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Thread: The Bowling Ball SPINNER Saga is Over!!

  1. #1
    Bowling God Aslan's Avatar
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    Post The Bowling Ball SPINNER Saga is Over!!

    So, as some might know...I recently had a 6-month struggle with my ball spinner...I thought I'd summarize the struggle here as an FYI. Never know who might have a similar struggle.

    So, in about 2016...one of our former, regular contributors closed his pro shop in Cali and gave me one of his bowling ball spinners. It is a Donkee 3/4hp 2-speed ball spinner. I got a LOT of use out of it from 2016-2017. I would try to keep the surface up every few nights of bowling. Since I was bowling 3-4 nights a week...I'd use it on each ball about once a week. It really helped to keep the bowling balls at a consistent surface. I didn't need to experiment much with different surfaces, but it was valuable regardless and saved me the $70-$140/week I'd have paid a pro shop to do the same thing.

    Well, the first week of fall season 2018...there was a spark and some smoke...and the ball spinner went ca-putt. So, I had a choice:
    1) Get a new motor and repair the ball spinner.
    2) Buy a new ball spinner.

    Option #2 was tempting since I'm not much of a mechanic...but the newer, affordable ball spinners are not as durable nor as useful as the Donkee 3/4hp 2-speed ball spinner. Most have only one speed and are primarily made of plastic. To get a spinner equal to or better than the Donkee spinner I have, would cost $225-$1000 for a professional model...not counting accessories.

    First step was removing the motor. That wasn't easy because the nuts had become fused to a couple of the bolts.

    Step 2 was getting a Dremel so I could cut the fused nuts off the bolts and remove the motor from the base.

    Step 3 was to purchase a replacement motor. This wasn't easy because I couldn't find an exactly similar model motor to the one that was in the unit. I had to call the company (a company that no longer makes ball spinners) and try to figure out what motor to purchase. They put me in contact with Grainger where they had purchased their motors.

    Step 4 was mounting the new motor. This also wasn't easy. The new motor didn't line up exactly with the base, so I needed to use the Dremel to widen the boles on the base. Also, the bolts that came with the motor were too short to mount to the base. I needed to get the company (Donkee/Sierra Products) to send me longer bolts. I looked everywhere for bolts the size I needed...but no store sold bolts with that small a diameter and that long of a length.

    Once the new bolts arrived, I ended up breaking one of them because they wouldn't fit just right into the lock nuts. Sierra Products sent me another bolt and a couple nuts.

    Once the motor was in place, I had no idea how to wire it. The old motor had this crazy wiring harness on it with wires going all over the place. The new motor didn't have wiring instructions...not anything I really understood. I had to have multiple conversations with a really great mechanic at Sierra Products...but one that English was not his first language.

    Once I got the motor wired...I realized the cord to the unit had been damaged. Probably just from moving the heavy thing around. So, I had to buy some wire and fix the power cord.

    So, the results??

    It's working better than ever! The new motor seems to be a much higher quality than the previous one. I bit the bullet and bought the more expensive brand and I think it was the better choice.
    In Bag: (: .) Motiv Trident Odyssey; (: .) Hammer Scorpion Sting; (: .) Pyramid Force Pearl; (: .) Brunswick Rhino Gold; (: .) Ebonite Maxim
    USBC#: 8259-59071; USBC Sanctioned Average = 186; Lifetime Average = 171;
    Ball Speed: 15.5mph; Rev. Rate: 240rpm || High Game (sanc.) = 300 (268); High Series (sanc.) = 725 (720); Clean Games: 181

    Smokey this is not 'Nam', this is bowling. There are rules. Proud two-time winner of a bowlingboards.com weekly ball give-away!

  2. #2
    High Roller vdubtx's Avatar
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    Awesome. I know who to go to for info when the motor on my Donkee spinner craps the bed. LOL!!
    High Sanctioned Scratch Game - 300(12) Hi Sanctioned Scratch Series - 822(3)
    2016/17 Book Average=221, 2017/18 Composite Average=223
    Equipment in the bag - Storm Crux Prime, Storm Physix, Roto Grip Idol, Roto Grip Idol Pearl, Roto Grip Hyper Cell Fused, Storm Sure Lock, Storm Drive, Roto Grip Winner Solid, Roto Grip Haywire, Storm Fever Pitch, Roto Grip Red ball spare.

    Rev Rate 400. Speed 18 at heads, 16.5-17 at pins. Axis tilt 10, Axis Rotation 55. PAP 5 5/8 x 5/8 up

  3. #3
    High Roller Stormed1's Avatar
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    Went through a similar episode with my 20year old Innovative spinner. Motor went out and I decided to make it a 2 speed vs the one sped t was. I gt the motor from Innovative and it bolted up with no problems .However I ended up having to chase down a pulley as the shaft size was different and figure out the wiring. Next task is replacing the shaft and bearing that the ball cup sits on. After thousands of use the bearing has worn so the shaft wobbles
    Still love the game but had to quit because of my left leg amptation
    High game 299 x 5 High sanctioned series 805 (1989)

  4. #4
    Bowling God Aslan's Avatar
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    As a slight update...the motor DID come with instructions...but I didn't find them until I was cleaning up the mess and was going to throw the box away.

    Granted, the instructions didn't help much.

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