Author Topic: Spare ball that isn't plastic, urethane or rubber? (Read 5804 times)

bitbytebit · « **on:** June 17, 2010, 04:37:51 PM »

So I've been cracking all my plastic spare balls around the thumb holes. I can't afford this, I need to find another alternative to plastic. They crack in 3 weeks for me, it's crazy and since I release the ball directly up the back for spares and track over the thumb at 19-22 MPH on the monitor it seems to be simple physics that plastic isn't going to handle that.

So on that assumption, curious what different ideas people have for a USBC/PBA approved spare ball that isn't plastic. Know that rubber ones have to be from pre 1982 and from an approved company for PBA, now sure which rubber ones past that point are approved. All these urethane ones coming out seem interesting but wondering which ones the best choice to go as straight as possible. I do track over the thumb hole on spares and do go straight up the back, so not wanting the ball to do the work for me. There's just that chance I'm not perfect and/or lanes are super dry which I want the best percentage of a chance that the ball won't change direction.

So what do people out there recommend, which ball that currently is out and PBA/USBC approved. Which urethane would go straightest, thought the Avalanche urethane was it but now wondering if some other is even straighter since seems it might be a bit strong.

I sure wish there were some rubber balls to use now days as spare balls and not have to find a special vintage one that costs crazy prices and is a rarity. Especially 15# ones, seems most rubber ones are 16# which would be both PBA/USBC approved. Want to try some regionals eventually so don't want to get used to equipment I can't use for anything I want to do in the future.

Thanks,
Chris

tywithay · « **Reply #16 on:** June 20, 2010, 11:01:07 AM »

If polishing it doesn't work buy some Rain-X wipes and give it a quick wipe down each night before league. It'll go straight as an arrow.

BWDavy · « **Reply #17 on:** June 20, 2010, 09:19:20 PM »

All the cracking is in the same place on each ball. It indicates this is an impact point of the ball on the lane. Whan installing thumb slugs there are 2 very important things to consider.

1. The pilot hole needs more bevel than has been applied to your equipment. This will lessen the effect of impact on that point of the ball.

2. The super glue should be applied below the level of the coverstock as the cyano-acryllate component of the glue reacts with the coverstock to make it brittle, causing cracking on impact. The glue must be kept below the level of the coverstock! Since applying this rule I have had almost no cracking of the coverstock around thumb holes fitted with thumb slugs.

Hope this helps
--------------------
www.900global.com

If life is like a box of chocolates, what do you do if you don't like chocolate?

r534me · « **Reply #18 on:** June 20, 2010, 11:57:45 PM »

I thnk it might have to with the superglue in applied to the thumbslug. I have a white dot that is about 7 years old that has hundreds of games or more on it and hasn't cracked around the thumb slug yet. The middle finger lost a chunk but there is enough left on it to hold the insert in place.

lenstanles703 · « **Reply #19 on:** June 21, 2010, 06:06:25 AM »

I had the same problem with my last white dot. Pro shop guy said they tend to crack with the thumb slug so the next one didn't get one. No more cracks.
--------------------
Len

leftyinsnellville · « **Reply #20 on:** June 21, 2010, 08:00:14 AM »

With spare balls I have better luck if I drill my thumb hole as if I'm going to put in a 1 3/8 slug, but then fill it. Then I just drill the thumbhole into the filled hole. The plug material is very hard and it may help resist cracking. (I've found that I can get the inside of the thumbhole really smooth this way, which prevents me from pulling the ball on my spares).

Kinalyx · « **Reply #21 on:** June 21, 2010, 10:46:33 PM »

The way i see it, if ur str8 up the back of it, at 20mph or higher, any ball is a spare ball. I dont use a spare ball, but i have a natural that i will use for spares on tougher conditions, just to be safer.

IMO drill up ANY ball, if u throw it that hard with no tilt, its not gonna hook much.

Shawn
--------------------
In the bag

Brunswick 3.5(pin over ring, mb 60Âº) light polish over OOB
Ebonite Mission(pin under bridge, MB 70Âº, low weight hole) polish over OOB
Storm Fast(pin under bridge, low weight hole)
Storm Natural(pin over ring)

Coming soon
high scores??

bitbytebit · « **Reply #22 on:** June 21, 2010, 11:02:58 PM »

Yeah I just ordered a Brunswick groove urethane with pancake weight from my pro shop guy. So that fully polished sounds like a good solution. Also my pro shop guy is being really nice and going to basically only charge me the difference between the blue dot vs. groove urethane. I am hoping the groove urethane is the ending of my problems cracking plastic balls. I'm also pretty sure I'll be able to throw it straight. Besides the physical help of it being pancake with polished urethane I also most likely will force it to go straight too with speed and going up the back of it.

Thanks,
Chris

TamerBowling · « **Reply #23 on:** June 22, 2010, 06:35:46 AM »

quote:
All the cracking is in the same place on each ball. It indicates this is an impact point of the ball on the lane. Whan installing thumb slugs there are 2 very important things to consider.

1. The pilot hole needs more bevel than has been applied to your equipment. This will lessen the effect of impact on that point of the ball.

2. The super glue should be applied below the level of the coverstock as the cyano-acryllate component of the glue reacts with the coverstock to make it brittle, causing cracking on impact. The glue must be kept below the level of the coverstock! Since applying this rule I have had almost no cracking of the coverstock around thumb holes fitted with thumb slugs.

Hope this helps
--------------------
www.900global.com

If life is like a box of chocolates, what do you do if you don't like chocolate?

