rotating pins

[Guest]

i have heard some centers keep a set of pins on the shelf and rotate pins every so often.

how common is this?
if you rotate, how often?
what is advantage of resting pins, if any?
any special care?

any feedback is appreciated!

[Coors]

Re: rotating pins

some have discovered if you use the pins half as much, they last twice as long. (please reread) in a perfect world i guess you could have pinchasers clean every other set while out. switching the sets out are often a pain as the different sets slide differently on the pans and shuttle differently.

but to each their own

[Bobby Bee]

Re: rotating pins

We have two full sets of pins that we rotate every six months (24 lanes) It is a pain, but I do believe it helps. We think that with our lineage, those pins would be nothing but kindling if we ran them all season. We run a new set every year, so one set is a year older than the other. So esentially we just replace a set every year, but we are not beating the crap out of them until there is nothing left of them by the end of the season. This year the bowlers have brand new pins until Feb. then we put the set in that was purchased last fall, for the remainder of the season and summer, then start over in the fall again. Works for us, so...if it aint broke... :p

BB

[GPS]

Re: rotating pins

When I ran Amflites we rotated every 6 weeks. I bought new pins 2years in a row and could skip the third year. I am convinced that rotating allowed me to skip that third year.

[8270 pinspotter]

Re: rotating pins

I have three sets of pins and rotate them every two weeks. I haven't bought pins since '97, and two of the sets are from sometime in the '80's (with the old eagle ABC logo) and are still in great shape. With super high lineage, this seems to work for me, so I do it. I never have trouble with different sets of pins in the machines. I change them every other Sunday.

[Guest]

Re: rotating pins

If I understand feedback correctly, a set of pins will last "x" no of months. But if you break "x" in half with some period of time in between you can add more time to "x".

Why is the off time important to pins?
Do you treat them with anything when not in use?

An extra set of pins is costly, but not if it can prolong the next purchase.

What makes them hold up better?
Thanks again for your input!

[Lampie]

Re: rotating pins

If you have an extra sett of pins it's easier to let the pins rest. With resting I mean-pins are made from wood the outside is plastic(or another name), if you keep pins in the machine for a long time the wood will change form and get dryer. After some time you will get air between your plastic outside of the pin and the wood inside your pin is getting dryer, this will cause breaking of the outside of your pin. If the wood is getting dryer the wood will break earlyer too. SO
Changing your pins every other three or four weeks and clean them(and make them a little bit less dryer at the same time )will give the pin a longer live and will allso give you better pin action.

Martin

[toon30s]

Re: rotating pins

I am a FIRM beliver in rotating / resting the pins. I have a set of Vultex II pins that were new in '85! The advantage is that while resting, they draw a little moisture and the wood swells back out, increasing pin action. I have four sets (2 Amflites, 1 "B" Max, 1 VultexII). I change them once per month and use the Vultexs in the summer(they are old enough they are turning yellow [img]/content/btubb/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/eek.gif[/img] ). We have a set of Brunswick Mixers that we used to use in the summer, but they didn't work very well this summer. I don't notice much difference from brand to brand as far as how they perform in the machines, but I do notice a difference in where to hit the pocket!! It seems like the AMF pins score a little better. I have 82-30s now, but until 6 years ago we had half 82-70s(8 of each) and the 70s did take some adjusting after a pin change [img]/content/btubb/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/mad.gif[/img] .
TOON
P.S. Anyone tried having old pins rebuilt?

[ September 07, 2001: Message edited by: toon30s ]

[kryley]

Re: rotating pins

We have 3 sets of Amflite II glow pins. We have two sets out of the machines and one set in. While the pins are out of the machines we clean them using the good old AMF Pin Performance Centre (a lathe-type machine that semisubmerses the pin in cleaning fluid and spins it around as it rests on a series of brushes - sounds complex i know but when you see one you'll know what I mean).

We do pin changes once every 3 weeks or if we dont have them washed by then, whenever a full set of pins has been washed. The way we do it is night shift washs 40 pins per shift (or a pair worth) and casuals on the weekends was 30 pins a shift - so thereoetically, 320 pins should be washed per week - but obviously it hardly ever happens that way, thats why we give it 3 weeks.

