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Equipment Boards => Hammer => Topic started by: JessN16 on February 19, 2008, 02:08:47 PM

Title: Fellow bowler needs No Mercy help...UPDATED
Post by: JessN16 on February 19, 2008, 02:08:47 PM
Guy on my league is about ready to pitch his No Mercy into the can.

He's a very speed dominant player (although he can slow it down and dial in more hand if forced to, but that's not his A-game). He has a No Mercy in box finish that is drilled with Drill Sheet Instruction #1.

Until tonight, I had to confess I did not know that Drill #1 is Hammer's aggressive drilling. I'm not used to seeing a MB marker in the track and thinking it's an indicator of an aggressive drilling.

So anyway, what's going on here is the ball is not getting into a roll easily, not giving him any kind of back end, and may or may not be burning up (although I doubt it, since he can slow it down and get the ball to loop more). He was throwing it and a Columbia Icon 2 tonight with the pin over the ring and getting a much better look out of the Icon.

We bowl on a lower-volume pattern, anyway, with not such a dramatic crown in the middle. It's not flat by any means but it's not wet/dry, either.

I think he'd like to play a power arc with this ball and not have it be DOA at the pindeck. Any suggestions?

Jess

Edited on 3/4/2008 9:54 PM
Title: Re: Fellow bowler needs No Mercy help...UPDATED
Post by: agroves on February 19, 2008, 11:30:54 PM
How many games on the ball?  The No Mercys thrown around here were sponges.  If you got to 100 games without massive oil absorbtion, you were lucky.

Otherwise, has he tried sanding the cover down?  2000...1000?  

Andrew
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Andrew
Title: Re: Fellow bowler needs No Mercy help...UPDATED
Post by: Gazoo on February 20, 2008, 08:00:47 AM
"We bowl on a lower-volume pattern" The NM to work at it's best is for heavier oil patterns. The ball is probably burning up which is why it is DOA at the pin deck. I know several who found that they could not use that ball on most league shots.(THS)
Title: Re: Fellow bowler needs No Mercy help...UPDATED
Post by: JessN16 on February 20, 2008, 09:33:31 AM
quote:
How many games on the ball?  The No Mercys thrown around here were sponges.  If you got to 100 games without massive oil absorbtion, you were lucky.

Otherwise, has he tried sanding the cover down?  2000...1000?  

Andrew
--------------------
Andrew



I'm guessing 20-40 games, tops. And he's pretty good about cleaning his stuff.

He has made no surface adjustments that I'm aware of. What would you suggest?

Jess
Title: Re: Fellow bowler needs No Mercy help...UPDATED
Post by: JessN16 on February 20, 2008, 09:35:23 AM
quote:
"We bowl on a lower-volume pattern" The NM to work at it's best is for heavier oil patterns. The ball is probably burning up which is why it is DOA at the pin deck. I know several who found that they could not use that ball on most league shots.(THS)


Ordinarily, that would be my first supposition, too. I can take my own high-grit pieces out and easily run into a burn-out problem on this shot.

What gives me pause with this guy, though, is that if he slows it down, he can get it to do what Hammer says the ball will do. If I slow down a high-grit ball, mine just burns up more quickly than usual.

I am unsure of his PAP but he appears to be a mid-high tracker with average tilt but not much axis rotation.

Jess
Title: Re: Fellow bowler needs No Mercy help...UPDATED
Post by: chitown on February 20, 2008, 09:42:12 AM
First, how did he like the reaction when the ball was new?

If he can get the ball to react strong when slowing his ball speed down then it's probably a lane pattern problem.  What I mean is he's probably bowling on too much oil for the cover.  

If he's had a bad reaction from the start with his NO MERCY then chances are his pin placement is in too strong a location for this ball.  For the NO MERCY to have a strong back end reaction DO NOT place the pin closer than 4" from the bowlers pap.  I'm willing to bet that even 4" is pushing it with this ball.  4.5" would probably be the closest I would go.  This ball will not back end very hard if the pin is in too strong a location.  I have seen that being the case for a few different bowlers!

Title: Re: Fellow bowler needs No Mercy help...UPDATED
Post by: JessN16 on February 20, 2008, 05:19:25 PM
quote:
First, how did he like the reaction when the ball was new?

If he can get the ball to react strong when slowing his ball speed down then it's probably a lane pattern problem.  What I mean is he's probably bowling on too much oil for the cover.  

If he's had a bad reaction from the start with his NO MERCY then chances are his pin placement is in too strong a location for this ball.  For the NO MERCY to have a strong back end reaction DO NOT place the pin closer than 4" from the bowlers pap.  I'm willing to bet that even 4" is pushing it with this ball.  4.5" would probably be the closest I would go.  This ball will not back end very hard if the pin is in too strong a location.  I have seen that being the case for a few different bowlers!




He's hated the ball since day one. It's also not a too-much-volume problem at our house; overall volume is below average and the pattern is blended more laterally than a typical THS (i.e., the "wall" isn't as drastic as you move out toward the gutters).

If his PAP is where I think it is, his pin is somewhere between 3 and 3.5 inches away from it.

I think he's determined to plug and redrill the ball; the only question is what he's going to change it to.

Would someone advise pin over or under the bridge, and where would you move the HART to?

