Author Topic: Is it really the cold? (Read 1262 times)

Locke · « **on:** January 14, 2011, 07:53:56 AM »

I live in the frozen tundra of Minnesota. It does not get much colder than here in the continental US yet here I am storing my equipment in the garage all winter. I have done that for the last 15 years and have never had a ball crack. I hear people talk about their ball got cold and cracked. I have never seen a ball crack in the cold up here. I have seen it happen on shop racks. I have seen it happen in closets and basements. This had me thinking last night at leagues so I started asking around. I could not find a single person that would connect a cracked ball to the cold. So that leaves me wondering if people's balls are cracking from the cold or if its something else?

Always be sincere, even when you don't mean it

milorafferty · « **Reply #1 on:** January 14, 2011, 04:33:44 PM »

I suspect it might be more from a quick change in temp or uneven pressure on one point of the ball.

Once I started putting my stuff on foam padding, I havn't had a ball crack.

The Ballreviews Ignore User feature, Learn it, Love it, Live it!

charlest · « **Reply #2 on:** January 14, 2011, 08:17:51 PM »

It's never the cold nor the heat nor the humidity. It's the rate of change when subjected to changes in heat or cold or humidity. Because the coverstock, filler and core are made of AT LEAST 3 different substances, it's the rate at which each material changes (expands or compresses) when subjected to increases or decreases in those 3 factors that determines when how and if any of the materials changes at a greater or lesser rate with respect to theadjoining layer of material.

"None are so blind as those who will not see."
BowlingChat.net

notsohotshot · « **Reply #3 on:** January 14, 2011, 08:48:00 PM »

Are you sure about that? I too leave my stuff outside in my truck(Avalanche) and then rush in to shoe up and bowl. I have never had any ball crack in all the yrs I have bowled from being in my truck but have had many crack sitting in boxes,on racks,on shelves,on the floor,in the house and in the garage. Some have gone thru lots of temp. and humidity changes with no problems and some crack from seemingly no reason. I have had undrilled balls crack in transit from my distributor and have had then crack sitting undrilled on a display shelve. It makes no sense.

Locke · « **Reply #4 on:** January 15, 2011, 12:13:16 AM »

I have noticed a lot of the time a certain pouring of a ball will crack more often. What I mean by that is that there will be several posts about a cracked ball for one specific ball and they seem to group. I almost feel like it may be a chemistry thing. Too much or too little time in the curer or something?

notsohotshot wrote on 1/14/2011 9:48 PM:Are you sure about that? I too leave my stuff outside in my truck(Avalanche) and then rush in to shoe up and bowl. I have never had any ball crack in all the yrs I have bowled from being in my truck but have had many crack sitting in boxes,on racks,on shelves,on the floor,in the house and in the garage. Some have gone thru lots of temp. and humidity changes with no problems and some crack from seemingly no reason. I have had undrilled balls crack in transit from my distributor and have had then crack sitting undrilled on a display shelve. It makes no sense.

Always be sincere, even when you don't mean it

« **Reply #5 on:** January 15, 2011, 06:41:57 AM »

The answer is there is no definite answer that applies to every ball. Every ball has varying coverstocks, core shapes, core densities, and varying mixtures within the filler material. There are lots of reasons that can cause a ball to crack.

A few years ago one particular batch of balls had too much air in the filler material mixture. As the filler material started to crumble and slowly leak out of the thumb and finger holes there was less to support the coverstock, and eventually that manufacturer had balls cracking at a much higher percentage than normal.

This is just one example. There could be a miriad of reasons as to why one ball cracks while another one doesn't.

Lane Carter, Strike Zone Pro Shops - Salt Lake City, Utah
Brunswick Pro Shop Staff

www.brunswickbowling.com

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer and not of Brunswick Corporation.

charlest · « **Reply #6 on:** January 15, 2011, 07:39:30 AM »

If you're directing this reply to me, I was only directing my reply to Locke, regarding the cold or the heat. There are lots of reasons why balls can crack, as notclay has noted, and only a very few are directly traceable to a specific cause. We can only estimate the probable causes from the way balls have been treated, manufactured AND drilled.

I think that from all the times people have sent cracked balls back to the manufacturer to be inspected and analyzed as to the specific cause, the manufacturer has rarely if ever explained to the bowler why the cracking has happened.

notsohotshot wrote on 1/14/2011 9:48 PM:Are you sure about that? I too leave my stuff outside in my truck(Avalanche) and then rush in to shoe up and bowl. I have never had any ball crack in all the yrs I have bowled from being in my truck but have had many crack sitting in boxes,on racks,on shelves,on the floor,in the house and in the garage. Some have gone thru lots of temp. and humidity changes with no problems and some crack from seemingly no reason. I have had undrilled balls crack in transit from my distributor and have had then crack sitting undrilled on a display shelve. It makes no sense.

