Dead Ball, got out the Heat Lamp...

[GoodGravy]

Noticed that my main ball was not hooking anymore, and guess what...my ball was saturated with lane Oil.

After reading up a bunch, it looks like the recommend temperature to try to heat up your ball was not to exceed 130. I saw all the horror stories about wrecked balls in the stove/oven, so I went with the heat lamp, rubbermade tote and lined it with foil.

The temp at the surface of the light never exceeded 128, and the surface of the ball ranged from 107-111, I rotated the ball about every 10 minutes and it seemed to work O.K.

The ball was actually dripping oil after about the first 5 minutes, so I'm thinking this was long overdue. A buddy of mine said that he uses a bucket of hot water and dunks his ball for about 1/2 an hour at a time and this works for him.

They are not kidding when they say that higher level balls suck up Oil...So if your ball is not acting the way it used to, you may need to get the Oil out!!!

[Washout]

After every 70 or so games with my ball I will dump it in a bucket with some sort of degreaser dish soap, Dawn works for me. When I pull it out I will scrub the crap outa it, let it dry and repeat the process. The water is brown with dirt and oil. Any time I have done this I have noticed a huge improvement in ball performance.

the first time I did it I probably had 100+ games on it, and I didn't use ball cleaner after each session for those 100 games. My ball lost all its hook, 1 week after cleaning it I bowled the best series of my life, with my balls original hook restored.

[GoodGravy]

I have a buddy of mine that is a fairly good bowler and he does the 'hot water' dunk. I tried that on another ball and will see which one works better. I will say that dunking in hot water is a lot easier than the constant watching that I have to do with the direct heat source. I just filled up a 5 gal bucket with hot tap water, droped the ball in, came back in about 25 minutes and a bunch of oil was floating on the surface....pulled the ball out, rinsed it off (dumped the water down the toliet, wife would have killed me if I dumped it in the shower!) and am letting it air dry for the next 24 hours.

I'll report back with the results after league this Friday!

[billf]

We are remodelling one of our bathrooms. I filled the tub, used Dawn and soaked five balls at a time. Was very time efficient and was OK seeing as the tub was dirty from the reno.

[GoodGravy]

We are remodelling one of our bathrooms. I filled the tub, used Dawn and soaked five balls at a time. Was very time efficient and was OK seeing as the tub was dirty from the reno.

I hope you got a picture of that!!!

Well, I would have to say that both the heat lamp and hot water soak worked great. In fact a little to good actally. The entire story goes like this: My V.G. Nano had some lane damage a couple of weeks ago. The pro shop was very helpful and fixed it right up for free. However, I forgot that we were discussing that it seemed to be loosing its hook and carry. I guess that I was not paying much attention, but the owner mentioned something about 'preping' the surface for me and I guess I must have aggreed. Anyhow, freshly repaired ball, de-oiled and sanded up all ended up in a rather interesting time during league last night.

I can now say that I have personally expeienced what it is like to have a ball burn up and roll out. The good news is that I took it to my regular pro shop today and had it polished back up to OOB, and it rolls GREAT. I'm just going to forget what happened in league....

[sprocket]

If you saw the way I get oil out of a ball you would think I am either a genius or just plain nuts. I'll give you all a clue. It involves a hair dryer but the ball is spinning. Very fast. There is an appliance in many people's homes that can work as a ball spinner. It depends on what kind/type it is. Try to figure it out.

[billf]

Blender? Not the blade but the bottom half with the motor.

[Slabo]

If you saw the way I get oil out of a ball you would think I am either a genius or just plain nuts. I'll give you all a clue. It involves a hair dryer but the ball is spinning. Very fast. There is an appliance in many people's homes that can work as a ball spinner. It depends on what kind/type it is. Try to figure it out.


Washing Machine ball spinner !!!

[sprocket]

Washing Machine ball spinner !!!

