Lane Damage Question! [Archive]

BigEd

03-20-2008, 10:15 AM

Ok guys, here's a very unique one for ya.

I was bowling in an older wood lane house last night. The house always has a challenging shot as I am right at 200 and a newer synthetic house I carry a 216. Anyway, I pick up a 2 pin and wait until my next shot. I pick up the ball and there is a piece of metal sticking out below the thumb! It's about the size of a thimble and in so deep, I can't get it out! Of course, it's in my black widow pearl which is my money ball! The secretary of our league is an ex pro from the women's tour and she also owns the place with her parents. So I take it to her and she said they will fix it. To me, it appears as though it's in the track. I told her that even if they do fix it, the ball will never be perfectly round in that spot again and thus will not roll properly over that spot! She said that wasn't true! However, that house and proshop have always been notorious for bad information! Do I have any options or am I stuck?

P.S. I don't get my equipment worked on over there anyway!

bluerrpilot

03-20-2008, 10:19 AM

It can be fixed very easily and it will not effect the performance of the ball. The flat spot would be very minor if any at all.

Rowdy

03-20-2008, 10:20 AM

You have two options:

One:Let them fix it at their cost.

Two:Take the ball somewhere else and you pay for it.

They may or may not pay you back if you use Option Two.

The ball may or may not be fine either way. You'll have to roll it to find out. But it should be okay. Really.

BubbaRay

03-20-2008, 10:37 AM

If it is not in the track area it won't have any affect on the roll or reaction of the ball. Let them fix it and if you are not satisfied tell them. But being an ex Woman Pro and her parents own the placxe, do they own the proshop also?

grayfin68

03-20-2008, 11:31 AM

Depends on the policy of the bowling center. They may have a legal disclaimer but they "should" at least offer to fix it for you. If you don't like the quality of their work and don't trust them, I don't know what to tell you. I doubt they'd pay for the work if you took it somewhere else but you could always ask.

As for whether it would affect the ball or not, you'd have to get it fixed and try it to know for sure.

Nor Cal Bowler

03-20-2008, 03:18 PM

if you dont trust them then you should take it to a place you do trust.

Stampy79

03-20-2008, 07:43 PM

Do they have a HAAS Resurfacing machine ? If they do, no worries. If they dont, your right, it wont be round

grayfin68

03-20-2008, 08:30 PM

Do they have a HAAS Resurfacing machine ? If they do, no worries. If they dont, your right, it wont be round

I would hope that in this day and age, any respectable pro shop would have one of those by now; especially being that they have an in-house pro.

bluerrpilot

03-20-2008, 09:20 PM

I would hope that in this day and age, any respectable pro shop would have one of those by now; especially being that they have an in-house pro.

Unfortunatly, at around $3500 it would take over 140 resurfacing jobs at $25ea just to recoupe the initial investment. And when a shop averages 1 to 2 complete resurfacings a month. Waiting 5 years for that investment to start paying for itself is not very good business sense.

If done properly, resurfacing by hand after plugging or repairing does not make the ball out of tolerance for roundness. In fact it changes the roundness very little....Again...IF done properly.

TenPinSniper

03-21-2008, 12:20 AM

Heck I know a Proshop that has is Huas Machine in storage and just uses a spinner for everything. He does not seem to be losing business.

The main thing with a spinner is even pressure, keep hand moving, plenty of water, same number of passes on each side... heck even try to keep time close on each side and having a good sanding pad. IMO, Correct me if I'm wrong.

Rowdy

03-21-2008, 03:14 AM

I get all my gear done on a Haus machine. Never had a problem with any of the balls. No Haus,no business of mine.

grayfin68

03-21-2008, 09:03 AM

Unfortunatly, at around $3500 it would take over 140 resurfacing jobs at $25ea just to recoupe the initial investment. And when a shop averages 1 to 2 complete resurfacings a month. Waiting 5 years for that investment to start paying for itself is not very good business sense.

If done properly, resurfacing by hand after plugging or repairing does not make the ball out of tolerance for roundness. In fact it changes the roundness very little....Again...IF done properly.

