Offspots

[carlospant]

Just courious if you all count offspots as a stop or not
we do here but ...its 50- 50 between mechs here if we should or not
thanks c.p.

[8270king]

Re: Offspots

[Ratchetwrist]

Re: Offspots

We define a stop is anything that prevents the customer from bowling. Out of ranges or off spots are mixed arguement. The machine does what it's designed to do so mechanically it's not a stop. The contrast is it prevents the customer from bowling because it requires human interaction. Automatic OOR kits drastically reduce the need for mechanic interaction (open bowling) but the need to remove deadwood (league)is still there. IMHO, they should be counted.

[Alastair]

Re: Offspots

Off spots, in my opinion, should not be counted in FPS calculations due to the fact it is one of the machines 5 cycles that is built to perform. (AMF) If I had the money then I could eliminate this so called stop by purchasing the reverse relays.

We sometimes will run 7 to 10 off-spots per day, especially when busy from dawn till dusk. I know for a fact that this would cripple any FPS calculation that would be done. The figure would not be an accurate reflection of the technician’s ability, but only a reflection on the management’s ability NOT to part with money!!

Not everyone has the money, or can warrant stripping every day especially during quiet periods when some lanes may not even be used that day, so stripping and re-oiling is just not practical or cost efficient.
At the end of the day off spots happen mainly due to kids rolling light balls down (I hate 6 lbs balls by the way) the lane and pins sliding across the deck. Even if you go into the pin deck yourself and try and slide a pin across, it is nearly impossible!! How it happens is beyond me sometimes.

We clean pin decks by hand each week, in addition to stripping the lanes every day, and even this did not help reduce off spots. [img]/content/btubb/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/confused.gif[/img]


For example we could have one centre which is predominantly full of leagues and serious bowlers, but let’s say that the pit team is a little lazy. On the other hand we have a predominantly open play centre which has a ninja pit crew. All hands on deck! When you calculate each centre's FPS you will find that the ninja crew may be running at around 800 to 1000 including off spots, but the not so well maintained centre could have an fps of 1300 +, but the machines run better in the open play centre.
That’s why I don’t like the idea of including off spots in the FPS calculation. You have to give the technician a fair head start!

[2424pepsi]

Re: Offspots

Carlos- I've always counted OOR or off-spots. It gives you a real ## on what is going on with the machines. If you don't count them you will run 1800 to 3000 fps. Count them with clean pin decks and some kind of deck treatment you'll be at 1200 to 2500 any given day, as the decks get dirty caused by kids with the bumpers up or certain ladies leagues (straight-ballers down the middle) the average will drop under 1200 fps on certain days. Frames Per Stop is not a check against you--its a very important tool for you too use in case you have certain days that just don't go right!!! You can check back in your records and make notes to make your center run consistant (change ball wipes, clean pin deck or spray them, Clean the lanes more often ETC.) I think you get the picture. The real trick is getting your proprietor (The Boss) to see it this way--This is called communication!!

[Alastair]

Re: Offspots

A good question to ask is, is the machine working correctly when an off spot happens? The answer is YES! If the off spot cycle did not work then surely this would go onto the FPS calculation! You shouldn't be penalised for a having a working machine!

We have tried the Legends "hair spray", sorry pin deck treatment. All it does is make an absolute mess of the pin decks. All dirt and dust clings to it making the decks disgusting. Lane stripper does not break down this substance well, or even remotely clean it off. It just adds huge amounts of time to the already busy maintenance schedule.

[Satanic Mechanic]

Re: Offspots

Alastair, we use DBA's Pin Deck Treatment. Spray it on every once in a while and you're good to go. Try that. But, I don't know if they have that across the pond by you, though.

[weslink]

Re: Offspots

(((We have tried the Legends "hair spray", sorry pin deck treatment)))) [img]/content/btubb/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/rotflol.gif[/img]

this is got to be the craziest thing I ever heard in the bowling biz :p

[Pietenpol]

Re: Offspots

I saw a sticker in one of the trade mags recently..goes over the pin spot on the deck. Is this a legal thing to do? Not sure about the other guys, but I've only had 1 oor over the last week since people have been back and bowling on the newly cut lanes.

[Kurt]

Re: Offspots

I think this should be counted in FPS as the number of OOR can be influenced by a number of things such as pin maintenance, lane maintenance, oil pattern, oil, cleaner solution and lane machine. Myself, I could put down a much easier condition, but I prefer to alter that to have less ball calls and OOR. I understand that the machine is designed to stop for the OOR and is a normal stop, but the machine is also designed to stop at 180 waiting for pins and to shut down during a deck jam. Of course I don't have a budget on FPS, nor is my ability judged by FPS but I can say I had 2 OOR in the past week. Maybe there should be an acceptable number of OOR per frames. FPOOR?

[LaRue]

Re: Offspots

We don't count them. What I use to help control OOR's is take a 1 gallon sprayer and put a 70 to 30 ratio of water and bleach and spray the pin decks every 3 to 4 days after you run the lanes and let them dry about 10 to 15 minutes. Our OOR's are down to a minimum.

[weslink]

Re: Offspots

WAY TO GO LARUE YOUR THE ONLY ONE I HEARD OF THAT USES BLEACH,WHICH I WAS TAUGHT THIS BACK IN THE 70s and yet to hear from anyone hear using it, its cheap and easy [img]/content/btubb/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/143.gif[/img]

[LaRue]

Re: Offspots

Thank you. Eke-o-system told me that trick. Does wonders and only cost pennies.

[weslink]

Re: Offspots

well i guess were the old dogs now ruff;;ruff [img]/content/btubb/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/rotflol.gif[/img]

[HBOwner]

Re: Offspots

Wes Link

(((We have tried the Legends "hair spray", sorry pin deck treatment))))

Unless you have tried that stuff, don't make fun of the poster that stated that. I too have used it and his statement clearly defines that treatment to a T. It does work but it also makes the mess as he states.

Tim