Aslan
04-13-2019, 09:55 PM
So, as some might know...I recently had a 6-month struggle with my ball spinner...I thought I'd summarize the struggle here as an FYI. Never know who might have a similar struggle.
So, in about 2016...one of our former, regular contributors closed his pro shop in Cali and gave me one of his bowling ball spinners. It is a Donkee 3/4hp 2-speed ball spinner. I got a LOT of use out of it from 2016-2017. I would try to keep the surface up every few nights of bowling. Since I was bowling 3-4 nights a week...I'd use it on each ball about once a week. It really helped to keep the bowling balls at a consistent surface. I didn't need to experiment much with different surfaces, but it was valuable regardless and saved me the $70-$140/week I'd have paid a pro shop to do the same thing.
Well, the first week of fall season 2018...there was a spark and some smoke...and the ball spinner went ca-putt. So, I had a choice:
1) Get a new motor and repair the ball spinner.
2) Buy a new ball spinner.
Option #2 was tempting since I'm not much of a mechanic...but the newer, affordable ball spinners are not as durable nor as useful as the Donkee 3/4hp 2-speed ball spinner. Most have only one speed and are primarily made of plastic. To get a spinner equal to or better than the Donkee spinner I have, would cost $225-$1000 for a professional model...not counting accessories.
First step was removing the motor. That wasn't easy because the nuts had become fused to a couple of the bolts.
Step 2 was getting a Dremel so I could cut the fused nuts off the bolts and remove the motor from the base.
Step 3 was to purchase a replacement motor. This wasn't easy because I couldn't find an exactly similar model motor to the one that was in the unit. I had to call the company (a company that no longer makes ball spinners) and try to figure out what motor to purchase. They put me in contact with Grainger where they had purchased their motors.
Step 4 was mounting the new motor. This also wasn't easy. The new motor didn't line up exactly with the base, so I needed to use the Dremel to widen the boles on the base. Also, the bolts that came with the motor were too short to mount to the base. I needed to get the company (Donkee/Sierra Products) to send me longer bolts. I looked everywhere for bolts the size I needed...but no store sold bolts with that small a diameter and that long of a length.
Once the new bolts arrived, I ended up breaking one of them because they wouldn't fit just right into the lock nuts. Sierra Products sent me another bolt and a couple nuts.
Once the motor was in place, I had no idea how to wire it. The old motor had this crazy wiring harness on it with wires going all over the place. The new motor didn't have wiring instructions...not anything I really understood. I had to have multiple conversations with a really great mechanic at Sierra Products...but one that English was not his first language.
Once I got the motor wired...I realized the cord to the unit had been damaged. Probably just from moving the heavy thing around. So, I had to buy some wire and fix the power cord.
So, the results??
It's working better than ever! The new motor seems to be a much higher quality than the previous one. I bit the bullet and bought the more expensive brand and I think it was the better choice.
So, in about 2016...one of our former, regular contributors closed his pro shop in Cali and gave me one of his bowling ball spinners. It is a Donkee 3/4hp 2-speed ball spinner. I got a LOT of use out of it from 2016-2017. I would try to keep the surface up every few nights of bowling. Since I was bowling 3-4 nights a week...I'd use it on each ball about once a week. It really helped to keep the bowling balls at a consistent surface. I didn't need to experiment much with different surfaces, but it was valuable regardless and saved me the $70-$140/week I'd have paid a pro shop to do the same thing.
Well, the first week of fall season 2018...there was a spark and some smoke...and the ball spinner went ca-putt. So, I had a choice:
1) Get a new motor and repair the ball spinner.
2) Buy a new ball spinner.
Option #2 was tempting since I'm not much of a mechanic...but the newer, affordable ball spinners are not as durable nor as useful as the Donkee 3/4hp 2-speed ball spinner. Most have only one speed and are primarily made of plastic. To get a spinner equal to or better than the Donkee spinner I have, would cost $225-$1000 for a professional model...not counting accessories.
First step was removing the motor. That wasn't easy because the nuts had become fused to a couple of the bolts.
Step 2 was getting a Dremel so I could cut the fused nuts off the bolts and remove the motor from the base.
Step 3 was to purchase a replacement motor. This wasn't easy because I couldn't find an exactly similar model motor to the one that was in the unit. I had to call the company (a company that no longer makes ball spinners) and try to figure out what motor to purchase. They put me in contact with Grainger where they had purchased their motors.
Step 4 was mounting the new motor. This also wasn't easy. The new motor didn't line up exactly with the base, so I needed to use the Dremel to widen the boles on the base. Also, the bolts that came with the motor were too short to mount to the base. I needed to get the company (Donkee/Sierra Products) to send me longer bolts. I looked everywhere for bolts the size I needed...but no store sold bolts with that small a diameter and that long of a length.
Once the new bolts arrived, I ended up breaking one of them because they wouldn't fit just right into the lock nuts. Sierra Products sent me another bolt and a couple nuts.
Once the motor was in place, I had no idea how to wire it. The old motor had this crazy wiring harness on it with wires going all over the place. The new motor didn't have wiring instructions...not anything I really understood. I had to have multiple conversations with a really great mechanic at Sierra Products...but one that English was not his first language.
Once I got the motor wired...I realized the cord to the unit had been damaged. Probably just from moving the heavy thing around. So, I had to buy some wire and fix the power cord.
So, the results??
It's working better than ever! The new motor seems to be a much higher quality than the previous one. I bit the bullet and bought the more expensive brand and I think it was the better choice.