USBC Lane Inspection Study

[bowl1820]

USBC Lane Inspection Study
Published on Apr 27, 2017

USBC will implement new requirements for lane inspections and will adjust specifications for new installations for the 2019-2020 season based on recent research conducted by the USBC Equipment Specifications and Certifications team.

[1VegasBowler]

USBC Lane Inspection Study
Published on Apr 27, 2017

USBC will implement new requirements for lane inspections and will adjust specifications for new installations for the 2019-2020 season based on recent research conducted by the USBC Equipment Specifications and Certifications team.

Just read the news release on the Bowl.com website, and while the new requirements and specs are probably a good thing, I have to see what exactly is changing before I an say how good or bad these changes are going to be.

The one thing I did see is where they said the crowns/depressions and tilts will be at 30 thousandths of an inch instead of at 40 thousandths of an inch, but only for new installations. Should be for all lanes whether they're new or not.

Too many times we like to blame the oil or our own equipment for the bad nights we have, but the topography plays into a couple of our bad nights as well.

The lanes that are in the absolute best shape, are the ones where championships are being held because the USBC and/or the PBA come in on their own with the lane mapper. This thing is almost as accurate as a Swiss watch.

While this would be the absolute best thing to do for every house in the country, it is far too expensive to either purchase or even have the USBC in Texas come in to do it. In other words, it ain't happenin'! lol

Only time will tell how good or bad these changes will be.

[DMS]

1VB,

The .030" tolerance is just for the initial inspection of the new install. Subsequent re-inspections would need to adhere to the same .040" tolerance of existing installations. The idea is to try to improve the new installations by trying to achieve a tighter initial tolerance with the hope that environmentally induced changes after the install would not throw them as far out of spec. That's a step in the right direction.

Their specs are probably fine... The real problem is enforcement. Short of the USBC taking control of every certified center, they really have no 'stick' to use for enforcement against centers who won't bother to keep things within tolerances. They state right up front that most of the inspection data they get is just flat out bogus! If they decertified centers for being out of spec, most of the centers wouldn't be certified, and would turn into 'Bowlmors'.

One thing that's amusing in the charts they presented is that it appears the wood lanes are actually a lot more stable than the synthetics! I can believe that, too... It's much easier to control the flatness of a panel made up of laminations than it it is to control one that's monolithic (know this from experience in my own profession). The charts show that the synthetics tend to 'curl' at the edges and corners, as well as warp or sag out in the middle.... exactly what you'd expect in a thin, monolithic panel being subjected to temperature variations (called 'oil canning'). One way to prevent that would be to substantially increase the thickness of the panels, and / or install them in a manner that allows them to move laterally without putting shear forces on the fasteners. I've done quite a bit of reading on these synthetic panels and was always amazed at how thin they are. It might seem 'rigid' when your handling it, but in reality it's not that hard to warp it a few thou when driving a screw into it. I'd expect the later installs to perform better, as I see the installers are now using engineered lumber for the sub-frames (which is a lot more stable than homogeneous lumber).

In all the installation videos I've seen, the one thing they never show is the foundation installation.... They always start the video with a finished slab. If I were building a center myself, I'd use a thick floor slab (maybe 8 inches thick) with top and bottom reinforcing mats, grade beams every 8 feet or so (also well reinforced), lots of expansion and construction joints, and a very well prepared, compacted and drained sub-grade. Making a super-flat floor is very tricky... We're still trying to do it with 'blunt instruments' (i.e. concrete and lumber over a soil substrate). Doing an install over a raised floor with standard allowable deflections must be a complete nightmare for the installers, though I know they do it frequently; South Point and The Orleans are two installs that come to mind immediately in that regard.

I was surprised how little effect pin deck slopes had on scoring... and how much effect the kickback panels had. That was the biggest eye opener for myself.

[bowl1820]

1VB,
ll the installation videos I've seen, the one thing they never show is the foundation installation.... They always start the video with a finished slab.