"None are so blind as those who will not see."
BowlingChat.net

jls · « **Reply #7 on:** January 15, 2011, 08:48:45 AM »

Just luck of the draw I guess....The other day a customer brought in a Mission 2.0 that had cracked... The ball was in his 2 ball bag and was left in his truck, in the COLD...

And the Mission 2.0 cracked, yet the other ball in the bag, a Mission was fine...

go figure..

But I agree with Charlest... To fast a change in temp. has been know to cause balls to crack...

BTW, ball drillers... Be careful drilling Ebonite products... They now mush like Brunswick have a new policy about the pin being 1" from any drilled holes...

jls

Brickguy221 · « **Reply #8 on:** January 15, 2011, 09:43:22 AM »

jls wrote on 1/15/2011 9:48 AM:
Just luck of the draw I guess....The other day a customer brought in a Mission 2.0 that had cracked... The ball was in his 2 ball bag and was left in his truck, in the COLD...

And the Mission 2.0 cracked, yet the other ball in the bag, a Mission was fine...

go figure..

But I agree with Charlest... To fast a change in temp. has been know to cause balls to crack...

BTW, ball drillers... Be careful drilling Ebonite products... They now mush like Brunswick have a new policy about the pin being 1" from any drilled holes...

jls

I agree that too fast of a temperature change might be responsible for cracking a ball. Now with that being said, when people deoil their balls by soaking them in a bucket of hot water or putting them in the dishwasher even with the dry heat turned off, wouldn't that be too fast of a temperature change???....especially when put in the dish washer?

"Whenever I feel the urge to exercise I lie down until the feeling passes away."

Brick

Pinbuster · « **Reply #9 on:** January 15, 2011, 03:09:21 PM »

Whether temperature changes had something to do with it or not but I've seen balls that sat on rack in a proshop for nearly a year suddenly crack all the way around having experienced very little temperature variation.

I do believe all the different materials have lead to balls cracking but I wonder if some kind of fault in the pour or core materials leads to it in many cases.

cappy718 · « **Reply #10 on:** January 16, 2011, 07:09:25 AM »

I live in DE so it gets cold as well...

When I have to work till 6pm and then make a sprint to league by 630pm, I have to keep my stuff in my truck for the most part. I feel weird rolling my bag into the office with me...lol! Now the alley is minutes away so I get there by like 610pm. I'll take my balls and set 1 or 2 (of my 3 or 4 I bring) on the ball return immediately to let them warm up. Some of my balls tend to warm up quicker than others so I throw those first. I dont know if it's the chemical properties that make them warm up a little quicker or what. But that's what I do. I dont leave them in the truck tho. If I do for a day or so...I bring them in and dont touch them till they warm up. I havent had any problems since I moved up here this fall and started doing this.

~Scott

"Celebrate we will, cuz life is short but sweet for certain"

laddog54 · « **Reply #11 on:** January 18, 2011, 08:13:09 AM »

I live in Houston and had a Roto Grip RSX crack while on the rack in the garage. I was out in the yard and heard it pop. It was a nice spring day about 65 degrees or so. Why it cracked I don't know but my other RSX that's serial # is 2 digits later is still sitting on the rack 2 years later and hasn't cracked. Why one cracked and the other didn't is a mystery to me.

ROTO GRIP - King of Them All

al_g · « **Reply #12 on:** January 18, 2011, 09:17:28 AM »

I agree with you Locke. I don't think the cold alone is a reason for balls to crack. I store my equipment in my garage too. Depending on the outside temp the garage is usually between 20-40 degrees in the winter and I've never had one crack. I used to have another ball rack in my basement which stays between 68-72 degrees and I've had two balls crack on that rack.

I've had one ball crack due to the cold but I think it also shows an uneven temperature change or maybe some unseen flaw can cause a ball to crack. I had a ball sitting in the back floor of my car. The back window to the car wasn't rolled up all the way and when it snowed about a 1/2 inch of snow was on top of the ball. That side of the ball cracked. Unfortunately it was a Yellow Dot bleeder

I once left a double ball bag in my car for a week when it was sub zero the entire time. Both balls had 1/8" of frost on them when I opened the bag. Placed both balls over a vent in the house to warm up and they were fine after that.

Author Topic: Is it really the cold? (Read 1262 times)

Locke

Is it really the cold?

milorafferty

Re: Is it really the cold?

charlest

Re: Is it really the cold?

notsohotshot

Re: Is it really the cold?

Locke

Re: Is it really the cold?

Re: Is it really the cold?

charlest

Re: Is it really the cold?

jls

Re: Is it really the cold?

Brickguy221

Re: Is it really the cold?

Pinbuster

Re: Is it really the cold?

cappy718

Re: Is it really the cold?

laddog54

Re: Is it really the cold?

al_g

Re: Is it really the cold?