CTD Tru Cut Pads the P5000D!

[bowl1820]

Okay I got something new to try, I bought some of the Creating The Difference (CTD) Tru Cut pads. The P2000,P3000 & P5000D set. their about $5 a piece so about the same as Abralon.

That P5000D is supposed to give the ball a polished finish without using polish, I'm going to see!

https://i.postimg.cc/gkXkL98c/CTD-Tru-Cut-Pads-cr.jpg

Heres a CTD video showing the P5000D pad being used to get a polished finish, I'm going to make a video of me trying these out and see what really happens. so stay tuned!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_V_zVRVpnU

[RobLV1]

I've been using the pads for the past six months or so. The 5000 is incredible. The ball looks like it has a light polish, but I no longer even have any polish. The 5000 lets me get the ball down the lane, even with my 10 mph ball speed!

[boatman37]

I bought a set of them about 6-8 months ago and just ordered a few new ones and a BFP pad. Came in last Tuesday. Unfortunately I didn't get a new 5000 pad. I do have the older 4000/5000 pad from them though. Not sure I would ever need the new 5000 with my speed and lower revs though. My slickest ones are my Rhino at 3000 polished and my BWG at 3000 matte.

[JasonNJ]

So are these better than regular Abralon pads? Do they last longer or what makes them better? Thanks.

[bowl1820]

So are these better than regular Abralon pads? Do they last longer or what makes them better? Thanks.

Ultimately it would depend on the user and their opinion, But according to Ron Hickland & CTD:

1- They are supposed to last 3 to 4 times longer than the competition (That would be Abralons). I seen a post by Ron where he said they would do 10-15 balls.

2- Other pads cut 800 to 1500 grit higher (smoother) than listed, I take that to mean they are truer to grit listed on them.

3- They can be used dry or wet. That don't mean squat, Abralons, Wet/Dry paper can be wet or dry.

4- Dry - the dust falls right out of the pad.
Wet - the water washes away the dust by allowing it to go through the pad.

I take this to mean they don't load up like others, the cuttings pass thru or come out more easily. What I've seen so far, yeah they seem to clean up better.

5- They increase hook by more than 5 boards compared to the same grit of a competition pad. I can't say anything to this, I don't know. But given if abralons cut to a smoother surface compared to a trucut of the same grit , then I would think yeah you would see a slightly different reaction.

[boatman37]

Ron has tons of videos on youtube demonstrating the pads. I have never used any other pads so cant speak to comparisons but I'd say 10 uses is probably about right. I bought a set of 500, 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000/5000. The 4000/5000 is 4000 if done dry and 5000 if done wet. I just ordered new ones last week and didn't realize how worn my old ones were. I hit my Conspiracy with a new 2000 before last week. I had been keeping it at 2000 but had used an old pad towards the end. My ball was unusable last week. It was coming across the nose every shot. You could see the difference in the surface. I brought it home and did it again with the old 2000. Aside from that you can feel the difference in old vs new just by touching the pads.
Yes they clean up very easily. Slap them on a hard surface if dry or wash them under water if wet. They clean up like new.

As for the accuracy of the grits, he has shown in several videos where he sands a ball and puts it on a surface scanner and it is right where it should be. I don't know the accuracy of other pads but he claims they are smoother than their advertised grits. I think he has even shown that in a few videos.

[JaxBowlingGuy]

As for the accuracy of the grits, he has shown in several videos where he sands a ball and puts it on a surface scanner and it is right where it should be. I don't know the accuracy of other pads but he claims they are smoother than their advertised grits. I think he has even shown that in a few videos.

I question this as being a good thing or not. If the industry standard is abralon and the manufacturers use them, why not buy exactly what they use?

