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Author Topic: The curious case of my 400A ...  (Read 5266 times)

JessN16

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The curious case of my 400A ...
« on: March 04, 2019, 02:04:49 AM »
I don't drill many balls that I can't make heads or tails of but this one did it to me.

I'm having a devil of a time with over-under on this ball, and it's not just minor amounts of it, either. I mean one time it looks like it's 2x-3x stronger than advertised, and the next time it completely forgets to hook.

Odder still is what looks like two distinct sets of oil rings, one where you'd expect for a typical right-hander, and the other almost a left-hander with a spinner release.

Drill pattern is a typical pin-up about 2 inches above the ring side of the bridge. Probably a couple of inches off the VAL. My PAP is 4 over 3/8 up. Nothing is in a crazy position.

The only interesting thing to mention is it has a weight hole in the bottom of the ball opposite the pin (this is a Mo Pinel thing and the only ball I have with one in it). It's a very small diameter hole but it goes deep into the ball. I'm highly considering plugging this but given most of ball performance is controlled by the surface prep, I can't see this weight hole making such a difference. Especially since everything else is pretty standard.

It's just odd to me how much this ball hooks sometimes and how little it moves other times. It has a bad habit of not getting onto its roll axis, because I can observe it still hooking through the pindeck at times and I leave a lot of 9s with the ball.

I know the first piece of advice is to plug the weight hole but I was just wondering if anyone else had observed sketchy behavior out of one of these, too.

Jess.

 

HankScorpio

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Re: The curious case of my 400A ...
« Reply #1 on: March 04, 2019, 06:41:58 AM »
I never had a 400A, but I did try several balls with the MOtion hole when it came out, and my results were mostly similar to what you’re seeing.

The hole was intended to provide more length and backend. I found that to be overkill on balls that were already clean. The cumulative effect was a ball that often wouldn’t start up at all, but hooked forever when it did start in time.

Plug the hole.

DP3

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Re: The curious case of my 400A ...
« Reply #2 on: March 04, 2019, 10:36:38 AM »
Very high RG ball + very high RG layout will create a lot of over under. I put a high pin over bridge layout on my HyRoad X and it's pure torture throwing the ball for more than a game.

I learned my lesson with it and some of the high rg 2 piece lanematsters balls.

JessN16

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Re: The curious case of my 400A ...
« Reply #3 on: March 04, 2019, 08:00:07 PM »
I never had a 400A, but I did try several balls with the MOtion hole when it came out, and my results were mostly similar to what you’re seeing.

The hole was intended to provide more length and backend. I found that to be overkill on balls that were already clean. The cumulative effect was a ball that often wouldn’t start up at all, but hooked forever when it did start in time.

Plug the hole.

Crazy that one little hole can do so much damage. Oh well.

Jess

LookingForALeftyWall

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Re: The curious case of my 400A ...
« Reply #4 on: March 04, 2019, 09:04:16 PM »
The 400A has a very tall core.  From what I remember (and my memory is a little rusty on this), the motion hole layout is best suited to light bulb type cores - which is not what is inside a 400A.  So it could be a bad match up between the core shape and balance hole...

Also, FWIW, I had the 400A (with a p3 balance hole) and for certain house shots, there were times when it was the best ball in my bag by far.  Sometimes, I wish I still had it.


Walking E

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Re: The curious case of my 400A ...
« Reply #5 on: March 05, 2019, 12:06:13 AM »
I didn't have a 400A but I did have a 300C Solid with the same tall core and had similar results even without the motion hole. But then, I've always struggled with tall core balls. For me those tall, lopey cores tend to over flip or under flip.

JessN16

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Re: The curious case of my 400A ...
« Reply #6 on: March 10, 2019, 01:18:16 AM »
I didn't have a 400A but I did have a 300C Solid with the same tall core and had similar results even without the motion hole. But then, I've always struggled with tall core balls. For me those tall, lopey cores tend to over flip or under flip.

Thinking back on it, that has kind of been my general experience. I believe I'm right in saying the AMF Clutch Pearl had that core shape and I struggled to get it consistent. I eventually had to knock the shine off it -- took it all the way down to 1200 with no polish -- in order to get the cover to bail the core out, to a degree.

The three cores I've had the best luck with over the years were Storm's Thunder and X-Factor cores and the original diamond-shaped cores from the Brunswick-era Lane #1 balls. The best success I've had with a Track ball has probably been the MX-05. If not that, the Machine and Mean Machine fit me pretty well.

Jess

billdozer

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Re: The curious case of my 400A ...
« Reply #7 on: March 10, 2019, 07:13:00 AM »
I didn't have a 400A but I did have a 300C Solid with the same tall core and had similar results even without the motion hole. But then, I've always struggled with tall core balls. For me those tall, lopey cores tend to over flip or under flip.

Same, tall cores suck for me.  The motion hole thing is "cool" but did it ever become widespread or an industry standard? No..I'd plug it.
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