So, 8.7k subs, 112 comments, 3.5k likes, and 1.3 MILLION views in 2 weeks? Again. 1.3 million views and 112 comments. Seriously. Um, I think I smell a little something rotten around here. Pretty sure no sponsor’s gonna pay out on those stats. Sheesh.
This brings back a lot of memories as in the early 90’s I learned to drill bowling balls and had my own pro shop, eventually drilled for highly talented tournament bowlers. I drilled balls for almost 20 years. This particular ball that they are manufacturing is a high-end ball with a symmetrical or non-symmetrical weight block which allows the driller to position that block in a location That will handle different oil conditions for the bowler plus allowing them to hook or not hook the ball more or less. If you notice on the label of the box each ball at the end of the process is weighed in a way that tells the driller where the center of gravity is, where and how the weight block sits, how much top weight is Positioned in various places on the ball and allows for more flexibility in the drilling process. The simple “ house balls“ that bowling alleys carry for every day bowlers to use off the rack have a pancake weight block or no weight block at all and the process is 90% straightforward and easier as it’s just a simple solid pour and a clean up label and shine. Nice video as it brings back many memories of my pro shop in Alaska.
You are welcome@@bkslsh . Bowling and it's equipment can be very simple or super complicated depending on the level you take it. Pause the video at 12:27 and you'll see a round dot and a horseshoe marker. Dot is the top of the weight block and the horseshoe mark is the CG or center of gravity of this 15 lb ball. All very important in the layout of drilling this ball. Afternoon 2 games with you friends having fun or bowling 30+ games a week preparing for a marathon tournament on Sat and Sun where you could bowl another 15 games a day. Lot's of super glue on your thumbs and fingers to seal or prevent the blisters and cuts. I can remember traveling from AK to Reno for big tournaments with 12 bowling balls all drilled different to bowl on whatever oil condition was thrown at you. It can be joy or it can be heartache but were always prepared. One of my 300 games in Reno at the big Bowling Stadium was a highlight.
I remember getting my first custom-made ball for my 22nd birthday. Really beat the heck out of using house balls! I was never a great bowler, but we bowled in two leagues, had a fine time bowling, eating burgers and hanging out with friends. I'm old and crippled now, but this brought back wonderful memories for me too.
The most mind-blowing part to me is the combination of low and high-tech. They have a robot arms to lift and move the pressure vessels in one step, but the molds were first made, held together with binder clips that a person has to hand-clamp on and off!
Came here to say much the same. And some poor guy has to manually pour the solution for the weights into the molds, but at other points the main body and color layer are done via machine? And people have to manually screw on the bolts holding the body molds together, then unscrew them?? And why are there those stems after the bodies and top layers are cured so long? Why can’t the machines measure out just enough material so there’s not so much that has to be shaved off (I can see leaving a much shorter stem to ensure there’s enough material to form a perfectly round ball)? So many points involving manual labor, so many questions.
When I was a kid in 1980, I drilled bowling balls for a large retailer in St. Louis, Mo. . They came in without the finger holes and my job was to drill them out for the customer. There are quite a few ways to screw that up, but apparently, I was pretty good at it, because after a few months being there and doing it, ALL bowling balls were then done by me, when it was whoever was working at the time before that. You had the size of the holes, the space between them, and the angle at which they were drilled to account for. All variables that had to be perfect for a perfect feel. I enjoyed it.
@@redwater4778 Yes they were, and they were kind of expensive really, so if someone screwed up the drilling, it was a loss for the company. They were sent back to be "refilled", but then resold for a lower price because of it.
@@TralfazConstruction Yes, it is. These days I grow and sell chestnuts. I'm packaging an order today made up of scion wood of 21 different Chinese cultivars for orchard production of superior nuts.They planted Dunstan's, and are upgrading via top working/ grafting. So, he starts with an entry level and ends with the best trees available. What part of construction are you involved with?
@Qingeaton Metalworking and metal fabrication; specifically roll-forming for the automotive industry. I was involved with design, engineering and troubleshooting of tools and processes. I'm retired and I consult on projects which interest me. Best wishes in your endeavors.
