spare ball surface?

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ballspoint
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spare ball surface?

Post by ballspoint »

I use a old Hammer urathane as a spare ball, as i dont throw it perfectly straight, it has a small curve near the end, what surface would be best? I normaly have it 4k grit, but that delays the small curve, what about 1k grit to let the ball read the lane early and have the curve early, the ball would then get in to its roll to wards its target. I use it for long an short oil and just make small adjustments for that.
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Re: spare ball surface?

Post by pjape »

ballspoint wrote:I use a old Hammer urathane as a spare ball, as i dont throw it perfectly straight, it has a small curve near the end, what surface would be best? I normaly have it 4k grit, but that delays the small curve, what about 1k grit to let the ball read the lane early and have the curve early, the ball would then get in to its roll to wards its target. I use it for long an short oil and just make small adjustments for that.
I think you'll get burned if you go 1K. Why don't you polish the crap out of it at 4K? MegaMev stated on another thread that he'll polish it so hard, it gets very hot. I've considered taking the spare ball of my anchor home and polishing it for him, as he's wiffed a lot of 10 pins by the ball making a very small hook on the back end, even though it's plastic.
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Re: spare ball surface?

Post by MegaMav »

I burn the cover on spare balls because they are plastic.
You can get them hot enough to smooth over small imperfections with heat from friction.
I've never tried it on urethane, I doubt it will have the same effect.
Even plastic balls eventually need resurfacing.
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Re: spare ball surface?

Post by pjape »

MegaMav wrote:I burn the cover on spare balls because they are plastic.
You can get them hot enough to smooth over small imperfections with heat from friction.
I've never tried it on urethane, I doubt it will have the same effect.
Even plastic balls eventually need resurfacing.
Oops, I missed the word urethane. Ignore my post!
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bowl1820
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Re: spare ball surface?

Post by bowl1820 »

Just something to note, there is one school of thought that having your spare ball (Plastic or Urethane) highly polished it could tend to "squirt". That is over skid as it cross's the larger amounts of oil in the middle of the lane and that you should have a little surface on the ball to help even the reaction out.

Here is a excerpt from a old Bill Spigner article, that mentions this:
http://www.billspigner.com/pdf/1001_Bill_BD.pdf

"Also with the amount of oil in the middle of the lane, a hard, shiny, plastic ball can have a tendency to over skid and actually hydroplane out. If you miss a little right for righthanders (or left for lefthanders), the ball has a little turn and will push to the right even more. Today, many players will actually take the polish off the plastic ball so it has a chance to roll, which helps control the direction of the ball in the oil."


So something to think about.
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Re: spare ball surface?

Post by MegaMav »

"hydroplane out"
Are we making up terms?

A linear trajectory remains linear unless a force is acted upon it.
The whole point of throwing a plastic ball is so that it doesnt hook, why would we add surface to start making it hook and chop spares.
In all of my years throwing bowling balls I've never seen a legal ball rotate counter clockwise and hook to the right.
It completely defies physics unless we talk about severe topography problems where the lane slopes toward the gutter.
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Re: spare ball surface?

Post by bowl1820 »

MegaMav wrote:"hydroplane out"
Are we making up terms?

A linear trajectory remains linear unless a force is acted upon it.
The whole point of throwing a plastic ball is so that it doesnt hook, why would we add surface to start making it hook and chop spares.
I believe it's based on the same reasoning used for adding surface to a ball when you see a over/under reaction. It smooths out the reaction as the ball pass's over any wet/dry areas as it goes cross lane.
In all of my years throwing bowling balls I've never seen a legal ball rotate counter clockwise and hook to the right.
Nothing there that said anything about a ball "hooking right", it said if the ball had some turn it could "push to the right".

Push and Hook are not the same thing, a example of that kind of push I believe is kind of seen when players tell of sometimes seeing their strike ball make a "S" or snake like movement down lane (which I've seen myself).

(from the RH view)
As their ball starts to hook left, it hits a oil patch and drifts (pushs) back right some even though it has a counter clockwise turn on it.

Note I'm not advocating the practice one way or the other, just present the view.

I've tried both ways, polished vs with a light sheen on the ball. After trying both ways, I don't put a high shine on my ball anymore, But it's not dull either.

IMO it's one of those things that depends on the bowler and what works for them.
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Re: spare ball surface?

Post by MegaMav »

A legal ball on a "to spec lane" cannot move left then right.
It is an optical illusion of a ball hooking and not continuing on the same path by a volume of oil downlane (which allegedly doesnt exist). It hooks then it hooks less. Balls dont "back up", I've heard that so many times when a ball hits carrydown and hooks less. I've never seen a ball move in 2 opposite directions legally.

Illegal ball is an entirely different matter.
What you are describing is something similar to this:

[youtube][/youtube]
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Re: spare ball surface?

Post by bowl1820 »

MegaMav wrote: What you are describing is something similar to this:
I disagree, that's not the same thing I'm talking about. But I'm not going debate the point, I don't believe there would be any upside too it.

I'll just say the Bill Spigner article was just to show the O.P. the idea of sanding your spare ball has been thought of before and your not limited to polishing it to a high gloss.

Most of the instances where this has been suggested say use a 2000 grit surface. I myself think what surface you use would be more dependent on the bowlers personal style, speed etc. and would need some trial and error on the part of the player to find the optimum surface.

So if he or anyone else wants to sand their spare ball to some extent and it helps them then they should do it.

Oh on my plastic spare ball, I've been sanding with a P800-P1000 (so about 600 US grit) then adding a small coat of Brunswick Royal compound. So it has kind of a sheen/matte look surface.
"REMEMBER, it isn't how much the ball hooks, it's where."
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Re: spare ball surface?

Post by ballspoint »

thanks for input, i happened to ask as my ball driller redrilled the finger holes then resurfaced it to 1k grit, so being on the low side i thought to ask the question, i will try it and see what happens.
On a side note why my spare is urathane, so no more cracks around the thumb.
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