Author Topic: What can i do with my virtual? (Read 3235 times)

jonah300 · « **on:** March 30, 2009, 08:13:00 AM »

So i drilled a hy road, a second dimension and a virtual...and the ball that i had the higher expectations its the one that is dissapointing me so far.
With the out of the bow finish i couldnt find a pattern to throw it...it was too strong to my 17 mph speed, too strong so i made a radical move and i went to 4000 abralon and black magic and right now the ball is so dead...it doesnt move at all.
I want it to use it on heavier patterns...should i go to 1000 abralon? polished or not polished?
thanks a lot
jonah
by the way the hy road anbd the second are the sweatest balls i ever thrown in a while

tomgriffin · « **Reply #1 on:** March 30, 2009, 04:40:00 PM »

I have this ball at 1500 polish (Storm Step 2) - works awesome. If you add polish, you usually have to add more surface to the ball first (drop the grit down). 4000 + black magic is going to reduce the friction of the ball too drastically unless you're bowling on carpet

The way I have my bag setup is as follows:

Rico Hyroad OOB 1500 polish (Storm Step 2)
Virtual Gravity 1500 polish (Storm Step 2)
2nd Dimension 2500 polish (Storm Step 3)
Rogue Cell OOB 4000

I find that I can play on most conditions, including sport shots. The only thing missing is a weak ball for extremely dry shots. I can use the 2D for these types of situations if I whip it down the lane, but it'd be better if I had something tamer.

riggs · « **Reply #2 on:** March 30, 2009, 08:00:11 PM »

This was a ball designed to excel on oil. Take it to 1,000 or 2,000 and use it when there is plenty of oil on the lane. Use your other stuff when there isn't.

rockerbowler18 · « **Reply #3 on:** March 30, 2009, 08:13:20 PM »

Doesn't sound like there's much you can do.

The ball is obviously a waste of money and time. What a piece of crap.

Here, give it to me. I'll throw it away for you.

In all seriousness, though. I would just go to 4000 and wait for oil or maybe 1000-2000 with a light polish. Try polishing it by hand with an old rag...gives it a little less polish, but still makes it less aggressive.
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EboHammer · « **Reply #4 on:** March 30, 2009, 09:52:09 PM »

quote:
I would not shine this ball. I would take it to 2000 or leave it at 4000. From what I have seen this ball rolls bad when you shine it!

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Storm Virtual Gravity
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I could not disagree more. This ball works extemely well with 1000 abralon with polish over the top. The problem most people have when polishing this and many other balls is that they use to high of an abralon pad before polishing. Like someone already said that leaves no friction for the ball to even try to hook.

jonah300 · « **Reply #5 on:** March 31, 2009, 07:22:10 AM »

I will try 2000 abralon with no polished at first...i let you guys know how it worked

benjonesonbass · « **Reply #6 on:** April 03, 2009, 01:09:11 AM »

i just bought a virtual. i love it as is...box finish and all. the reason i bought it was i wanted a ball that was sooooo strong i couldn't use it all the time. i have 2 middle of the road balls that i can use all the time and a much weaker ball for when the lanes start to dry out drastically. if you try and use a ball as strong as the virtual as a 'throw it all the time' type ball, unless you have lots of oil, you are defeating the purpose and fighting your equipment. use it when it's called for and you will probablly like the reaction you get out of it alot more.
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Ben Jones

mjames1229 · « **Reply #7 on:** April 06, 2009, 09:55:22 PM »

I also have a question about the VG. A friend of mine bought one, "didn't like it" and sold it to me with no more than a dozen games on it. I took it to a driller and told him that I wanted a smooth arc, but not too early of a roll. I also asked him for 2000 Abralon. I expected my thumb to be near the MB, but it was at least 2 inches away.

I tried it first in a league that is very wet/dry, thinking I could play the wet all night, but the ball hooked at my ankles then fishtailed down the lane. I was a little concerned, but I knew I could tweak the cover. I tried to bowl a full game with it, but with no readable reaction, I put it in my bag.

