Aslan's Ball Dehydrator (with pics)

[Aslan]

Okay, this question comes up a lot, "Is there a cheap way to get the oil out of my bowling ball?"

Obvious 1st Answer: Yes…go to the pro shop and they put it in a metal box machine and charge you $15-$25. It's the easiest and best way since those machines are usually made by ball manufacturers and they not only de-oil…but they usually can rotate the ball while it's dehydrating/de-oiling and theres a little cloth in there that absorbs the oil as it is working. And it's the easiest because you don't need to build anything.

But, if you bowl a LOT…maybe 2-3 league nights a week or league and practice each week or tournaments…that method can get expensive. So I initially tried the "bathtub method". This method worked well. Simply hot water in the bath tub with some car soap or dish soap. Did a good job, but living in California, we're in a bit of a draught…and it seemed like a waste of water to do this method. So I looked for a more environmentally friendly AND less time consuming/less messy method:

So, I'll do this in "parts" since I think there's a restriction on the amount of photos I can post in one thread.

First, you buy a food dehydrator:

[Aslan]

Now, I was originally setting the bowling ball on the trays of the dehydrator. Leave a couple trays in there, the ball sits on the trays, put a 5-gallon pail over it, and you're good to go.

The problem is…those trays are a hard plastic and not meant for the weight of a bowling ball. So if you dehydrate for 30-40 minutes…those trays get warm, less rigid, and start to crack/break.

That led me to use the TOP of the dehydrator, upside down, as a sort of tray. BAD mistake because the top is a less rigid material and after 30 minutes tends to melt. This led to one of my bowling balls falling a bit and coming in contact with the heating elements on the bottom of the unit…and those are hot enough that it melted a spot on my ball.



It wasn't in the track, so I got lucky, but that led me to make some changes to the design of the unit.

I'll post pics of the changes later tonight.

[Aslan]

So as I thought how I could improve upon the design to make it a safe and effective ball de-oiler…I noticed something on my kitchen counter. It was a fruit bowl. Metal, and the base was the perfect size to hold a bowling ball. I took it over to the dehydrator and it was a perfect fit. But, since that was my fruit bowl…I decided to do a little bargain shopping and on the way to work went to 2-3 Goodwill stores because I know they often have re-sale kitchen stuff. And this is what I found for about $15 total:



So I put the items together and kinda came up with this design:



I didn't use ALL of the items…and I did pick up a piece of large PVC pipe from Home Depot for the ball to sit on. My concern about setting the ball on the metal, despite the good fit…is that should the metal come in direct contact with the heating elements…it's possible (however improbable) that the heat could be conducted directly to the ball and melt it. The stainless steel piece actually serves no purpose but I added it anyways. The PVC pipe only cost like $1.30 and it's hollow so the heat can get to the bottom of the ball.

[Aslan]

Add the ball and it looks like this:



With the pail over top of it, it looks like this;



It works well. I initially tried it for 24 minutes and that wasn't enough time. Recently I did it for 34-42 minutes and that seemed to work fine. Since the ball is up higher than before, I'm not getting as much oil off the top of the ball as I used to…so I may start putting it in for 20 minutes and then flipping it over for another 15 minutes.

[vdubtx]

Be sure to use some oven mitts to avoid burning hands. Assuming the heat gets up to a typical ball de-oiler of about 130-145 or so.

[Aslan]

Be sure to use some oven mitts to avoid burning hands. Assuming the heat gets up to a typical ball de-oiler of about 130-145 or so.

It actually doesn't get up that high. It doesn't have a temperature setting or thermometer but I think the book claims it gets up to 127-132 F. It's definitely 'warm'…but not that bad that you can't touch it.