If referring to the concrete floor slab, no there's not many if any video's of them building a bowling alley starting a with a vacant lot and pouring the slab.

If your referring to the panels being laid on what looks like a "finished wood slab" that's usually just where they are overlaying the old wood lanes which can be seen being done here:

Installing Brunswick ProLane (Bowling Lane Overlay Installation )
http://www.bowlingboards.com/threads...Installation-)

The important thing in doing a overlay is properly cutting down and sanding the old wood lanes first. Otherwise any depressions etc. (such as a track) will appear on the panels.

You can see a full ground up new install here, where you can see the lane foundation etc.:

Bowling Lane Installation 2 videos
http://www.bowlingboards.com/threads...ation-2-videos

[MICHAEL]

Very interesting!!!! Good post!

[DMS]

Bowl 1820,

"If referring to the concrete floor slab.."

Yes, that's precisely what I'm referring to. If that's not stable, then you're screwed no matter what you do, later. For folks building new centers, the stability of the foundation should be the centerpiece of the planning process. It's not impossible... It gets done for lab and certain manufacturing structures all the time.

Hell... you can see how wavy a lane is easily... just look at the reflections from it. It's something I notice immediately. Compare the reflections off a modern fiberglass sailplane wing with those of a bowling lane... You'll see what I'm talking about immediately.

Michael... Being an iron worker, I figured you'd love this discussion! <g> Thanks for taking a look! Anything to add?

[bowl1820]

For folks building new centers, the stability of the foundation should be the centerpiece of the planning process. It's not impossible... It gets done for lab and certain manufacturing structures all the time.

Yes you could and it might be nice, But the added cost to build a bowling alley to lab spec's would nix that idea in bud.

Ultimately it's just a bowling alley, not JPL. LOL

[DMS]

B1820,

"But the added cost to build a bowling alley to lab spec's would nix that idea in bud."

No, it wouldn't. That would increase the construction cost very little, actually; maybe $5/SF. If you're in a region with only so-so soils, you're going to be recompacting the pad anyway, and that's half the battle. If you're in an area with a high watertable, you'll be installing subdrains anyway. making a stiff, true slab and placing it over properly graded soils is a very small additional cost. Brunswick's installation guide actually covers these issues to a degree, but I feel their recommendations could be a little more detailed. Take a look at their specs for slabs under the pinsetters; those requirements are really extraordinary. If you're retrofitting an existing building, the existing slab back at the pit is going to get redone for sure. Might as well just do the part under the lanes, too.... Building has already been ripped down to the bare structure anyway.

"Ultimately it's just a bowling alley, not JPL. LOL "

Well, do we want to get it right or not? It's easy to get it right, but you've got to do something incredibly un-American..... Plan ahead. <g> In today's construction industry, the foundation guys just want to get in there, drop some bars tied off just good enough to pass inspection, lift it with 'crete, screed it, float it and LEAVE. That's fine for a convention center floor, but we need a little more for this purpose... just a LITTLE more... A little more material, a little better thought-out reinforcement and joint placement, and a little more care finishing and curing the slab. It's not hard, it just needs to be DONE. If I were building a bowling center (something I'd really like to do, BTW), I'd spend a little extra time on site observation to make sure this critical element was being done adequately and was engineered properly in the first place. Trust me man... I do this work every day. It could easily be achieved.

Even in the case of an existing building, we'll routinely modify foundations and replace old, cracked, unreinforced slabs. It's not 'hard' at all.

/rant on
Most of the problems in this country come down to two things... Fiat money and plain ol' laziness. If we fixed those two issues as a society... Man! ... We'd really be the country that walked on the moon, again. As it is now, people are too busy playing with their 'smart'phones to do anything right anymore. It's just sad to see.
/rant off.

[Phonetek]

This is an old thread and I hate commenting on them but these are cool videos, they deserve to come out of moth balls for the newer eyes on the board.

[bdpeters]

thanks for bringing this up. should make a good watch for lunch today at work.