The next night in a different house (with more oil) I tried it again and actually got a worse reaction... basically a line drive to center. I put the ball in the Lustre King for three minutes, and forced myself to get through a set (hoping when some oil soaked in it might help). The VG did get down the lane further, but didn't have a lot of power.

Logic tells me to take it back to the pro shop - possibly with a local PBA exempt that is coming back to town - and ask that he do a better job of laying it out. But I fear that a second plug job and third drilling - even with only about 15 games on it - may compromise the reaction even more.

Any suggestions?
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Edited on 4/6/2009 9:56 PM

SVstar34 · « **Reply #8 on:** April 06, 2009, 10:31:42 PM »

Do not, I repeat Do Not put any ball in a Lustre King machine... That is one of the worst things to do, it is wax not polish... mJames, you would have been better off going to 1000 abralon and adding polish(not wax), and as for Jonah300 I suggest 2000 abralon and Storm step 2 or possibly even step 3 if its still too much
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Rogue Cell (coming soon)
Bounty(4.5 x 4.75 Fresh 1000 Abralon)
Twisted Fury(5 x 4 500 Abralon + Reacta Shine)
Raw Hammer Pain(Leverage 1000 Abralon)
Blue Vibe(5 x 5 4000 Abralon + Reacta Shine)

Chubbs · « **Reply #9 on:** April 07, 2009, 08:49:39 AM »

I've emailed Storm about making surface adjustments on their stuff, and they recommend either 500 or 1000 abralon underneath their Reacta-Shine/Step 2. Any higher grit than that under those polishes and you won't see the reaction you want.
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Big Jake · « **Reply #10 on:** April 07, 2009, 10:14:05 AM »

quote:
...and they recommend either 500 or 1000 abralon underneath their Reacta-Shine/Step 2.

What is Reacta-Shine/Step 2? I have found "Pro Finish Compound Step 2" but not Reacta-Shine/Step 2...thanks

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StormTech · « **Reply #11 on:** April 07, 2009, 11:20:44 AM »

SVstar34 is correct. A Lustre King is not the preferred method to get more length out of a ball. The finish and wax applied by a Lustre King wears off extremely fast. In turn, this creates huge length on the first few shots, medium length on the next few, and virtually no length on the final few. Essentially, the 'fish-tailing' you referred to was likely a result of the ball encountering fresh wax with some of the oil rings and no wax with the other. Unless your release is throw-bot perfect, the ball is definitely going to have an erratic read on the lane until the wax is burned off. Polish is preferred because it will hold up longer shot to shot creating less over/under reaction as the polish is burned off the ball.

Big Jake: Storm offers two polishes that are recommended for all 1500-grit polished finishing. The first is called Storm Step 2 Finishing Compound or Reacta-Shine. Both of these polishes have a resurfacing medium built into the polish that will take a ball from 500 grit abralon to a 1500 grit polished finish. The primary difference is Step 2 has more resurfacing medium and will resurface and finish the ball faster. However, it is harder to apply by hand and should only be done by a ball spinner or machine. For hand application and touch-up polishing (recommended every 20 - 60 games depending on use) Reacta-Shine is preferred because it is easily applied by hand.

jonah300: Most likely, you've removed the surface deviations that create friction down-lane when you did the 4000 and black magic finish. In order to restore the same out of box finish type of reaction, you will need to thoroughly use 500 grit abralon to remove the polish and create large surface deviations on the ball. Then, skip 1000 grit and go directly to 2000 grit. This will smooth the surface deviations created by 500 without destroying them. This should give the ball the ideal amount of skid on oil with decent midlane read and plenty of backend. You may want to apply 4000 over the 2000 if the ball is hooking too much again, but only lightly apply 4000. You want length, not a dead ball reaction.

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Big Jake · « **Reply #12 on:** April 07, 2009, 11:38:51 AM »

Thanks StormTech

quote:
Big Jake: Storm offers two polishes that are recommended for all 1500-grit polished finishing. The first is called Storm Step 2 Finishing Compound or Reacta-Shine. Both of these polishes have a resurfacing medium built into the polish that will take a ball from 500 grit abralon to a 1500 grit polished finish. The primary difference is Step 2 has more resurfacing medium and will resurface and finish the ball faster. However, it is harder to apply by hand and should only be done by a ball spinner or machine. For hand application and touch-up polishing (recommended every 20 - 60 games depending on use) Reacta-Shine is preferred because it is easily applied by hand.

