I built my own dehydrator from a food dehydrator. Instructions are somewhere on the site. Does it work better than my previous method of a bathtub full of hot, soapy water? I don't know.

Honestly, I don't see a lot of oil coming out of my ball like I used to. But, I also used to wait long periods between de-oiling...and now I put the balls in the de-hydrator every time I re-surface...which is routine. So, I don't think I ever give them time to accumulate oil like I used to.

Does the dehydrator 'work'? Hard to say. I don't think it works as well as the professional gizmo in the pro shop. I mean, the biggest drawback is that my homemade model doesn't rotate the ball and constantly wipe the oil away. It simply applies the heat and draws the oil out. You then need to wipe the oil away when the heating is done. That tends to de-oil in a less uniform manner. But, I can't afford the $2,000+ Storm Rejuvinator or even the occasional complete de-oil/re-surfaces at the pro-shop.

It's the same thing with surface management. People are encouraged to keep their surfaces fresh every few games. Well, if you don't have a ball spinner...you can't really do that without a serious pro-shop bill. Some people just get themselves some pads and try to do it by hand. That is highly ineffective. Some people try to save money on the pads (which are NOT cheap) and just get sandpaper...also not a great idea.

Thats always the "trick" with bowling ball surface management. How much can you do yourself versus how much do you need the pro shop for? The more you need the pro shop for, the more costly it'll be, and the less often you'll be able to realistically do it. The good news is, some companies have come out with some low-cost ball spinners and ball dehydrators recently. I don't know how good the quality is...but if a person can get a ball spinner and rejuvenator for $80 each...that suddenly makes DIY ball maintenance a reality for a lot of people. At least until they find out how expensive the pads, compounds, and polishes are!