The pin sits in a vertical axis through the core, it marks the "top" of it.
If the pin was exactly above the core and if this was located in the ball's center, then we would have a ball without a CG deviation from the pin - it would be even-weighted. But this is not the case - production irregularities and purpose shift the core off of that "perfect centerline. That's where the CG comes from and needs to be marked, because it is a weight distribution shift. If it is vital to the balls recation or not, is a different thing, it is, at least, important for legal weights and tells you what you can make out of a ball with the setup.
Besides, the pin is important for the drilling. Remember that a core wants to spin and stabilize around a certain preferred spin axis (PSA) once it rotates freely. These are the main axis' of the core, and the pin nominates the main or vertical axis. In fact, the difference the weight distribution between this main axis and the 90° secondary axis to it defines the core's differential, and way you "post" the core through the relative pin postion to your initial rotational axis during the release (your PAP - surprise!
) through the drilling, you define the amount of flare the ball shows through the core's migration towards its PSA.
Sounds complicated, but that's in technical nutshell why the pin is important, as well as your PAP and what (and how much) makes a ball flare. And, as a side effect, you can see where the CG comes from.
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DizzyFugu - Reporting from Germany
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