I loved all of the little 'modifications' the workers had done to the machines. the drip cups, the half a plastic bottle screwed onto the lathe tool, the tape over the polishing pads.
Fascinating! I'm 74 years-old and have been bowling since I was about 10 years-old, and I had no idea this much work went into the creation of a bowling ball! I always knew about weight blocks and how they affected the ball, but this is really an eyeopener for me.
I am shocked at how many steps there are to make a ball. Whoever invented the process would have to be an absolute genius ! And the girl who made one strike after another - WOW !
@@blamm5348 That and editing. No doubt she's very good, but they probably filmed her bowling for hours and hours and then clipped together some of the strikes she made.
Every bowling ball goes through a dozen claw machines that pick them up with no problems, but the claw machine at my local bowling alley can't pick up a single stuffed animal.
Those machines are rigged. They have a setting that decides how often they drop the toy, to make sure the machine makes a profit for the owner. You can easily find owner manual scans online that explain this. Of course when they need one for industrial purposes they make them without that "feature".
Wow I've always wanted to know how bowling balls were made and now I know. This is a cool and interesting process. I love to see how things are made and how things work.
A lot more to building a bowling ball than I thought. The custom finger hole placement drilling was impressive. That young lady at the end was obviously a professional bowler. 👍👍🇨🇦
Unless that lady they’re using to bowl was payed X amount to bowl X amount of balls so they could sell it for a premium and be able to say “_________ , just coming off a championship year using our bowling balls earned _____ money” then some dopey quip of her saying “I only use _____ because they’re the best and I help test them so they’ll be the best on the market and I’ll only use _____ when I enter tournaments”. Or something along those lines. Give her $50k, take some video showing her testing at the facility, watching others bowl for whatever data, so yeah. She could be a pro.
Wow! We can hear AND see the process. I was expecting the audio to be obnoxious musical noise. Being able to hear the sound of the machines and tools is fascinating.This is great!
That’s the core. In a reactive ball they are either symmetrical or asymmetrical. That, along with how the ball is drilled, decides when, and how much, hook the ball has. The cover stock also comes into play with those things.
That is really cool and well done. I did think at some point they were going to put it through a true polishing to bring out the beauty of the bowling ball.
This is a very interesting video of machining spheres and domes. You see, 51 years ago I had a job as a machinist in Bellflower Ca. making domes very similar to this by using tracers. Machining has come a long way in 50+ yrs.
"I brought it f...... bowling. I'm not renting it shoes, I'm not buying it a f...... beer, It's not taking your f...... turn," -Walter, The Big Lebowski
It's the stuff that's keeps people from having to hold weight out away from their body and put stress on their spine. Reduces back injuries. When you're dealing with so much weight, the stress compounds fast.
This stuff is very heavy. Having to carry that load around by humans is slow and dangerous. This is a FACTORY, they make a lot of things very fast, that is the whole point.
Basic, well just don't look at the inner workings. That's when the headache really starts. Just imagine if one variable is off. You could get an oval instead of a sphere.
Hello, Want to mention I own: The Geek, The Dynamite, and a Lord Field ball. Love all three. It's interesting to see the factory where these balls are made. Bob
I used to love the washing machine at the bowling alley. That thing was serious. Wash, rinse, dry, apply wax, buff, dry, finish. I don’t think it had any effect upon my score, but it improved my Karma.
Who knew there was such a demand for bowling balls? All this high tech expensive machinery can be bought, operated, and maintained with the sales of bowling balls?!?! It's kind of mind blowing.
It's fascinating to see how there are MANY different and weird shaped (and misshaped) cores within a bowling ball to give it different spin and 'Curving' control when bowling. Until a few years back I thought they were 'Just round balls' until I saw an episode of TVs 'How It's Made'. It also showed how they tailored finger holes for each customer. It made me think "Ohhh, right, THAT'S how they do it!". 😏 😎🇬🇧
It's amazing just how much science goes into it. I have four of them myself, each with different cores and coverstocks -- not to mention the oil conditions of the lane will make them react and hook differently. When people tell me they suck at bowling, I always respond with the fact between the shitty house balls and awful shoes, there's a glass ceiling on how good people can be. Just having holes drilled to match your hand makes a stunning amount of difference. You don't have to expend so much energy just gripping it, wearing your hand out in the process.
there was quite a bit of pointless automation steps. to have a 150K Robotic arm just to pick something up after you put it down is crazy. lol the ROI on this plant gonna take a while.