We don't really have any problems with orientation on the dissys etc etc, except for probably the first day, or day and a half when the pin piles just go through the roof.

The pin performance centre tends to rip the wooden base out of the pins if they are not in the machine properly, and our pins tend to loose their heads (the coating peels off on the head of the pins) really easily. The pins are just over 4 years old - anyone got any ideas why this problem is happening.... does it have to do with them being washed so much??? or something else??

anyway, thanx guys

Have fun!!

[8270king]

Re: rotating pins

We have 16 lanes....high lineage....we buy one set of pins per year....throw the old away.....no pins to have laying around or clean.

Just my system. I have rotated in the past. It does make the pins last longer.....however with payroll costs and employees that cannot think my system works for us.

Jerry

[Guest]

Re: rotating pins

My center has three sets of pins and but a new set every 3 years our pin last so long cause we have a pin room where , we have a vapuorizer and pin racks where we can fit 300 pins a a time the room is sealed with black plastic so no air can get in you need to line the door way with velcro to get in and out and also some heat lights so that the room can get hot . This makes the pins sweat and loose there moisture and oil content . We keep them in for a week then take them out and wipe them off with a wrag . We have found this has been such a good idea other centers are trying it now , and are liking the results . The pins last longer and also still retain there hiting power .

[img]/content/btubb/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif[/img]

[vinyltouch1973]

Re: rotating pins

Am not so sure about heating lamps to let moisture out!!!!!!!! Ur supposed to get them moist and hang them upside down to stop wood drying out and splitting or separating from plastic coating. Never dry out pins!!!! thats what the hole on the bottom is for, water.
I worked in a centre with 2 sets amflites rotated full set and washed once a month,kept old boxes and plastic bags and put washed rotated pins in them and numbered them so we could see machine damage on them if any. They lasted SIX YEARS before one slit or lost head or a bottom..this was and is a busy centre, with pin wrecking Brunswick GS machines

[Steve Stafford (JBEES)]

Re: rotating pins

The hole in the bottom is for water?????????????

It was put there for setting pins on top of pegs. The pegs were lifted by stepping on a peddle and setting the pins on the pegs. The peddle was let go and the bowler was ready to bowl...or at least that was what I was told by an old-timer...

I've never heard of "watering" pins. Resting pins was for older style pins before surlyn cover stocks. The older pins would deform from all the impacting by bowling balls. The plastic would stay with the shape of the wood. You would rest them to allow the wood to expand back out towards its original shape. This allowed pins to go through the pinsetter/pinspotters better. With todays pins, the surlyn maintains the original shape even though the wood underneath contracts through the pounding. This creates a gap between the plastic and the surlyn. By resting pins, you can have the wood begin to fill that void again, but I wonder if that really helps make the pins last any longer. I would like to see someone take one set of pins across half the house and rotate them 4 weeks in and 4 weeks out. In the other half of the house...run a half set while never rotating them. I think the outcome would be very interesting. Just a thought...

[Guest]

Re: rotating pins

after years of rotating pins we recieved a ****ty batch of pins down under, yeh australia got the rejects.
pins were disintergrating faster than ever during rotating. we had 3 sets of pins, each set in for 2 weeks, an absolute pain in the butt but we had to do it.
when getting these reject pins we were told to put them in and run each set untill dead. well in doing that the first set trialed lasted 18 months on approx 30 linage 20 lane cenntre.. we then got other centres trying it and over approx 5 years found leaving the pins in continuously was very beneficial, when pins rest they tend to dry out more. first days of bowling after resting was murder on pins.
what we do 20 lane centre 21 sets of pins
each night we take out a set eg.. lane 1 and put 21's set into lane
we clean pins from lane one then the next night move them to lane 2 and so on..
this has been an excellent budet saver..

buy the way the hole in the bottom of the pins is not for water.. yes you use then for standing on racks etc, but a nother reason is the same as the two hollow sections of pins for weight and compression if you had a solid pin at the bottom as well the pin would explode after a while..