undergrounds

[Ron]

Well I've had this problem for quite a while now, and can't seem to solve it. Soooo, I thought you can help, as this site is awsome. I have changed the steel underground that holds the softer track, and the track. It seems that the balls are getting air born and are hitting the framing below the capping. There are no wires under there for the balls to hit. The machines are 82-70's with no modifications to the down shoot exitnig the machine. This happens at about 40 feet from the foul line.

[Coors]

Re: undergrounds

Meaning when the ball barrells down the down sweep.....& every so often you hear a thundersous BOOM!....and for some reason the ball never reaches the front lift?

Re: undergrounds

THE TRACK IS LOOSE OR A CLAMP IS ON BACKWARDS OR THERE IS A FORIEGN OBJECT ON THE TRACK.
IN THE PAST I HAVE SEEN SOME INSTALLATIONS WERE THERE IS NOT A 2 BY WHERE THE METAL TRACK COMES TOGETHER. SOME TIMES, AFTER WEAR AND TEAR, WHEN THE BALL REACHES THAT SPLICE, THE METAL TRACK WILL FLEX AT THE SEAM CAUSING THE BALL TO GO AIRBORN. TAKE THE CAPPING UP AND KEEP THROWING DIFFERNT WEIGHT BALLS TILL YOU SEE WHERE IT HAPPENS. LET ME KNOW HOW YOU MAKE OUT.
[email protected]
ROB

[Coors]

Re: undergrounds

also do you have the new railroad track lookin things from ball wipe to ball return...or the wooden downsweep into the new railroad lookin deal..or old deal

[Ed Fox]

Re: undergrounds

do you have any extra preasure on the back of the ball lift ie:springs etc? also make shurew your down sweep isnt twisted at all! not even the slightest bit! these new balls w/ these funny weight blocks can cause some strange prod. if the weight block gets off to one side of the rail of the down sweep and the down sweep is bent even the slightest it will cause the ball to rock and if there are any imperfections in your under lane track then heads up, shes going to come off rail!!!!!!

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[Ron]

Re: undergrounds

WEll guys thanks for the help I have some things to look at. I have the old deal, wooden down shoot. I know how these new weight blocks can cause weird things. I really didn't have the problem, until recent years with the new blocks. I think the reactive resin balls are more bouncey than plian old urethane too. I don't recall seeing a 2 by at all the seems, and I did have a splice come apart once.

Re: undergrounds

Well first of all, I have had the same problem. Check your ball wipes to make sure that they are fairly tight. This slows the balls down a fair amount. If you don't have the ball wipes on, put them back in place. This solved my problem, nothing wrong with the track, or downsweep.

[craigchandler]

Re: undergrounds

sounds to me like the down rail is out of align, as the ball goes down the downsweep, if it is uneven, the ball will rock from side to side, as it gains momentum the ball lifts off the track by riding up the groove of the underlane track, causing it to finally hit a cross member and cause an underlane

[8270king]

Re: undergrounds

I have seen this problem before - especially with light balls. Check to see how ball lift shock is mounted at top. Take ball lift out and flip upper ball lift shock bracket over to allow for extra travel as ball goes up lift rails. This is how they are converted on humpback and pbl. You will have to use a jam nut on underside of shock bushing to get ball lift to lower sufficiently for kicker exits. If the bracket is flipped down the ball lift kind of spits the balls out.

[Jimmy Jam]

Re: undergrounds

In my center they did not shim the downsweeps. The balls would hit the track and bounce. At first I thought it was the bent metal track causing the balls to sometimes go air-born, but why are they all bent accross the house? I found out why. The balls were hitting the black track instead of rolling onto them. On the sure-pik instalation blue print (in the manual) they show how to shim up the downsweep and brace the back.

I lay a strip of paper on the downsweep between the tracks and hold a ball on it. If I can slip the paper out from between the ball and wood, I know ball is resting on the tracks. It should be resting on the downsweep with 1/32" (?) gap between the tracks.

I shim with paper board and chissel the track slots so the track lays lower.

Just another thing to check, Jonas.