Bowling Ball Rejuvenator: How to Build and Use One?

If you are into bowling, you already know how important it is to clean the ball at least once a while. Doing the cleaning in one of the traditional ways may bring some advantages. What if you are planning to test your skills on a challenging oil pattern and lane condition?

This is where you want to adopt a proper rejuvenation approach that gets deep into the ball, thereby removing the dirt and oil buildup to reset its coverstock for better performance. So, a good bowling ball rejuvenator is the first thing you want to have before thinking of a rejuvenation method.

With this particular requirement comes the need for knowing how you can get and use a rejuvenator. In this article, you’ll learn how to use a bowling ball rejuvenator to maximize your benefits from it and build one at home (if you want to make a bowling ball rejuvenator at a fraction of the price).

How Do You Use a Bowling Ball Rejuvenator?

Cleaning a ball with a rejuvenator is easier than doing it with a dishwasher that involves more work. The appliance applies heat to the ball maintaining a certain temperature which is usually from 120°F to 135°F.

You should let the machine do its work for up to 45 minutes. The rejuvenator should remove the dirt and oil buildup, penetrating the deepest pores of the ball’s coverstock. Here is your step-by-step guide.

• Place the ball on the stand located within the rejuvenator’s main unit. The ball actually sits in a contraption that looks like a cup and is placed inside the machine.
• Turn it on to allow air to flow from all sides of the unit.
• Make sure the ball receives heated air in a circular motion. The goal is to ensure that heated air touches the ball properly and evenly from every angle.
• Adjust the unit’s thermostat to around 130°F or 135°F.
• Leave it for 45 minutes. You can lower the temperature a little bit and leave the ball inside for an hour.
• An ideal rejuvenator coaxes the dirt/ oil residue from the coverstock, cleaning the ball and catches the grime in a built-in reservoir for removal.

You might want to make the process faster, and that is alright if you know which point of temperature to use. What about 140°F? You must adjust the duration too (how long to keep the ball inside).

How Long Should a Bowling Ball Be in a Rejuvenator at 140 Degrees?

Unless your bowling ball has an extremely durable coverstock or it has caught an unusually thick layer of grime or dirt, you should keep the ball at a temperature below 140°F.

With a regular amount of residue, most balls may contract, or expand, or even crack at this temperature if you leave the ball inside for an hour.

So, you should keep the ball at 140°F or higher for 5-10 minutes and then get back to the recommended settings (up to 135°F) for another 30 minutes or a little longer. Don’t think longer stays always bring better results. If the ball feels dry or completely free of oil before the specified time, you should stop the process.

How Hot Does a Bowling Ball Rejuvenator Machine Get?

Most bowling ball rejuvenators can be set at temperatures between 100°F and 140°F although some devices come with higher settings up to 160°F. Since 135°F is the ideal temperature, your rejuvenator should have the features to maintain that level of heat.

If you like to consider experts’ recommendations on the best bowling ball rejuvenators, you can buy a machine that gives you a range of settings (95°F to 155°F) to choose from.

How Often Should You Use Your Bowling Ball Rejuvenator?

Apart from the effects of excessive heat on your bowling ball, you can weaken its coverstock by not following the appropriate schedules for rejuvenation.

Remember that the process only helps as long as you do it correctly and as many times as required. So, the question is how often you can do it.

The ideal interval between two sessions of rejuvenation should be 30-50 games for bowlers playing on lanes that maintain certain oil patterns between medium and heavy. For the heaviest of oil patterns, you can go for it after every 30 games.

If you play a lot in drier conditions, you may want to consider rejuvenation after every 50-60 games. Make sure you check the surface of the ball before initializing the process.

How to Build a Bowling Ball Rejuvenator?

Anyone seeking to know how to make a bowling ball rejuvenator may probably want to save money because a high-quality rejuvenator costs around $150, and the price may go upwards of $200. It is a considerable investment, isn’t it?

But you can easily build one at half or one-third the cost of buying a rejuvenator from a store. First up, you need the following supplies which may cost you anywhere between $80 and $100.

• A food dehydrator
• 4 sets of trays (8 trays) for the dehydrator
• Leveling glides
• Digital cooking thermometer
• White silicone
• Scissors
• A sanding tool
• A drilling machine
• A compass
• A marking tool

A Step-By-Step Guide to Building a Bowling ball Rejuvenator

Stacking all the trays on each other is something you need to do carefully because the main goal is to distribute the heat all around the ball evenly. With glue between the stacked tray, air can escape properly to hit the ball from all sides instead of just hitting the bottom or the top. Let’s start looking at the steps.

1. Cut all eight of the trays using scissors in a way that there are little ridges.
2. Use the sanding tool to make the edges smooth.
3. Apply the glue to the sides with those ridges.
4. Put one tray with its insides cut on top of another, so they can stick together properly.
5. Make sure the little pieces come out from one side and stay recessed on the other.
6. Draw a circle using the compass right from the center of the food dehydrator.
7. Put four markings for four holes that need to be drilled for the gliders to pop through.
8. Gliders are here to support the dehydrator’s base and hold the bowling ball. Use 3/8-inch drill bits for the gliders to fit in tight.
9. Use silicone to glue each glider into their places so that they can handle the weight of the ball.
10. Drill a hole onto the heating unit to let the probe slide in as you need to monitor the temperature inside the dehydrator unit.
11. Place the ball inside before the heating begins.
12. Keep the temperature between 140°F and 145°F for no longer than 5-7 minutes. Then, follow the settings that came with the manufacturer’s instructions (ideally lower than 135°F).
13. Don’t allow the temperature to reach 150°F because that level of heat may affect the structure or the coverstock of your bowling ball.

Using a DIY bowling ball rejuvenator is not only an exciting idea but also a money-saving proposition, but you need to follow each of these steps with caution so that you can avoid causing damage to the ball instead of cleaning it for a refreshed surface as well as better bowling performance.