These are good hints/tips for the proshop. There's no reason any ball should constanly crack unless something very basic is being done incorrectly. You shouldn't need to worry about not tracking over the thumb. Ever watch Walter Ray throw spares? He tracks over the thumb all the time and has pretty high speed with a plastic ball.
--------------------
www.TamerBowling.com
Everything Bowling, coaching tips, ball reviews, General bowling discussions
USBC Certified Level I

bitbytebit · « **Reply #24 on:** June 22, 2010, 08:53:10 AM »

Very true about Walter Ray, but remember what happened in the Plastic Ball championship during Xtra Frame

. He broke a big ol chunk out of one of his plastic balls, and had to have special permission to get it replaced. I'm guessing someone like him probably has this issue more than is known, but of course he gets his for free and doesn't probably use them for more than a month ever.

Thanks,
Chris

quote:
quote:
All the cracking is in the same place on each ball. It indicates this is an impact point of the ball on the lane. Whan installing thumb slugs there are 2 very important things to consider.

1. The pilot hole needs more bevel than has been applied to your equipment. This will lessen the effect of impact on that point of the ball.

2. The super glue should be applied below the level of the coverstock as the cyano-acryllate component of the glue reacts with the coverstock to make it brittle, causing cracking on impact. The glue must be kept below the level of the coverstock! Since applying this rule I have had almost no cracking of the coverstock around thumb holes fitted with thumb slugs.

Hope this helps
--------------------
www.900global.com

If life is like a box of chocolates, what do you do if you don't like chocolate?

These are good hints/tips for the proshop. There's no reason any ball should constanly crack unless something very basic is being done incorrectly. You shouldn't need to worry about not tracking over the thumb. Ever watch Walter Ray throw spares? He tracks over the thumb all the time and has pretty high speed with a plastic ball.
--------------------
www.TamerBowling.com
Everything Bowling, coaching tips, ball reviews, General bowling discussions
USBC Certified Level I

TWOHAND834 · « **Reply #25 on:** June 22, 2010, 09:09:18 AM »

Just out of curiosity, why do you use a slug in a plastic ball? Main purpose of the slug is so that bowlers dont stick in their thumb holes when using reactive balls. Should not have that issue with a plastic ball. Possibly the hole is too small for the slug as well. How much force is the driller using to get the slug into the hole? That could be another issue that is causing the cracking.

Honestly, if you are throwing the ball 20 mph, any low end reactive is going to go pretty straight. Something like a Scout R or Sligshot or Tornado thrown that hard should have very minimal movement unless the rev rate is still high. But, if you are up the back of the ball and killing the revs, you can still get any reactive to go pretty straight. I new a couple Brunswick guys that used Power Grooves as their spare balls.
--------------------

If anyone out there is worried about the scores being too high, try duckpin!!

bitbytebit · « **Reply #26 on:** June 22, 2010, 10:01:06 AM »

I originally started using a slug in my plastic balls because it felt different than my strike balls. Partly it was because the plastic would get slick over time and slip off my thumb frequently. This was awhile ago though so of course it truly could just be the slug cracking it, not sure what it'd do currently. Although I am getting some chips around the finger holes as of the last few days now, and my last T-Zone spare ball did that some too. I do use inserts, so again maybe the glue, but there's probably no way to fix that and still use inserts. So could possibly solve the thumb hole issue but then I'd have the finger holes issue. Basically I'm just going to the Groove Urethane because I don't want to spend any more money to test and instead pick a more likely fix. I figure it'll be easier just to get it over with and choose the Groove Urethane, there's a lot of things I could try but all probably would cost more time and money (pro shop is 45 minutes away down 2 lane highways). Plus the groove urethane is similar looking to my break out, so they match and I think it's kind of funny/fun to have my spare ball and strike balls all look about the same

.

Thanks,
Chris

quote:
Just out of curiosity, why do you use a slug in a plastic ball? Main purpose of the slug is so that bowlers dont stick in their thumb holes when using reactive balls. Should not have that issue with a plastic ball. Possibly the hole is too small for the slug as well. How much force is the driller using to get the slug into the hole? That could be another issue that is causing the cracking.

Honestly, if you are throwing the ball 20 mph, any low end reactive is going to go pretty straight. Something like a Scout R or Sligshot or Tornado thrown that hard should have very minimal movement unless the rev rate is still high. But, if you are up the back of the ball and killing the revs, you can still get any reactive to go pretty straight. I new a couple Brunswick guys that used Power Grooves as their spare balls.
--------------------

If anyone out there is worried about the scores being too high, try duckpin!!

Author Topic: Spare ball that isn't plastic, urethane or rubber? (Read 5804 times)

bitbytebit

Spare ball that isn't plastic, urethane or rubber?

tywithay

Re: Spare ball that isn't plastic, urethane or rubber?

BWDavy

Re: Spare ball that isn't plastic, urethane or rubber?

r534me

Re: Spare ball that isn't plastic, urethane or rubber?

lenstanles703

Re: Spare ball that isn't plastic, urethane or rubber?

leftyinsnellville

Re: Spare ball that isn't plastic, urethane or rubber?

Kinalyx

Re: Spare ball that isn't plastic, urethane or rubber?

bitbytebit

Re: Spare ball that isn't plastic, urethane or rubber?

TamerBowling

Re: Spare ball that isn't plastic, urethane or rubber?

bitbytebit

Re: Spare ball that isn't plastic, urethane or rubber?

TWOHAND834

Re: Spare ball that isn't plastic, urethane or rubber?

bitbytebit

Re: Spare ball that isn't plastic, urethane or rubber?