Polished bowling balls surface maintenance.

[Tony]

What products, and procedure do you use to maintain and adjust the finish of your polished balls ?

[Timmyb]

I use the system I bought from polishyourball.com (look on YouTube for vids). Came with a spinner (which I am currently in the process of extensively modifying), a cup you can use either in your hand or on a drill, and a few different pads and buffing covers. Takes a bit of getting used to, but once you get it down, it works pretty well. It's definitely cheaper than buying a motorized spinner. My only complaint is the spinner part. It's an off-the-shelf aluminum bearing turntable, which I think you can get at McMaster. It has a plastic cup on the spinner that is "supposed" to hold the ball. It's poorly sized, and I've had a ball jump off on a number of occasions, or twist and turn while it's on the cup, ending up where you didn't start. I am making a bigger aluminum cup to better hold the ball, with a rubber ring to grip better. That whole thing will get mounted to a 12 x 12" plate. Should be pretty stable when I'm done. I'll post pics. Pays to be a machinist.

When I sand, I clean with Monster Tac first, then sand to whichever surface I'm going for. Clean again with Motiv Power Gel. If I polish, I use Motiv Power Gel polish. Works well, and quickly!

[got_a_300]

I have a ball spinner that I bought from Vertex and I just use the polish,
cleaner,etc.,etc. that came with it I also use abralon pads that I buy off
of ebay.

[Aslan]

I have a Donkee Products 2-speed ball spinner MWhite (former bowlingboards.com contributor) gave me when he retired. It was the spinner he used in his pro shop. I have a supply of abralon, siaair, and Mirka pads. I have some Brunswick Crown Factory compound, Storm Steps 1, 2, & 3 compounds, and some automotive resin polish.

Generally, I use the pads to maintain the OOB surface. If I'm going to a tournament or Vegas where I know the conditions are little more slick...I might put a little more surface on the balls.

For the Reax Pearl, I've been adding Crown compound but no polish. Next time I resurface, I am going to try and just leave it at 4000 abralon (no compound).

For the Innovate, I surface it to 2000, then used crown compound. I tried Storm Step 3 instead...but that was a bit too drastic. I tried Storm Step 2 recently and that worked better. I then hit it with resin polish.

For the Scandal Pearl, I bring it to 500, then was hitting it with Crown compound and then resin polish. I think I'm going to try Storm Step 1 next time I resurface it (instead of crown compound).

Generally, given my balls are all pearls...I don't do much "de-oiling" as they don't really suck up the oil the way my solids did. I'm usually just "maintaining" and keeping them free of noticeable tracks. When I resurface, I usually hit it with a few varying pads, for example;

2000, 3000, 4000 or 500, 1000, 2000 or 360, 500

If I DO decide to put it in my de-oiler...I usually hit it with the lowest number pad first, then leave it in the de-oiler for just shy of an hour...clean it...and then start the process.

But, I'm still learning/experimenting. Not too much help online...most of the videos are more marketing oriented toward a certain line of products.

[Timmyb]

Not too much help online...most of the videos are more marketing oriented toward a certain line of products.

This is an understatement. Everything I've come up with has pretty much been through the school of hard knocks.

[chip82901]

Polish wise, I'm a fan of the Storm xtra shine. Works well and holds up for a solid 30-40 games before you notice it starting to wear off. A bottle lasts for a while as well.

[djp1080]

Been using Storm balls for several years and like them. A good share of them have what Storm calls their 1500 grit polished finish and they recommend using their Reacta Shine product.
I've found that the Reacta Shine keeps my gear working like they're new and doesn't make the ball go longer like their Xtra Shine does. I'd use Xtra Shine on spare balls rather than anything you'd like to have hook for you. I'll take a 2000, 3000 or 4000 grit pad to my gear when necessary. If I want to go back to close to factory finish, I just go to the Reacta Shine and it does the trick.
Hope this helps...