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Author Topic: How many drill their own?  (Read 1496 times)

Boos

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How many drill their own?
« on: December 05, 2009, 11:13:44 PM »
How many people no longer go to pro shops and drill their own stuff? Why did You start drilling your oen stuff? Do you buy online for cleaners, etc?

 

the pooh

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Re: How many drill their own?
« Reply #1 on: December 06, 2009, 07:47:16 AM »
I have laid out my own equipment for about forty years, and let the proshop put the holes where I told them. I bought my own press, scale, router, bits, pro sect,etc in 2002 and have drilled all my stuff and friends since.Owned a pro shop in a bowling center for 2 1/2 years but they raised the rent til it wasn't profitable to stay, so I moved everything to a spare bedroom in my house. I buy everything online,and it's as cheap or cheaper than when I bought from a wholesale distributor. Sad, but true. I drll now only for myself and a few diehard customers that realize they can't get my standard of drilling anywhere else! Your game goes to new level when you are able to layout and tweak your own grip. Plus, I have tried just about every possible way to lay out a ball and this gives you a tremendous advantage. It's nice being able to do all my own repairs and surface adjustments, too!
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novawagonmaster

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Re: How many drill their own?
« Reply #2 on: December 06, 2009, 09:32:06 AM »
Same story as above, but I never opened my own shop. Drill for family and a couple close friends. It is not my intent to take business away from the local pro shops. I just knew I could get a better "feel" by drilling my own. As said above, the ability to make constant changes to tweak your grip and surface adjustments is a huge advantage in moving forward with your game. It has become a hobby that I really enjoy and has added a whole new level on interest in the game.
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Juggernaut

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Re: How many drill their own?
« Reply #3 on: December 06, 2009, 09:48:49 AM »
I own a drillpress, but need a newer jig for it. I used to work in the shop here and drilled for myself and customers.

 When I get the newer jig, I'll go back to drilling my own stuff again.
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notsohotshot

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Re: How many drill their own?
« Reply #4 on: December 06, 2009, 09:59:25 AM »
I drill my own stuff and several other peoples stuff. I used to own a pro shop in a center until the owner went belly up. Took all of my stuff to another bldg for awhile and had quite a few loyal customers follow me. Rent went up,so I moved it all into the garage. I still drill for quite a few people that have followed me and some friends. I had lots of left over stock and can still buy from my normal dist.I can sell much cheaper than the local pro shops because of lower overhead and do. The local guys want to rape and polage everybody with high prices and a lot of the people they hire to drill don't know that much.

No Revs00300

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Re: How many drill their own?
« Reply #5 on: December 06, 2009, 10:05:45 AM »
I also drill my stuff. If you know how to do it you can save a but load of money. I still go to my guy if I have questions or I want a more of an experimental layout. The first ball I ever drilled for myself was a Virtual Gravity, and I shot three with it with in a month. It's kinda fun like stated above to play around and change whatever you want.

qstick777

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Re: How many drill their own?
« Reply #6 on: December 06, 2009, 10:33:05 PM »
I've been drilling for myself for almost 3 years.

Decided to look into it after my pro shop started giving me a hard time about constantly bringing in used equipment to plug and drill.

Figured since he couldn't duplicate a drill that I could do just as good.

Got lucky and won an ebay auction for an old setup - complete with everything except router and scale.  Found those in other ebay auctions.

Can get everything from ebay or online.

Takes a lot of time and practice to get it right, but worth it for me.

notsohotshot

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Re: How many drill their own?
« Reply #7 on: December 06, 2009, 10:40:30 PM »
As stated earlier I owned a pro shop and I kept my Haus,scales,plugging equipment,drill press,measuring equipment,old clients measurements,balls,bags ,shoes and accessories. I drill my own stuff,repair my own and other peoples,change pitches. I also make custom Exactocator thumb slugs etc.

stormslinger

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Re: How many drill their own?
« Reply #8 on: December 06, 2009, 11:31:56 PM »
I have drilled my own since about 98'.  Learned how to buy reading a ton of info(mainly Denny Torgerson) and got a job in a pro shop and eventually was the sole person in the shop.  Since stopping working there the manager is nice enough to let me use the shop when I want.  Sometimes it a hassle for me to go out to that pro shop and I have on occasionally laid them out myself and had a friend of mine in town drill them.  I started doing it because i had a hard time getting what i wanted on a ball and out of a ball.  I decided to educate myself and take the next step and learn to drill. I buy all my equipment online and it is usually 2-3 balls per year some slugs and lots of grips (because I got through alot of them).

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Atochabsh

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Re: How many drill their own?
« Reply #9 on: December 07, 2009, 12:39:57 AM »
quote:
The local guys want to rape and polage everybody with high prices


They are probably just trying to eek out a living.  They have more expenses and need to pay for those.

leftyinsnellville

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Re: How many drill their own?
« Reply #10 on: December 07, 2009, 04:04:14 AM »
I drill my own stuff and buy any supplies I need online.  Once I became a die-hard ball ho, I figured I'd actually save money buy my own equipment.