Author Topic: Hot Water Bath w/ VISE-IT System (Read 3760 times)

Rival · « **on:** February 02, 2011, 03:15:41 PM »

Hey, I just wanted to throw a fair warning out here for people who use the Vise-IT system. I tried to bake my Mutant Cell in the oven earlier this year (temp was probably too high to be completely honest) and when I pulled it out and it cooled down my thumb slug would no longer fit in the ball... took it to the pro shop and we tried sanding down everything but to no avail, I actually to drill out the system and put a new one in. I moved on and put it out of my mind, knowing not to do the oven again.

Then a few days ago, I got curious, and decided to take an old ball with the IT system and try the hot water bath that everyone likes to do, figuring that would be safer than the oven process mentioned above. I filled the bucket with hot tap water, threw in some Dawn, and let the ball sit for about 30 minutes before pulling the ball out and wiping it down. I did this twice before getting all the oil out, and set the ball out to dry. Within that time I did another old ball (they were in the same bag, why not?!) When I pulled the first ball out I put the thumb slug in it and let it sit there while it dried. The second ball sat next to it with nothing in thumb. Now the second ball is experiencing the same problem as the Mutant Cell back in the day did above, sadly it looks like I'll have to get another thumb fixed. I guess anything over 100 degrees actually warps the plastic sleeve or maybe the inner contraption inside and shrinks the diameter of the hole?

The ball that had the thumb slug in it the whole time has had no problems, I guess because its in there it prevents the sleeve from warping? I'm a ball junkie, so paying $30-40 per ball at the shop can get pricey, I never had problems before installing the IT system either. Have any of you guys experienced this problem? If so, were there any alternatives?

"So there I was... BALLS DEEP!!!"

HamPster · « **Reply #1 on:** February 03, 2011, 06:25:48 AM »

No I haven't, but thanks a bunch for posting that. I've never done the baking thing, but I have done the bath thing. Be a great thing to let everybody know. One thing I see as a possibility, although kinda expensive for what it's worth, is to just get a slug with a thumbhole only half drilled, meaning there is still a way to get the slug screwed in and out, but without drilling the full hole and allowing water to possibly get down to the lock mechanism. That way you can bathe away, and shouldn't have any kind of a problem.

That's just like, your opinion, man.

Dan Belcher · « **Reply #2 on:** February 03, 2011, 07:33:38 AM »

For what it's worth, I've done three or four hot water baths on balls with the Vise IT system, and all of them worked just fine afterwards. In each case, I sat the ball in a bucket with the thumbhole pointing down, then filled the bucket with hot water from my bathtub and let it sit for about 10 minutes, then poured out the bucket, wiped the ball down with a towel to remove oil sitting on top of it, and then repeated the process one or two more times.

bannachb · « **Reply #3 on:** February 03, 2011, 08:16:17 AM »

I have done a hot water bath on a few balls with the IT system in it. I always put a slug in before I do anything and have never had an issue. I would recommend doing this just to be safe. I figure if I didn't have the IT installed I would have a permanent slug in it so I should try to recreate that situation as close as possible.

milorafferty · « **Reply #4 on:** February 03, 2011, 08:17:11 AM »

I've done the hot water bath several times with my Cell and didn't have the issue with the Vise-IT after wards.

That being said however, I have had problems with the interior of some balls shrinking and causing the problem. This had nothing to do with the oil extraction though. It has happened to several balls including some in the Cell line and this was before any of them ever had an oil extraction done.

It seems some balls have this tendency more than others, and from my experience, the Cell line is one of them. I never had to redrill the thumb, just used a workout tool and bevel knife to shave down the areas inside the thumb that was preventing easy insertion/extraction of the slug. I my experience, it's not the plastic sleeve of the IT that is the problem, but the filler material of the ball itself.

The Ballreviews Ignore User feature, Learn it, Love it, Live it!

bighook69 · « **Reply #5 on:** February 03, 2011, 08:26:26 AM »

Out of curiosity do you tape off the holes or leave them open? I use switch-grips and have never had a problem and I regularly run my equipment through the dishwasher and have done a few hot water baths in the tub as well... but I always tape off the thumb and fingers.

Nails · « **Reply #6 on:** February 03, 2011, 08:37:42 AM »

milorafferty wrote on 2/3/2011 9:17 AM:

That being said however, I have had problems with the interior of some balls shrinking and causing the problem. This had nothing to do with the oil extraction though. It has happened to several balls including some in the Cell line and this was before any of them ever had an oil extraction done.

Can you expand on that? How can you see or tell that the "interior of the ball" shrank? I have no idea idea what you mean.

Telling it like it is.

milorafferty · « **Reply #7 on:** February 03, 2011, 08:48:31 AM »

It's not the plastic IT sleeve. There is usually three parts that make up a ball. The core, the outer cover(coverstock material) and the filler between the two. In the Cell line, this material is white. The coverstock and core material doesn't shrink in my experience, it's the white filler between the two that swells(best term I could think of). When this white filler expands, it causes the hole to become smaller, ie. shrink. That prevents the IT slug from going in and out of the thumb hole easily. In every case this has been the problem for me.

To find where I need to shave or scrape the filler material, I use a $.50 piece(Kennedy half-dollar). I have the smaller of the thumb slug sizes so this works perfect. When I drop the coin in the hole, the area that has shrank will be where the coin "hangs up" in the hole. I've also used the slug itself, Just push the slug down in the hole and twist it around a couple of times. The area where friction is created will have a smooth area where the slug rubbed against it.