[djp1080]

Don't own a spinner unfortunately, but I've tried to use the 4000 grit Abralon and Siaair sanding pads without having much success into cutting the surface of the ball. I've played with the P5000D pads and they actually make a difference and cut in. Done this with wet and dry.
While using the P5000D pad on the Dark Legend ball I have it made this ball usable for me whereas the out of box finish just didn't work well for my style. I've gone to the 3000 grit finish and the ball has really come to life. Beginning to feel like CTD has something to offer for bowlers specifically...

[RobLV1]

I question this as being a good thing or not. If the industry standard is abralon and the manufacturers use them, why not buy exactly what they use?

Good point, IF your goal is to duplicate what the manufacturers do. If you want to get a surface that works better for you, the 5000 pad is a great way to go.

[boatman37]

Good point, IF your goal is to duplicate what the manufacturers do. If you want to get a surface that works better for you, the 5000 pad is a great way to go.

I agree with those comments but on the flip side, is an OOB 3000 actually 3000? I mean in the end it doesn't matter if everyone is using the same system. I mean you could call it a 15,000 and as long as everyone calls them the same thing then no problem. But my PSO hit my ball (Conspiracy) with a brand new 3000 abralon before he gave it to me and showed me an untouched ball on the shelf and they looked nothing alike. He said he had been seeing alot of this lately so wanted a known baseline for me. But yeah, I have thought about buying a few abralon and saair pads to try them out just for consistency.

[bowl1820]

I question this as being a good thing or not. If the industry standard is abralon and the manufacturers use them, why not buy exactly what they use?


I agree with those comments but on the flip side, is an OOB 3000 actually 3000?.

One thing (IMO) it really doesn't matter what the manufacturers use, We the bowlers can't duplicate what they do. The manufacturers use production surfacing equipment, the closest thing to that is probably a Storm Surface Factory machine or haus machine. But everyone doesn't have one of those.

The main difference between pads, paper etc. is the grit size tolerance they use to make them. US Ansi/Cami just has a little wider tolerance range than FEPA P-scale. What that means is that P-scale grit is just has a little closer on average to the number on the pad than US grit numbers are. The only other difference is the backing materials used.

So no if your sanding to a 3000 grit your not going to be exactly 3000, there's going to be a small +/- .

The thing with the trucut is they got a different backing that doesn't load up and they got a 5000 grit.

You can get 5000 grit and up paper which it would shine the ball up too. (Though I'm sure someone would say OH NO the computer scanner will show the surface is totally different. But IMO if you had 3 of the mythical exact same balls and sanded them to the same surface using paper, abralon, trucut and gave them to a bowler to roll and didn't tell them which was which they couldn't tell them apart.)

The real main thing is whatever abrasive you use, As long as your consistent with how you use it. You'll get consistent results.

[Amyers]

One thing (IMO) it really doesn't matter what the manufacturers use, We the bowlers can't duplicate what they do. The manufacturers use production surfacing equipment, the closest thing to that is probably a Storm Surface Factory machine or haus machine. But everyone doesn't have one of those.

The main difference between pads, paper etc. is the grit size tolerance they use to make them. US Ansi/Cami just has a little wider tolerance range than FEPA P-scale. What that means is that P-scale grit is just has a little closer on average to the number on the pad than US grit numbers are. The only other difference is the backing materials used.

So no if your sanding to a 3000 grit your not going to be exactly 3000, there's going to be a small +/- .

The thing with the trucut is they got a different backing that doesn't load up and they got a 5000 grit.

You can get 5000 grit and up paper which it would shine the ball up too. (Though I'm sure someone would say OH NO the computer scanner will show the surface is totally different. But IMO if you had 3 of the mythical exact same balls and sanded them to the same surface using paper, abralon, trucut and gave them to a bowler to roll and didn't tell them which was which they couldn't tell them apart.)

The real main thing is whatever abrasive you use, As long as your consistent with how you use it. You'll get consistent results.

I agree with bowl here and I'm not sure abarlon is truly a standard anyway. I know global has their neat pads they sell. Trying to recreate the original surfaced is a fools errand anyway. Your lucky if you can get close to the surface you used more less the original.