The products description (Reacta-Shine) is very misleading at least to me since it basically says it a cleaner and polisher.

So I can take my new Gravity-Shift and put it on my spinner and just apply the
(Reacta-Shine) and it will clean and polish and also leave the ball at 1500 grit (or any ball)...is this correct? thanks
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mjames1229 · « **Reply #13 on:** April 07, 2009, 01:59:00 PM »

StormTech - thanks for the advice. I will stop in a pro shop and try Abralon 1000 and then a polish applied by a spinner.

However, what if I were to plug and redrill? At what point am I compromising the effectiveness of the cover and weightblock?
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StormTech · « **Reply #14 on:** April 07, 2009, 02:39:08 PM »

quote:

However, what if I were to plug and redrill? At what point am I compromising the effectiveness of the cover and weightblock?
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Plugging and re-drilling a bowling ball is like taking a gamble on the roulette table. If the new drill is relatively close to the old drill, the odds are decent (similar to betting on black in this example) however, if the new layout is significantly (2+ inches or more) from the original drill, it is like betting on a specific block or even an individual number (poor odds).

The primary reason is because a ball that has been plugged will have different low, intermediate, and high RG values than the original undrilled ball. The reason this is an issue is because we no longer know where the true low rg (x-axis a.k.a. locator pin) is located. Also, the mass bias of the ball may shift as well. In symmetrical weightblocks the problem can be amplified depending on the size, depth and width of the original thumb hole and/or finger holes, balance hole.

A good example is a ball drilled with finger inserts near the locator pin. If the finger holes have been drilled deep to remove finger weight, the top of the weightblock has essentially been removed. Given the density of ball plugging material currently available on the market, the shape of weight block has now been changed in such a way that a ball with a low RG of 2.48 may now have a low rg value of 2.58. In this example, virtually any layout is going to be weaker because the over-all RG value of the ball has been permanently raised. In order to compensate for this, you will likely need to drill the ball with a low RG layout (long pin buffer 3+ inch) and a strong mass bias position. To further help increase the hook potential and counter the new higher rg of the ball, a strong balance-hole position in the positive thumb quadrant is almost necessary.

Not all plug and re-drills are bad though. It is possible that the low Rg of the ball has been raised very little, but the high Rg value (mass bias, y-axis) has been significantly raised. In this example, a plug and re-drill with a stronger mass bias position may yield a much higher differential than originally possible which in turn means more flare leading to more hook potential.

The coverstock, regardless of plug and re-drill, isn't really a concern so long as you aren't tracking over plug spots and the Pro Shop is skilled enough to resurface the ball without creating flat spots. In order to restore the out of box finish a Pro Shop can simply resurface the ball using 360 grit abralon, followed by 500 grit abralon skipping to the final finish. For the Virtual Gravity, a Pro Shop would use 360, 500, and skip to 4000 to recreate the out of box finish.

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Big Jake: Yes: You can use Reacta-Shine on any ball to achieve a 1500 grit polish. However, it is possible that too much pressure can result in over-shining the ball while simultaneously removing the surface deviations necessary to create friction in the back part of the lanes. If too much pressure is used for too long, the resurfacing medium can actually begin to "break-apart" creating a higher shine/gloss than intended. A good rule of thumb is use Reacta-Shine sparingly and with just enough pressure to create some heat.

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Author Topic: What can i do with my virtual? (Read 3235 times)

jonah300

What can i do with my virtual?

tomgriffin

Re: What can i do with my virtual?

riggs

Re: What can i do with my virtual?

rockerbowler18

Re: What can i do with my virtual?

EboHammer

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jonah300

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benjonesonbass

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mjames1229

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SVstar34

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Chubbs

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Big Jake

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StormTech

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Big Jake

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mjames1229

Re: What can i do with my virtual?

StormTech

Re: What can i do with my virtual?