You got it! It has to be a top loader, obviously. On some models there is a cone on top of the agitator that holds fabric softener. That is usually easily removed simply by pulling on it. This might leave a larger hole that the ball can sit on. Now you need to jimmy the lid switch so the washer will run on the spin cycle with the lid open. In the case of my Speed Queen (best top loader you can buy, by the way) it requires a bungee cord from a lever to the bottom of the machine in the back. My last machine just needed a screwdriver jammed into the switch. No I didn't ruin the last one by spinning balls on it. A full wet load of laundry weighs more than 15 lbs.

Now, my Speed Queen has a pretty small hole to set the ball on. It WILL sometimes fall off, but the ball doesn't take off like a rocket or anything. It just gets stuck on the top and I can shut off the machine and remove it. To keep it balanced, I put the PSA either straight up or straight down. The PSA is usually close to the thumb hole, so thumb hole up or thumb hole down. The ball will jiggle a bit until it balances itself. Once up to full RPM the ball is surprising stable.

Then I take a hairdryer and just keep it moving. When the ball is shiny with oil, I spray degreaser on it and let centrifugal force throw it off. Then I use a cloth to wipe it off. Then repeat. Then do the other side.

Try it at your own risk. I am not responsible for your results. Obviously a machine turning at 1000 RPM has the potential for physical danger.

[billf]

Blender. WTF was I thinking lol

[ArtVandelay]

You got it! It has to be a top loader, obviously. On some models there is a cone on top of the agitator that holds fabric softener. That is usually easily removed simply by pulling on it. This might leave a larger hole that the ball can sit on. Now you need to jimmy the lid switch so the washer will run on the spin cycle with the lid open. In the case of my Speed Queen (best top loader you can buy, by the way) it requires a bungee cord from a lever to the bottom of the machine in the back. My last machine just needed a screwdriver jammed into the switch. No I didn't ruin the last one by spinning balls on it. A full wet load of laundry weighs more than 15 lbs.

Now, my Speed Queen has a pretty small hole to set the ball on. It WILL sometimes fall off, but the ball doesn't take off like a rocket or anything. It just gets stuck on the top and I can shut off the machine and remove it. To keep it balanced, I put the PSA either straight up or straight down. The PSA is usually close to the thumb hole, so thumb hole up or thumb hole down. The ball will jiggle a bit until it balances itself. Once up to full RPM the ball is surprising stable.

Then I take a hairdryer and just keep it moving. When the ball is shiny with oil, I spray degreaser on it and let centrifugal force throw it off. Then I use a cloth to wipe it off. Then repeat. Then do the other side.

Try it at your own risk. I am not responsible for your results. Obviously a machine turning at 1000 RPM has the potential for physical danger.

I don't see this ending well for me...

I just put it in the drier on high for about 30 minutes. Works like a charm!

[aussiedave]

We are remodelling one of our bathrooms. I filled the tub, used Dawn and soaked five balls at a time. Was very time efficient and was OK seeing as the tub was dirty from the reno.
Does it matter if the holes get filled with water? I'm thinking that the ball might expand from water absorption?
ad.

[Perrin]

I run mine through a light wash cycle of the dishwasher. comes out great.

[TCJ]

How does this work with finger and thumb inserts in the bowling ball? Can you just dunk the whole thing in, grips and all?

[J Anderson]

How does this work with finger and thumb inserts in the bowling ball? Can you just dunk the whole thing in, grips and all?

The glue used on the grips is not affected by water, and even if it were, the grips could easily be re-glued if they came out. I think that heat might break the bond , but the temperature at which that happens is so high you'd have much worse problems than loose finger grips.

[GoodGravy]

I am quickly finding that the hot water soak with a little bit of de-greaser soap works great. I get out 5 gal bucket, fill it with hot water (about 110-115 according to my temp guage), drop the ball in there, let it soak for about 20-30 mins, pull it out, rinse it off, get fresh hot water and dunk it again for another few minutes (20 or so), pull it out, rinse it off and let it dry overnight.

Quick, easy, cheap and I don't have to worry about the ball cracking under direct heat.