Nails wrote on 2/3/2011 9:37 AM:

milorafferty wrote on 2/3/2011 9:17 AM:

That being said however, I have had problems with the interior of some balls shrinking and causing the problem. This had nothing to do with the oil extraction though. It has happened to several balls including some in the Cell line and this was before any of them ever had an oil extraction done.

Can you expand on that? How can you see or tell that the "interior of the ball" shrank? I have no idea idea what you mean.

Telling it like it is.

Edited by milorafferty on 2/3/2011 at 9:52 AM

milorafferty · « **Reply #8 on:** February 03, 2011, 08:54:43 AM »

I also use a dishwasher currently, it seems to be the best way to do this. I have a portable dishwasher that I use only for bowling balls. LOL

I used to pack the holes with plastic bags like you get from the grocery store, but now I just set the ball holes down on a used abralon pad. Works just fine.

bighook69 wrote on 2/3/2011 9:26 AM:Out of curiosity do you tape off the holes or leave them open? I use switch-grips and have never had a problem and I regularly run my equipment through the dishwasher and have done a few hot water baths in the tub as well... but I always tape off the thumb and fingers.

Rival · « **Reply #9 on:** February 03, 2011, 09:05:54 AM »

This was the first time attempting to do a hot water bath... I didn't bother taping up the holes because in the posts I'd say that about 80% didn't do so and thus had no issues. I managed to fix the ball though, I just took some sandpaper and sanded down the sleeve a little bit and the IT goes right in with little to no problems. Would taping the holes off really help though? I mean it did it in the oven 2 years ago due to the heat, do you think that the tap water is hot enough to heat up the pocket underneath the tape to 100+ degrees? If so, I'd think that the sleeve might still warp.

I guess when you do this you'll want to put your IT IN the ball either when you place it in the water, or IMMEDIATELY after it comes out to prevent that sleeve from warping.

bighook69 wrote on 2/3/2011 9:26 AM:Out of curiosity do you tape off the holes or leave them open? I use switch-grips and have never had a problem and I regularly run my equipment through the dishwasher and have done a few hot water baths in the tub as well... but I always tape off the thumb and fingers.

"So there I was... BALLS DEEP!!!"

kidlost2000 · « **Reply #10 on:** February 03, 2011, 10:23:56 AM »

http://www.morichbowling.com/BowlingBalls/BowlingBall_Cleaning.htm

Be good, or be good at it.

ecc0_9879 · « **Reply #11 on:** February 03, 2011, 11:32:31 AM »

I do hot water baths often but dont use the it system and was thinking about trying it but with all the problems I keep hearing I think i will stick with my traditional drilled in slug!!

http://s572.photobucket.com/albums/ss169/ecco_9879/

Edited by ecc0_9879 on 2/3/2011 at 12:33 PM

RyanRPS · « **Reply #12 on:** February 03, 2011, 12:14:46 PM »

Rival - very interesting.. I had not wanted to try anything like this more incase it affected the glue and the IT would could out while bowling!

Have you tried putting the ball in the water but positioning it in such a way that the thumb hole is not under the water, and so no water gets in around the VISE IT mechanism?

Ryan

Ryan Press - Seismic Staff Member
www.seismicbowling.com

cappy718 · « **Reply #13 on:** February 03, 2011, 02:08:59 PM »

I have vise IT in one of my balls (Jigsaw) when I did all of my work a few weeks back. I took the slug out when I gave them a bath and while it dried. I had zero problems. I dont know if it might be the core shape/filler between core and coverstock on some balls. Could be the case depending on the chemical make up, but wouldnt be happy if some warm water did that to my ball. I figure that would affect performance of it as well.

~Scott

"Celebrate we will, cuz life is short but sweet for certain"

Rival · « **Reply #14 on:** February 03, 2011, 02:27:51 PM »

I placed both balls holes down in the water just like the directions indicated, I can't really imagine that helping too much if the ball is completely submerged... I'm not sure how you can keep that system out of the water unless you have the bucket pre-marked so that only that TINY bit of the ball is out of the water. I get to go to league in about 30 minutes to see if this ball still has it.

RyanRPS wrote on 2/3/2011 1:14 PM:Rival - very interesting.. I had not wanted to try anything like this more incase it affected the glue and the IT would could out while bowling!

Have you tried putting the ball in the water but positioning it in such a way that the thumb hole is not under the water, and so no water gets in around the VISE IT mechanism?

Ryan

Ryan Press - Seismic Staff Member
www.seismicbowling.com

"So there I was... BALLS DEEP!!!"

Author Topic: Hot Water Bath w/ VISE-IT System (Read 3760 times)

Rival

Hot Water Bath w/ VISE-IT System

HamPster

Re: Hot Water Bath w/ VISE-IT System

Dan Belcher

Re: Hot Water Bath w/ VISE-IT System

bannachb

Re: Hot Water Bath w/ VISE-IT System

milorafferty

Re: Hot Water Bath w/ VISE-IT System

bighook69

Re: Hot Water Bath w/ VISE-IT System

Nails

Re: Hot Water Bath w/ VISE-IT System

milorafferty

Re: Hot Water Bath w/ VISE-IT System

milorafferty

Re: Hot Water Bath w/ VISE-IT System

Rival

Re: Hot Water Bath w/ VISE-IT System

kidlost2000

Re: Hot Water Bath w/ VISE-IT System

ecc0_9879

Re: Hot Water Bath w/ VISE-IT System

RyanRPS

Re: Hot Water Bath w/ VISE-IT System

cappy718

Re: Hot Water Bath w/ VISE-IT System

Rival

Re: Hot Water Bath w/ VISE-IT System