Bowling Ball Rack

[fokai73]

I use plastic free standing shelves you can get at home depot ($14-$29) and free standing metal ones too ($19-$39 depending the size. I have plastic and urethane ball cups, but if you go to the plumping section at home depot and find 4" rubber o rings, they are way cheaper than the ball cups and work fine.

but since I down sized, I still used these shelves in my storage unit now for my RC trucks and crawlers, another hobby I still do about the same time I started bowling. Bowling 83' and RC 84'......

[Aslan]

The trick is to have something soft enough not to damage the resin balls, but strong enough not to sag/bend the shelves/horizontals.

I tried to use the 1.5x1.5s because they were cheap and I thought they'd stain better than the 2x2s. But that might of been a mistake because they were much flimsier and split easily. To counteract the sagging from the ball weight, I had to but the center support in and under the middle (underneath) is a small 2x6 to even further prevent sagging. I figured the 4x4s, as expensive and heavy as they are...and they don't stain particularly well...but with this being earthquake country...I didn't want a small quake to knock the rack over.

[dougb]

Nice work!

[AlexNC]

HA!!

He said "nice rack".

Yeah, my only real regret is I really needed a longer drill bit and more powerful wrench for the lag screws. And I still need to sand/round the horizontals. And I feel I could have gotten similar results for a lot less $$$ had I used 2x4s and 2x6s versus 4x4s and 2x2s. And I'm annoyed that the top shelf is uneven so all the balls roll to one side. The bottom and middle are level, but I screwed up on the top.

Still a nice project. Always nice to do stuff on your own vs pay someone or buy it.

Regarding the lag screws, you may have better luck in the future using construction screws instead. They are easier to get in and are actually stronger than lags - have begun to replace lag screws/bolts in many applications.

[Aslan]

Still a nice project. Always nice to do stuff on your own vs pay someone or buy it.

Regarding the lag screws, you may have better luck in the future using construction screws instead. They are easier to get in and are actually stronger than lags - have begun to replace lag screws/bolts in many applications.

No. I'm very proud of it. The only reason the lag screws were so problematic was I was trying to essentially hand assemble 6"lag screws through a 4x4. At first I tried it with no starter hole drilled...that was gonna be impossible. So I drilled starter holes, but my longest drill bit was only about 3". So the last roughly 3" I was trying to ratchet that lag screw into the wood...using my old ratchet set I got as a kid that had about a 4" handle. My hands hurt so bad I had to take 2 days to just finish the lag screw part to give my hands a rest.

It's why I get so annoyed with Bob Villa and the Home and Garden networks. One minute he has a perfectly drawn up plan, then 2 minutes later he has all the pieces of a Grandfather clock cut and ready for assembly....then by the end of the show he has a $4000 grandfather clock fully assembled. Meanwhile, any project I'm involved in takes two weeks and ends up uneven.

[Tony]

No. I'm very proud of it. The only reason the lag screws were so problematic was I was trying to essentially hand assemble 6"lag screws through a 4x4. At first I tried it with no starter hole drilled...that was gonna be impossible. So I drilled starter holes, but my longest drill bit was only about 3". So the last roughly 3" I was trying to ratchet that lag screw into the wood...using my old ratchet set I got as a kid that had about a 4" handle. My hands hurt so bad I had to take 2 days to just finish the lag screw part to give my hands a rest.

It's why I get so annoyed with Bob Villa and the Home and Garden networks. One minute he has a perfectly drawn up plan, then 2 minutes later he has all the pieces of a Grandfather clock cut and ready for assembly....then by the end of the show he has a $4000 grandfather clock fully assembled. Meanwhile, any project I'm involved in takes two weeks and ends up uneven.

Bob Vila invested a lot of money and time in buying tools and learning how they work or hiring people that are experts to do the work. I doubt it he has 30 bowling balls in his house, but I have no doubt he has plenty of drill bits , and power tools. Probably an air compressor and impact driver that would make short work of those lag bolts.
Given that, you made a pretty decent bowling ball rack !
If you want to annoy Bob back, invite to come out bowling with you