@@danielkokal8819 bowling ball technology has changed drastically in the last few decades. Bowling lanes are oiled before every league and the oil on the lane can vary in length and volume. Think of the ball you see in the video as a sponge, as the outer layer (cover; what the red material was in this video) is designed to soak up oil so the ball can "hook" at the end of the lane to produce an optimal angle for throwing strikes. Over time, the cover of the ball soaks up oil which makes the motion both later and less overall, you can "bake" a bowling ball in a temperature regular oven (usually sits around 130-140°F) to remove some of this oil but over time the cover stops being able to absorb oil. Because of this, bowlers tend to get a new ball every 1-5 years. There are also different weight blocks inside of the ball as you saw at the beginning that let's the ball make the motion i mentioned; how it makes the motion changes with the core shape. That, along with different cover formulations that are meant to make the ball "read" the lane at different distances makes it so bowlers may have multiple different bowling balls; if you ever watch bowling on TV, you'll see the professionals use multiple different balls for different purposes. Hope that helps.
Its 8:48 pm 9 April 2023 Sydney Australia time. Very interesting process of how they make ten pin bowling balls. The drilling of the three holes where the bowlers fingers are inserted was not included in this video. Also, the determination of the center of gravity of the bowling Bowl that makes it spin as per the skills and techniques used by the player. Now l have an understanding of the processes and materials needed using machines to make a perfect bowling Bowl.
Made in south Korea, yet at 13:54 the girl marking the ball for drilling is using a "Pro Sect" measuring device "Made in USA" !!!!! That kinda warmed my heart.
I'm thinking it's the cure time. you can only have so many molds and they have to sit for a bit for the urethane to set. You scale the rest of the line to match.
볼링공 제작과정 0:47 코어재료 배합(코어: 볼링공 중심부에 있는 축, 비대칭 또는 대칭 코어 / 원반형 등이 있음, 볼링공이 꺽이게 되는 훅성을 만들어내는 중요한 부분) 1:22 코어 몰드에 코어재료 넣기 2:22 코어 쇼트 작업(코어 표면을 거칠게 만들어 나중에 이너쉘과 잘 결합이 되도록 하는 과정) 2:56 코어 핀 타공(핀의 위치가 중심에서 가깝거나 먼 정도에 따라 볼링공의 스펙을 결정) 3:10 코어의 불필요한 부분 제거 3:35 코어를 볼링공 속공인 이너쉘 몰드에 결합 (볼링공은 코어 +이너쉘 + 외피 또는 코어 + 외피로 이루어져있음) 4:18 속공 몰드에 이너쉘 주입(이너쉘은 부풀어 오르는 특성이 있으며 부풀어오르는 시간을 조절하여 이너쉘의 밀도를 조정함. 볼링공의 무게에 관여함. 같은 파운드의 볼링공에 약간의 무게차이가 있는 이유) 5:38 속공 주입구 제거작업 5:54 쇼트작업이 완료된 속공(외피와 결합이 잘되록 하는 이유) 6:15 속공을 볼링공 외피(커버스탁) 몰드에 결합 6:29 볼링공 외피 재료 주입(외피 즉 커버스탁의 스펙에 따라 볼링공의 마찰력에 결정적인 영향을 줌) 6:52 외피 재료를 굳히는 작업완료 7:51 볼링공 외피의 불필요한 부분 제거 8:22 볼링공의 핀위치 구멍(다른색으로 채워 넣어서 핀위치를 표시를 한다) 8:42 볼링공을 완전한 구형태로 깍아내는 과정(볼링공의 지정된 크기에 맞추어서 깍아낸다) 10:02 1차 샌딩 작업 10:32 볼링공 사이즈 규격 검사 (두개의 링중 하나는 통과해야하고 하나는 통과하면 안된다.영상에는 하나만 나옴) 10:40 영상에선 생략된 부분이 있음 (CG / PAS(mass bias) 위치 표시 등의 내용 :깊은 내용이라.. 볼러들도 어려워하는 거라 생략... 저도 자세히는 모름) 10:57 볼링공 브랜드 및 네이밍, USBC 넘버(공인구 인증번호) 각인 11:19 각인 부분에 컬러 채워넣기 11:45 단계별 샌딩작업: 거친 사포에서 >> 고운 사포로 (마지막에 폴리싱 작업이란것도 있는데 코팅이라고 생각하면됨. 영상의 볼링공은 코팅작업은 없는 볼링공) 외피 가공에 따라 볼링공의 마찰력에 영향을줌 13:24 지공전 엄지덤 사이즈 체크 및 스판 확인 (엄지홀로 부터 중약지 한마디까지 거리) 13:43 지공작업(전문지공사 혹은 볼링 프로 분들의 영역이라 잘 모름. 맡기면 알아서 잘해주심) 끗~
I sometimes think, does the world need that many hammers and screwdrivers? Don't they last a lifetime? Then I walk into a Harbor Freight and it's always full of people buying these simple tools, imported from China and sold for cheap.