Damn, that shop must suck if he only gets that much business. I bowl on a Navy base and we only have 12 lanes and there seems to always be a ball in the Haus machine. They're not just used for resurfacing. They are also used for changing the surface.

bluerrpilot

03-21-2008, 11:05 AM

Damn, that shop must suck if he only gets that much business. I bowl on a Navy base and we only have 12 lanes and there seems to always be a ball in the Haus machine. They're not just used for resurfacing. They are also used for changing the surface.

Uh........The shop gets plenty of business. The shop does not get the need for complete resurfacing jobs. Equipment doesn't get torn up enough to warrant complete resurfacing. Cover changes take less than two minutes with a spinner and cost $3. I just dont see spending $3500 on a Haus machine when I can put that money into stock and other things that sell.

I get all my gear done on a Haus machine. Never had a problem with any of the balls. No Haus,no business of mine.

I have never had any of my stuff on a Haus machine and I have never had any problems either.

grayfin68

03-21-2008, 01:51 PM

Uh........The shop gets plenty of business. The shop does not get the need for complete resurfacing jobs. Equipment doesn't get torn up enough to warrant complete resurfacing. Cover changes take less than two minutes with a spinner and cost $3. I just dont see spending $3500 on a Haus machine when I can put that money into stock and other things that sell.

Uh..... our house doesn't have the machine to fix problems like torn up balls. In fact, our house has very few, if any, issues with that. Sounds to me like your ball driller is too cheap to buy the damn machine. If they have plenty of business, it shouldn't be an issue. Plus, if they don't have the machine, you can see why people aren't giving the guy the business of resurfacing. The potential customers are probably going elsewhere to get it done. I know if I had a choice, I'd go to the guy with the Haus machine over the guy who doesn't have one any day. Another advantage is the pro sets the machine up and lets it run for 20 minutes, and boom, it's done. You can usually just wait for it to be done because he can work on other stuff while your ball is being taken care of.

Young300

03-21-2008, 02:18 PM

I would hope that in this day and age, any respectable pro shop would have one of those by now; especially being that they have an in-house pro.

Not all proshops do have them. I go to a prohsop that doesn't have one, but the pro there works very well with people and knows a lot of stuff about the bowling ball technology and he is a Level 3 Ritger coach.

grayfin68

03-21-2008, 08:08 PM

Not all proshops do have them. I go to a prohsop that doesn't have one, but the pro there works very well with people and knows a lot of stuff about the bowling ball technology and he is a Level 3 Ritger coach.

I'm not saying anything about your pro's knowledge or lack thereof. I just think they're doing their customers a disservice by not having that option available. I've seen some plug jobs that look really nice that the machine didn't get used on and you can always see that the spot is kind of flat. However, when they Haus machine is used, it looks much better.

Plus, it frees more time up for the pro to work on more stuff. I know our pro loves it.

Thepainscoming

03-21-2008, 08:58 PM

Plus, it frees more time up for the pro to work on more stuff. I know our pro loves it. U can't just leave the ball on the HAUS machine.

Rowdy

03-21-2008, 11:52 PM

U can't just leave the ball on the HAUS machine.

Since when? The longer it stays on a Haus,the better the job.

grayfin68

03-22-2008, 12:50 AM

U can't just leave the ball on the HAUS machine.

That's exactly what you do. You put the right sanding discs on it and turn it on, it applies water as it spins the ball around and sands more evenly than any human could. You check on it now and then, but you don't need to stand over it and watch it the whole time.

Rowdy

03-22-2008, 01:12 AM

That's exactly what you do. You put the right sanding discs on it and turn it on, it applies water as it spins the ball around and sands more evenly than any human could. You check on it now and then, but you don't need to stand over it and watch it the whole time.

You'll have to excuse Pain. He's still waiting to be allowed to use the spinner in the pro shop. They're not letting him anywhere near a high dollar piece of machinery like the Haus. He's having trouble grasping the concept of why the finish from a Haus is far superior to anything you can do with a spinner.

Rowdy

03-22-2008, 01:15 AM

bluerrpilot

03-22-2008, 01:52 AM

But think how much better your gear would roll if it had been finished on a Haus. The difference between the finishes on a spinner and a Haus are night and day. That machine is worth every penny.

You guys should see the methods the guys on tour use to change surface. I bet those guys would do much better if they used a more superior way.

