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oval vs round thumb slug and huge gap it creates

Posted: April 5th, 2019, 5:31 am
by krava
has anyone here changed from a round thumb slug to an oval? I am used to a round one that when I pull my thumb out I can feel all the sides of it gripping my thumb and almost a pop and sometimes a pop comes out.

With this new oval slug drilling, My thumb comes out so much better and it is like completely free. The longest part of my thumb fits the hole barely but there are huge gaps in the front and the back. I currently have 1 piece of white tape in the front and 2 pieces of red in the back. I can throw it without the red. It feels like I need probably 10 or so pieces of red tape to get it to fit in the back and probably 2 white in the front to fit snug.

has anyone experimented with turbo cushion tape? they have a 1/4 and 1/8" thick tape that you can put into the ball. I can get a thick nail file in between my thumb and the back of the hole with the white tape and the 2 pieces of red in it still. Sometimes now I feel myself gripping the ball just a little the way it sits. It hasn't fell of my hand once yet though. The hole to me feels like I am putting my thumb into a black hole. There are gaps on all sides but they can't make the oval smaller because then the large part will rub.

I have thrown the ball the way it is for 6 games and I haven't released the ball once wrong yet. I even had to slow the ball down to 14's on the monitor on the last game tonight so it wouldn't blow past the breakpoint and not once did the ball fall off the thumb. I had bad timing once, also I left a solid 8 once and then 10/12 X's.

I am not sure how to know that the ball fits good on the hand, I still think the hole it too large but maybe it is me being used to my thumb being squeezed the whole time I am in it.

Re: oval vs round thumb slug and huge gap it creates

Posted: April 5th, 2019, 12:31 pm
by nwohbowler
You have gaps in the front and back from the oval but you didn't from the round? That seems strange to me given that an oval is typically wider side to side than it is front to back. I just recently went to custom drilled oval thumbholes and it's the exact opposite for me. I went from having gaps all around my thumb to it being in contact all the way around. Is your thumb larger toward the end than it is at the base?

Re: oval vs round thumb slug and huge gap it creates

Posted: April 5th, 2019, 2:33 pm
by 44boyd
Mo recommends just to put tape in the front so your span doesn’t change, considering you push the back of your thumb against the ball.

Re: oval vs round thumb slug and huge gap it creates

Posted: April 5th, 2019, 3:05 pm
by JohnP
Magic Carpet, link below. If you call Ron he'll probably send you one for free, that's how he hooks us. Take a look at Ron's hints while you're on the site, lots of good information. -- JohnP

http://www.bowl4fun.com/store/storefront.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

After thinking about it, the only way you'd have the gaps you've described is if the oval is installed rotated 90* from where it should be. Even then you shouldn't be able to get your thumb out smoothly. -- JohnP

Re: oval vs round thumb slug and huge gap it creates

Posted: April 5th, 2019, 3:59 pm
by EricHartwell
Sounds to me like the the starting hole was too big front to back to start with, then the oval cuts were made to fit the width of your thumb.

Did you just have your thumb hole made into an oval without plugging and starting from scratch?

Re: oval vs round thumb slug and huge gap it creates

Posted: April 5th, 2019, 8:56 pm
by JohnP
I thought he had an oval sleeve installed. -- JohnP

Re: oval vs round thumb slug and huge gap it creates

Posted: April 5th, 2019, 9:12 pm
by EricHartwell
JohnP wrote:I thought he had an oval sleeve installed. -- JohnP
I didn't notice where he said "oval sleeve" thanks for the clarification.
I tried them once and hated it. It did not fit well, it was vinyl not easily shaped to fit, no taper and not so sure it was even installed on the correct angle.

My ovals are custom drilled and carved/sanded to fit the exact contours of my thumb.

Re: oval vs round thumb slug and huge gap it creates

Posted: April 6th, 2019, 3:36 pm
by JohnP
has anyone here changed from a round thumb slug to an oval?
That's what he actually said. I interpreted it to mean oval sleeve, was probably wrong. -- JohnP

Re: oval vs round thumb slug and huge gap it creates

Posted: April 6th, 2019, 10:19 pm
by krava
This is a brand new ball, brand new drill. The storm super sonic is what I went for, for a symmetric ball for when the lanes break down a little after a heavy oil asymmetric starts jumping on the backend. I took the IRTC release fit specs and gave it to the ball driller at wicks proshop. The width of the widest part of my thumb at that angle fits perfect, you can't take any off. Front to back is the only large parts.

Pictures are worth 1000 words

https://ibb.co/jZ9TVMV" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (picture of the new ball drilled oval fingers etc, side view)

https://ibb.co/pfKcX2y" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; picture of both types of thumb slugs side by side
https://ibb.co/KrBsBF2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; quarter on the holes showing about the same size suppose to be
(note that the quarter is still too large to fit into any of the bowling balls, the oval one, the quarter lays down a little in the hole while the round one can't get anywhere in the hole)

https://ibb.co/vvv7V3N" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Round hole (thumb has to be forced down into it)
https://ibb.co/gF9hSzk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Oval hole (see the huge gap)

https://ibb.co/X4G8xQP" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Oval hole that has 1 white tape in front. 2 red in the back, and it fits this thick nail file behind my thumb with a gap still in it since the nail file can't bend back.

