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Ball maintenance - Ultrasonic or other cleaning?

Posted: May 13th, 2019, 11:32 am
by Ensio
Hi,

Case: I have two bowling balls that are 6 month old and usage of them 2-6 hours per week. I have been wiping the balls after game, practise. Now I can see that the motion is sluggish and the core of the balls arent tacky, more like soapy. I have done couple of resurfaces by hand, there is some pin action after that but the movement is not sharp. I have one ball that I havent used frequently and the pin action is different and tacky feel of the core is noticeable

Pin action/ball motion: Im not sure if the lanes are too dry or should I make some deep cleaning of my balls.

Whats the best method to clean a ball?

I have seen on youtube water method, but is it better than ultrasonic?

Reason for asking that I have local shop here in South that have a Ultrasonic Jayhawk cleaner.

Re: Ball maintenance - Ultrasonic or other cleaning?

Posted: May 13th, 2019, 12:35 pm
by 44boyd
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Have your PSO clean and resurface the ball. If it’s not as crisp on the backend, a higher grit like 4000 or polish might be what you’re looking for. Surface should be touched up every 3-6 games depending on what you’re using (lower grits like 2000 to 500 fade quicker than higher grits).

Also you have to learn to read ball motion to tell what’s happening, you might just need to make a move. But seeing if your ball deflects at the pin deck or rolls out early will let you know.

Re: Ball maintenance - Ultrasonic or other cleaning?

Posted: May 13th, 2019, 4:32 pm
by snick
I use the Innovative de-oiling machine in the shop. Works well to safely remove oil from the coverstock.

Re: Ball maintenance - Ultrasonic or other cleaning?

Posted: May 13th, 2019, 9:23 pm
by EricHartwell
Even if you wipe the ball off before every shot, oil still gets absorbed into it.

If you can rest your hand on the ball for 1 minute remove your hand and see an oily hand print the cover is saturated and needs to be de-oiled.

I use the NuBall ball oven. Works great ... https://scbp.biz/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Re: Ball maintenance - Ultrasonic or other cleaning?

Posted: May 14th, 2019, 5:22 pm
by Mongo
EricHartwell wrote:Even if you wipe the ball off before every shot, oil still gets absorbed into it.

If you can rest your hand on the ball for 1 minute remove your hand and see an oily hand print the cover is saturated and needs to be de-oiled.

I use the NuBall ball oven. Works great ... https://scbp.biz/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Ditto.

How often do you bake them? I'm usually going every 30-40 games or so.

Re: Ball maintenance - Ultrasonic or other cleaning?

Posted: May 15th, 2019, 1:01 am
by EricHartwell
Mongo wrote:How often do you bake them? I'm usually going every 30-40 games or so.
EricHartwell wrote:If you can rest your hand on the ball for 1 minute remove your hand and see an oily hand print the cover is saturated and needs to be de-oiled.
This past season I did not need to de-oil. My oil ball was new so it never lost reaction playing 2 leagues.
Just had to refresh the surface grit a few times. I will de-oil before I start next season.
With the alley's new trend of light oiling I might even wait. My shiny equipment normally thrown on broken down patterns I won't mess with until the performance declines or I see that hand print.

Re: Ball maintenance - Ultrasonic or other cleaning?

Posted: May 20th, 2019, 7:26 am
by Ensio
Allright, I did place my hand on the ball, it went totaly oily, went to the local pro shop and did a jayhawk ultrasonic treatment.

Now the ball motion is back! :lol:

Thanks!