Jess

Jess
Title: Re: Fellow bowler needs No Mercy help...UPDATED
Post by: chitown on February 20, 2008, 09:55:34 PM
quote:
 
He's hated the ball since day one. It's also not a too-much-volume problem at our house; overall volume is below average and the pattern is blended more laterally than a typical THS (i.e., the "wall" isn't as drastic as you move out toward the gutters).

If his PAP is where I think it is, his pin is somewhere between 3 and 3.5 inches away from it.

I think he's determined to plug and redrill the ball; the only question is what he's going to change it to.

Would someone advise pin over or under the bridge, and where would you move the HART to?




Your buddy isn't the only bowler to have problems with the NO MERCY.  I know of 3 bowlers that didn't like there NO MERCY and all had the #1 aggressive layout which had the pin next to the ring finger and the HART in their ball track.  

The problem my buddies had with their NM's were because of the driller NOT using their PAP measurements when drilling the ball!  After measuring each one of my friends NO MERCY's we found the pin to pap distance was too close to their PAP's.  One of them had the pin 3.5" from his PAP, one had the pin 3" from PAP and the last guy had 2" from his PAP.  No wonder these guys didn't get a strong back end reaction. lol  Each one of these guys had the pin next to the ring finger but since each has a different PAP there pin to pap distance was different.  If their drillers would of used their PAP's when drilling the balls this would of never happened!

The NM is a very strong bowling ball.  Hammer says NOT to place the pin closer than 4.5" from a bowlers PAP to achieve a strong backend reaction.  If your buddy has his pin 3" to 3.5" from his PAP he's NOT going to get that big NO MERCY backend reaction!

If your buddy has a lot of ball speed and higher rev rate then he should re-drill the ball and place the pin above the fingers 5" from his pap.  Next, make sure the HART is in his ball track!

I've had 4 NO MERCY'S and each had a very strong backend reaction!  Two of them had the pin 4.5" from PAP and the other two had 5.5" from my PAP.

Hope this helps!

Title: Re: Fellow bowler needs No Mercy help...UPDATED
Post by: JessN16 on March 04, 2008, 08:54:28 PM
UPDATE:

He had it plugged and came back with a drill pattern I've used a lot: Pin over the bridge, CG under the bridge, MB marker basically right in the thumb (his is kicked a little towards his track). He loves the ball now.

Thanks for all the help!

Jess
Title: Re: Fellow bowler needs No Mercy help...UPDATED
Post by: azguy on March 05, 2008, 05:25:25 AM
I'm glad it's working for him, sorry I didn't read this post earlier.

What a lot of folks are getting in the drill sheets are what I call the "new" sheets, shows 4-5 drills. I kept the original sheet that shows 8 different patterns. I have used the #2, 6, & 7 for several and they loved the ball. I did not and still do not think #1 is for everyone as Hammer says.

Keep in mind, I'm as big a HammerHead as they come, so I'm not knocking the ball, just the fact that bowlers all want #1. Did a #7 for me and a #2 for most 'faster' players and no one said they hated the ball. Had a couple guys have me order them a second one when the first just up and died on them.

My point is...not ALL bowlers need the same drill. As chitown has said, this is a " have to use the PAP" ball and if the driller didn't, then you have a nice round door stop.

JMO.
--------------------
az guy aka: R & L Bowlers Pro
rlbowlerspro@cox.net
www.rlbowlerspro.com

Title: Re: Fellow bowler needs No Mercy help...UPDATED
Post by: Gazoo on March 05, 2008, 07:22:55 AM
"lower-volume pattern" and No Mercy does not compute.
Title: Re: Fellow bowler needs No Mercy help...UPDATED
Post by: chitown on March 05, 2008, 07:28:29 AM
quote:
UPDATE:

He had it plugged and came back with a drill pattern I've used a lot: Pin over the bridge, CG under the bridge, MB marker basically right in the thumb (his is kicked a little towards his track). He loves the ball now.

Thanks for all the help!

Jess


I'm glad the new layout is working for him.  Just remember this ball will need HOT WATER BATHS or some form of removing the oil from the cover.  The NM absorbs oil like a sponge!  When the cover is clean it's one hell of a bowling ball!
Title: Re: Fellow bowler needs No Mercy help...UPDATED
Post by: JessN16 on March 05, 2008, 04:51:21 PM
quote:
"lower-volume pattern" and No Mercy does not compute.


Wouldn't have been my first choice either, by a long shot. I've got a teammate that can't keep a Blue Vibe on the lane in this same league. For comparison's sake, last night I ended up throwing a very mild Ebonite Matrix Conquest drilled 6x6.

This guy is speed dominant, though. If I tried to throw a No Mercy on our current league shot I might get a strike two lanes to my left.

Jess
Title: Re: Fellow bowler needs No Mercy help...UPDATED
Post by: Gazoo on March 05, 2008, 05:51:04 PM
On the bright side, since the NM won't be absorbing as much oil on that condition, maybe he won't have to give it a hot water bath as often!
Title: Re: Fellow bowler needs No Mercy help...UPDATED
Post by: JessN16 on March 05, 2008, 06:19:23 PM
quote:
On the bright side, since the NM won't be absorbing as much oil on that condition, maybe he won't have to give it a hot water bath as often!


lol...this is true.

We typically stop seeing visible oil lines on our equipment in the middle of game two in this league. I don't know whether that means the ball wipes in the back are getting it all off or if there's just none left.

Jess