I asked if he could make the oval smaller and he said if he did then the width wouldn't fit. I guess that is why Joe Marquez asked me "how do you feel about tape" and that was before I even got this ball drilled up.

Re: oval vs round thumb slug and huge gap it creates

Posted: April 9th, 2019, 2:49 am
by seventen7ten
You might try adding tape or the Magic Carpet where you feel the gap.

Also it could be that your thumb shape is not as oval as you think. Take measurements of your thumb in several spots and at various angles with a micrometer. Everyone's thumb is just a little different.

If your thumb has some abnormality, you might have the PSO make a mold of your thumb and have custom-made thumb inserts put into one of your balls to compare the fit against the oval and round holes.

Re: oval vs round thumb slug and huge gap it creates

Posted: April 12th, 2019, 3:11 am
by krava
magic carpet is thick I emailed ron and he said it is about the size of 5 pieces of white tape. I have read reviews on it and someone said it tore the back of this thumb.

Another option was Turbo Sure cushion. I paid $3 for one and put it on a piece of white tape and then didn't know if I needed to take that plastic backing off or not. I read that someone tore most of it trying to get it off and also that sweat got on it and messed it up in a week.

So I have to take a crash course in dealing with tape.

First of all you need to layer the white tape. That means stick on just slightly below the other. A easy way that I found on watching youtube videos is to take 1 piece of white, stick it on the other piece and if you want 3 do it again. Then peal off the first layer of tape from the plastic and stick the whole thing into the ball at once.

you can put black or red tape on top of white tape if you don't like that grippy sandpaper feel of it.

If you want to get out of the ball later then place the white tape 1/4" down in the whole like your suppose to. If you want to get out of the ball faster then go down another 1/4" and put it lower.

Don't put red or black tape in the front of the ball. I put white in and then red in. i used it several times with success, maybe threw it 15-20 times. Then I told myself before I did this, if I ever feel the ball fly off my thumb then no more doing that. I had it happen once tonight and then put it in the back and didn't miss anything after that.

Personally on my ball that has the loosest fit, I have 3 whites in the back, 1 black on top of them. I have 1 white 1/2" down in the front. most other balls either have 1 white in the back and 1 black or 2 whites and 1 black in the back.

I don't think I like the black at all, I think I perfer the red to the black.. The black feels more like plastic or something. It is thicker then the red. The red feels more like the slug of the ball.

Re: oval vs round thumb slug and huge gap it creates

Posted: April 12th, 2019, 8:12 pm
by JohnP
If you "knuckle" your thumb, yes the Magic Carpet will tear it up. So, stop knuckling. Otherwise I've had no problems with thumb damage unless it's way too tight. -- JohnP

Re: oval vs round thumb slug and huge gap it creates

Posted: April 12th, 2019, 9:10 pm
by sportcoupe
I switched to interchangeable thumb because I had major problems getting a good thumb fit due to an injury. I did this because it made it easier for me to experiment and have a true A - B comparison testing different slugs.
In my case, It took me about a year and a half to finally hit on the best feeling thumb slug for me.

It's going to be trial and error. The first thumb you get made will not be perfect... but it can be adjusted with tape. Put tape in it and get it feeling good. Bring the ball back to Wicks. Show them your tape job. Have them make another thumb slug for you based on the tape. Try it out. Tape as necessary and repeat.

Now... keep doing this until you get your perfect thumb slug. Have Wicks make a mold of this perfect slug. All of your future thumb slugs will be made to this mold... and I promise you, they will be right every time.

FYI: It took having Wicks make me about a dozen different thumb slugs... adjusting pitch, adjusting bevel, etc. Now that I have the mold, all of my thumbs are EXACTLY alike. I do still use tape for minor adjustments... but that's because of my preference not because I have an ill fitting thumb slug.

Re: oval vs round thumb slug and huge gap it creates

Posted: April 13th, 2019, 12:35 am
by krava
I don't mind the tape, I just have to figure it out. I didn't drop the ball at all yesterday and could aim pretty well. I did get stuck some how 1 frame of a game but my thumb was bone dry at that point for some reason. wicks hooked me up really well for having to redo all 11 balls over. I bought them all there though. they did a very good job. I would go there before anywhere. IRTC might be good too but that place is hard to get to.

Re: oval vs round thumb slug and huge gap it creates

Posted: April 17th, 2019, 2:03 pm
by VLe
krava wrote:magic carpet is thick I emailed ron and he said it is about the size of 5 pieces of white tape. I have read reviews on it and someone said it tore the back of this thumb.
I have been using these carpet's for many years now. No way it is compared to 5 white tapes in reality. It is quite soft so the best advantage is that the thumb swelling is not as big of a problem with it. I always put the red marker up (little faster release) and it will not do harm to the thumb. Much more gently to the skin compared to other tapes I've tried. Of course if there is some huge problems with long span or hole size for example, anything could happen. It should also be placed deep enough from the ball surface (according to the instructions that comes with the tape).