I tried making my own bowling ball at home. I experimented with several designs, and spent several thousand dollars putting it all together in my garage. I finally produced one,, unfortunately it wasn't round , but egg shaped. I took it to my league bowling night and bowled a 13. It would wobble like a weeble. Several bowlers approached me and asked me to leave the premesis. I was embarrassed, and the League would not allow me to register for the next season.
I remember right after getting my first bowling ball in the late 1970s, I had a really weird hook. I'm right-handed and my ball should hook right to left, but there were times it would cross the lane about halfway down and then hook left to right and other times it would hook right to left into the pins. I was also able to get it to go straight if I really needed it to and I ended my bowling season with a 198 average.
@@TheLunarLumen it's about mid-point for an Amateur bowler (170-220). The average is based on the total pin count (Points) for three games for the season divided by the total number of games in the season. For a member of the American Junior Bowling Congress (AJBC) a season average of 198 is considered slightly above average.
@@TheLunarLumen Bowling is fun and can be frustrating only if you let it be, my bowling ball has always been familiar with the gutters LOL - not great bowler, but always enjoyed it --- Have a great time
The cost of the facility , to buy, run,and maintain those machines, along with thee cost of material and the worker's wage it's a miracle they turn a profit. Gives me a new appreciation now whenever I feel like heading to the lanes for to bowl even a 170. Next time I bowl I am going to admire the craftsmanship and precision of the ball a little more. Whoever the engineers were that created the machines have their minds on another level of human. Lady bowling at the end had great form and style, I bet she bowls a 300 quite easily , if not I bet she considers a poor score a 220, she's that good.
There are probably only a few factories like this in the whole world. Economies of scale.Most of the balls in the USA are made by 5 companies. Two of them are in the same city.
You know what would be a cool twist to this? If the machines that have the suction cups on them if they went completely berserk and started throwing balls over the factory. And when someone comes to fix it they throw balls at that person as well.
I used to work at a manufacturing bowling ball company I worked in every department over 5years before closing down in baltimore maryland faball home of the hammer bowling ball
Interesting! I've been looking for information on early bowling ball manufacturing processes (I know that sounds silly). Maybe you'll know this. Do you know how Brunswick made their bowling balls in the early days? The supposedly used a mercury bath to polish the balls to perfect roundness, but the process seems to be lost (or hidden).
That’s really cool! I’ve been bowling about 8 years and just two years ago I got a Faball Blue Hammer which I’ll still use on shorter patterns when my Purple is too much
No she isn’t. 15lb is the most common size so that’s what was shown being made. Doesn’t mean the tiny little girl is throwing a 15lb ball. 12lb at most.
Wow! Precision and saving time in order to increase productivity and quality must mean nothing to you. But you comment on a video about high-tech . How stupid the Japanese engineers must be, compared to YOU!
