night.  Had same issue for me with my jigsaw corner threw a polish on that adn it started hooking earlier and twice as much on back end it was a surprise at least the earlier part.
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no300yet

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Re: Surface adjustment: still work in progress
« Reply #7 on: February 10, 2010, 10:34:35 PM »
OK. thanks a lot guys!

Let me "assure" you that it's not burning up: not a single other bowler played my line. By the end of the night( game 3) the Mutant Cell came back with about 3-4 "half complete" oil rings on it( some portions of the rings were absorbed). I do admit: I tend to speed up a little  and throw harder after a few throws as I am slow to warm up. But like I mentioned: I did not have to move that much "before" attempting to roughen up the cover a bit.

The lanes were flooded and I had de-oiled the ball about 20 games ago........

It happened today was a perfect day to do it again and holy smoke! "lots and lots" of oil came out!( est. 2 teaspoonful?). It appears to me the Mutant would absorb the oil almost twice as fast as the Original!

Did another 1500 surface adjustment and this time it held up much better. Only had to move right about 1 board after 2.5 games.

no300yet

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Re: Surface adjustment: still work in progress
« Reply #8 on: February 10, 2010, 10:36:44 PM »
Forgot to mention: when the ball comes back now most of the oil has been absorbed, like when it was new.

AngloBowler

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Re: Surface adjustment: still work in progress
« Reply #9 on: February 12, 2010, 04:49:39 AM »
quote:
Before attempting to adjust the surface on my ball( Mutant Cell) I usually had to move left about 1-2 boards every night( I am a right hander)


*Gasp* You have to move your feet? Why, that's inhuman, having a combination of ball and lane pattern that forces you to adjust. What kind of a game are we playing here?
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