AMF 82/95 Candlepinspotter.... the "Mystery Machine"

[rivmike]

I remenber hearing about the step down at the deck and that is why you can't run a regular lane machine on them. (like a 10 pin lane)

[Tablejam]

Now that I think about if im not mistaken the reason its there is to prevent pins rolling out past the pindeck.

[rivmike]

You can run the lane short, but will leave a puddle and deck to be done by hand.

[Candlepin_Guy]

Like Tablejam said, the main reason for the drop off is to keep pins from rolling out of play. I was told by someone who knows a bit about physics that the higher up on the pin the ball hits, the more energy is transfered to the pins resulting in better pinaction. But, by transfering more energy to the pins, the less energy the ball retains. Which is not good cause then there is too much deflection of the ball. In my (limited) experience it seems that a little less than 1/2" of a drop is the perfect blend of the two extremes.

As far as land machines go, they really aren't needed it candlepin. In most cases, centres apply a thin coat to the first 20 feet or so just to protect the lane. Hook balls usually aren't thrown since they're hard to control as a result of the ball's small diameter.

[House]

if i remember, the drop off was around 1/4-5/16 stepdown (roughly)

[Candlepin_Guy]

Hey house, it all depends. I dont think there is a set deck height. All i know is the ICBA says anywhere from 1/4" to 1/2". And of course, over the years of lane resurfacing the drop gets smaller and smaller unless the decks are lowered to compensate.

[outofmymind]

Great machine From Boston Bowl ps went to bowl mor

[Brianlah]

That's funny and is so true. Just watching videos of the 82/95 and the Bowl-Mor machines you can easily see which one is a real machine but there is nothing wrong with something that is clunky and slow if it gets the job done.

Sometimes I have clunky and slow days too.

I worked on both the slow clunky bowlmors ran much better that the 82/95s. It was a real mix between 70s and 30s .It had a Distributer track, pin counter, pit carpet front and rear rollers were the same FRont roller used a torsion bar setup rather than springs. chassis had a stepper in it> 2 motors backend and frontend which ran both sweep and table because it only needed to spot pins. you can parts you need for a bowlmor at the hard ware store . They were both fun to work on
.

[Scooter185]

I know that these are rare, but anyone know of any southern Maine centers that have 82-95s?

[nicko6113]

I know that these are rare, but anyone know of any southern Maine centers that have 82-95s?

as far i can tell there are none in operation. the last known location that i knew was someone in vegas has 2 trailers of them and possibly one in his house.

[Scooter185]

as far i can tell there are none in operation. the last known location that i knew was someone in vegas has 2 trailers of them and possibly one in his house.

ahh that's unfortunate, i was hoping that if a a few 70As had survived there'd be a couple 95s hanging around too.

[KrisW73]

What about the Hopedale Community House?

EDIT - Nevermind - looks like the place was renovated.

[BlackCloud]

I worked a house and the name escapes me in Malden, Mass 44 bowl-mors one level and 24 amf-82-95's 12 each two levels took me a few weeks to realize the guide roller at the end of the distributor bearings for the guide mount were extremely worn I was told to stay on that side of the house as they were interesting compared to bowl-mor first thing I discovered was too many pins in the machine BM 24 pins the amf's? 26-28 pins! I lowered the count to 20 per machine and bowlers wanted to know how I speeded up the ball return! When I requested parts bearings etc. they were incredulous they don't use parts they run forever after getting the parts to rebuild one distributor they were stunned when they realized that lane hadn't had a call since I rebuilt the distributor three months later found a manual for the machine stuffed in the bottom of an old box of pins machine sure runs nice when you go through it and set it up they were so far out of whack I was amazed they're even ran but when everything ran right they were fun to watch if I remember right they had a cycle time of 4-1/2 seconds blew the bowl-mors right out the door.
unfortunately the place was torn down to provide more off street parking several years ago. I miss the joint!