I have work on machine , manage bowling lanes and one thing is for sure today , the owners on avg just don’t want to pay these guys enough , the want charge the bowler 7 to 10 dollars a game , some areas even higher , but want to pay theee mechanics $12 to 15 sn hour and they wonder why they can’t find good mechanics today
Looks like a typical back end of a bowling alley. They don't seem to allow the space to work in. Worked on A2's for 10 yrs and our centre was the same. Turret wires on the A2's were the killer on our pins so I hear you regarding worn pins. One thing Mechanics or Tech's as we are called here are poorly paid for what they need to know, to maintain the machines and lanes.
As bowlers, we can hardly see the other side of the game. I'm grateful for all the things technical staffs have done so that we can have a great game. Remind myself not to complain them 😄
The first center I worked at had 82-70s that had the saluting robot logo, not the magic triangle one on the ones you have. I often wondered how old those 82-70s were.
My house used a Century 100 machine until about 15 years ago. Old wood lanes, hand stripped and oiled gutter to gutter every Monday, then dusted daily and a fresh re-oil with the machine shimmed to block the shot from 7 to 7 , leaving only the monday oil outside the rest of the week. Challenging shot by todays standards, but outside the time it took to hand strip the lanes once a week, it was a lot cheaper than paying a bajillion dollars for a modern machine that breaks when you look at it. Use that same routine from 1980 when my Aunt managed the center, and I was 5... until nearly 2010 when they finally replaced the old wood with synthetics and got a new lane machine.
Been in your situation- the shots can do wonders. Just watch how you lift things the first few shots. Unfortunately, I had to get surgery cause the shots were temp, so they cut into one of my vertbae to let the nerve naturally hang loose. It's been good since 2001. Good vibes your way mate.
So excited for you! Can't wait for you to get back to your normal life and back to work in that bowling alley! Also excited for the new video to drop. I know the editing process can be so tedious sometimes but once you have that final product, it's so worth it! Can't wait!! 😊
I've never heard of ball lift belts popping from the lift being too low. To me, it looked like your upper BL yoke needed to be adjusted. Usually, it is too far to the opposite side that the belt is riding the ball. That belt was pretty shot as well. I'd check the inside of it and make sure it's not falling apart. I may be wrong, though. Just imo Where do you get the blue dist. belts from? Do you like them? I've never seen them before.
Our center just got new pins and wow the "new" complaints from the league bowlers is just insane ! "Oh the pins are new so they're flat at the bottom and dont carry" (etc)... I'm not a mechanic but can only imagine what you have to go through every day!
Its always like that. And when they arent complaining. They always take for granted that the mechanics are the reason why their machine ran better than the week before or has a nice fresh shot of oil out for them.
Congrats on getting to 500 subs! Love your content and love your personality! It's just so nice to have someone that's genuine on RU-vid rather than someone thats just making clickbait content for views. Do what your heart says about your videos and do what your wife says about work. You know the old idiom: happy wife, happy life!
This is AMF right? My Boss, owner of a bowling hall in Germany, constructed a new clutch system with an own creation.. 1 Setting, no flaws. no adjustments needed. If you want to hear more about it, contact me via mail . My boss and his assistant also made an video about the set up process.
Well shit, sorry to hear, I know what it's like working on those machines with a bad back, not easy at all. Just try not to overdo it and do what the doc says... Best of luck to you 🤞
Sorry to hear about your health problems! I'm sure you'll be patched up and ready to mechanic. Gratz on the 500 subs! I'm trying to hit 50 subs so I can so live streams!
Man... You think Kegel would honor a warranty or do better. I mean that's $40k down the drain. If I was a company that charges more than a new car I'd at least step up and figure something out to help you.
Sorry to see ya go mate , you were really informative. My son only just started being a bowling mechanic and myself and he liked learning about the machines from your videos. Good luck in the future mate. From Rick and Rory in Australia.🎳🎳👍
Thanks for posting content like this I am a mechanic too and work with very similar machines. It is nice to be able too see how much you know and to gain new experience without even doing the actual work. If you run into anything maintenance related I’m subbed and looking for any uploads brotha stay safe💪🏻💯
My center has been running an IKON for several years. With conditioning 32 lanes every morning and full house leagues most nights it gets a workout. We have had to replace a few parts over the years but since I took over as FM and rrally implemented a cleaning and maintenance program with it our IKON runs better than it has since we got it used from another center, from what I am given to understand from the years before I started. There's a lot of maintenance that goes into these machines, some of which I am still learning, but in my experience, if you treat it right it will generally return the favor. That said, there's still a number of poor design choices (like the compartment lids and side panel covers, or the wiring harness for the button running through the handle) that should have been done differently but overall, I like it better than the Summit I used to run or our backup Kustodian. Good luck with your search for something better though!
I dunno, I started at a 44 lane Brunswick house. 44 Model A's in a row. One head mechanic and one B mechanic on heavy league nights and pinchasers filled in the rest. We averaged 8-10 calls a night including ball calls.....double leagues. Full house early and 28-30 lanes late leagues. We kept those machines in tip top shape and they ran like swiss watches. Did we have occasional problems of course but we had a few tricks just to make it to the end of league night.
