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Author Topic: What causes a bowling ball to crack?  (Read 51975 times)

ChungKingCanSuckIt

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What causes a bowling ball to crack?
« on: August 02, 2019, 09:59:00 PM »
I bought a Seismic Equalizer when they were brand new. Got it drilled shortly after receiving it and used it less than 5 times total.. meaning 5 visits to a bowling alley or less and an average of 3 games per visit.. so less than 15 games.

Anyway, I stored it in the box it came in and stuck it in my closet. I hadn't used it in 6 months or a year. I didn't have a bowling bag for it, because I had got out of bowling a long time ago and no longer had any equipment.

To my surprise the ball was cracked!

I've got nothing heavy placed on top of it. I had not moved it.

I've never seen this before. I've had Columbia, MoRich, and a few others over the years, but none of them have ever cracked.. even after dropping one out a 2 story apartment building onto concrete/blacktop it didn't crack or even chip!

I usually like buying the oddball brands because usually nobody at the bowling alley has one and they're all like what's that? But I won't buy a Seismic ever again that's for sure.

I miss my MoRich Total Annihilation. That ball was fantastic!
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shakezilla9

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Re: What causes a bowling ball to crack?
« Reply #16 on: August 08, 2019, 02:20:54 PM »
Quote from: Mbosco on August 06, 2019, 04:54:56 AM
There is a lot of pseudo-science (read: crap that's so ridiculous you would expect a child to come up with it) on this particular subject.  For an example, see #2 above. 

You'd have people believe I said rotating a ball was the most important factor in preventing a ball from cracking. But you'll notice that my first sentence in point #1 made clear that it pertained to things you can do beyond properly storing a ball in a climate controlled environment.

I thought this kind of hostility was a thing of the past on this site. I know I was a part of said hostility back in the day, but I've tried to moderate my tone after coming back to the sport and this site after a decade off; I implore you to do the same.
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J_w73

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Re: What causes a bowling ball to crack?
« Reply #17 on: August 30, 2019, 02:57:14 PM »
I have no idea if this is true or not, but I have heard to not leave your ball sitting on carpet.  Either the stain guards or fire retardants that are in the carpets do something to the cover and make it more prone to crack.  Again, I have no idea if this is true or flim flam, but it seems plausible.
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jumba98

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Re: What causes a bowling ball to crack?
« Reply #18 on: August 30, 2019, 10:54:42 PM »
Luke said it already but improper beveling for sure, dull drill bits can also cause issues that are not immediately an issue, but causes some stress on cover, or so I've been told
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charlest

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Re: What causes a bowling ball to crack?
« Reply #19 on: August 31, 2019, 10:25:41 AM »
Quote from: J_w73 on August 30, 2019, 02:57:14 PM
I have no idea if this is true or not, but I have heard to not leave your ball sitting on carpet.  Either the stain guards or fire retardants that are in the carpets do something to the cover and make it more prone to crack.  Again, I have no idea if this is true or flim flam, but it seems plausible.

Flim, flam. I routinely leave a bunch (6-10) of balls on a carpet (over a cement floor)  in the basement for months to years. Not one has ever cracked.

I also leave several on ball cups on wooden shelves. The carpet sits in front of these wooden shelves (made with 2x4s, 2x6s and MDF.) Not one of them has cracked either. They're in the same basement.

On the wooden shelves, many balls, drilled and undrilled, are stored in their original plastic bags and their original boxes. I do not rotate a single one of them.

Some have been there for over 20 years.

Of about 200 balls that have passed through my hands, while I lived in this house and stored my balls in the basement, 3 have cracked; a Track Sensor, a Storm Ride. I forget the 3rd.
« Last Edit: August 31, 2019, 10:35:48 AM by charlest »
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"None are so blind as those who will not see."

Juggernaut

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Re: What causes a bowling ball to crack?
« Reply #20 on: September 01, 2019, 04:14:24 PM »
Virtually anything.

 Hit it with a hammer, drop it from a plane, or glue inserts in it and throw it at pins.

 Cold weather, hot weather, gravity, cosmic radiation, anti-matter, syzygy, inner core expansion, cover shrinkage, bad luck, black cats, the strong force, static electricity, dark matter, seismic irregularities, quantum mechanics, harmonious sub-sonic vibrations of the nucleus of a neutron star, or fate.

 Its all the same. The damn thing cracked, and you gotta get another one.
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Banned702

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Re: What causes a bowling ball to crack?
« Reply #21 on: January 20, 2023, 10:47:31 AM »
I Lost so many balls this summer. They were dropping like flies.My Conclusion of the main causes Are.

1. Temperature changes. Going from 85° to 70° almost daily is not healthy. Only the strong will survive. (I'm in Vegas and I don't do $500 Power Bills.)

2. Sharp Edges. Bevel all your holes. Sharp Holes. Ball will crack like Egg.
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