What did shops do before the Haus in the mid 90's ??

Stampy79

03-22-2008, 11:33 AM

Created out of round bowling balls

thegoldenchild

03-22-2008, 01:11 PM

BigEd

03-22-2008, 01:55 PM

UPDATE:

They basically did very little work to fix the ball. It seems as though they just filed it down. I took it to my main guy and he resurfaced the ball. There is definitely a noticeable flat spot. However, I will throw the ball tonight and see what happens. In the mean time, I bought another BWP and I'll have it in a few days. Also, I am now totally 100% committed to HAMMER! Guess I'm a true hammerhead after all!

grayfin68

03-22-2008, 03:32 PM

I received an email several weeks back advertising the Storm Surface Factory. Has anyone seen one in action? I wonder how well it works. http://www.stormbowling.com/products/surface_factory/surface.asp

That is very cool and would be perfect for our center. We have a great Pro who works on our stuff but he only works part time (2-3) nights a week so this thing could be awesome.

Thepainscoming

03-22-2008, 04:21 PM

You'll have to excuse Pain. He's still waiting to be allowed to use the spinner in the pro shop. They're not letting him anywhere near a high dollar piece of machinery like the Haus. He's having trouble grasping the concept of why the finish from a Haus is far superior to anything you can do with a spinner. R u serious? The only machine i've ever seen that spins it also, is the new Ebonite resurfachine machine and the storm resurfaching machine. I don't have a pro-shop in the alley i bowl in. I know why the haus is superior its not that hard to grasp and im not a retard. Maybe the reason why i can't use the spinner is because im not 18 and i only bowl in the place once every month. Also they don't let anyone use the spinner besides the employee.

Rowdy

03-22-2008, 10:53 PM

I received an email several weeks back advertising the Storm Surface Factory. Has anyone seen one in action? I wonder how well it works. http://www.stormbowling.com/products/surface_factory/surface.asp

My God,that thing is awesome! I can't wait for someone to put one in around here. It'll provide countless days of amusement!

idlehourlegend

03-22-2008, 11:06 PM

I received an email several weeks back advertising the Storm Surface Factory. Has anyone seen one in action? I wonder how well it works. http://www.stormbowling.com/products/surface_factory/surface.asp

that thing is sick, a lot better than having to go into the pro shop constantly, even if it is made by Storm:p , I wonder what scent the machine is.............:D

Thepainscoming

03-22-2008, 11:15 PM

that thing is sick, a lot better than having to go into the pro shop constantly, even if it is made by Storm:p , I wonder what scent the machine is.............:D
I would love that for the same reason. And a resurface with the pro-shop i have to elave it overnight and its a 45-60 min ride up there every time so it gets annoying

Rowdy

03-23-2008, 02:02 AM

Hope that thing has a warning label on it somewhere: "WARNING!!!! Do NOT use this machine during a USBC league or tournament."

Under that sticker should be the obvious one: "This machine will not provide the ball finish that you are hoping for. What did you expect for five bucks?"

Who do you bitch to when that thing ruins your ball? You know it's gonna happen.

pba6285

03-23-2008, 07:52 PM

I believe the price for the storm machine is about 12k wont be seeinng one of them in my shop.

I rolled my first 300 with an old red hammer that sat in a closet for about a year and developed a flat spot , You could hear that ball thumpinng down the lane. That was the first balll I had that flared. Even though it had a flat spot we saw no real difference in the reactiion from that bal to one drilled the same way for a friend of mine.

The resurfacing machines are great for houses that still have wood lanes or real old synthetics that will track a ball out. I use mine once in a while but not as much as I did when my neighboring houses were wood lanes.

grayfin68

03-23-2008, 07:54 PM

I believe the price for the storm machine is about 12k wont be seeinng one of them in my shop.

I rolled my first 3000 with an old red hammer that sat in a closet for about a year and developed a flat spot , You could hear that ball thumpinng down the lane. That was the first balll I had that flared. Even though it had a flat spot we saw no real difference in the reactiion from that bal to one drilled the same way for a friend of mine.

The resurfacing machines are great for houses that still have wood lanes or real old synthetics that will track a ball out. I use mine once in a while but not as much as I did when my neighboring houses were wood lanes.

That's a helluva score!:eek: