Has anyone ever put a caliper on a pachinko ball to get its exact size?

[Lddrizzt]

Hey I am totally innocent here! I just misread the heading of the post.

[bf_of_pf]

Hey I am totally innocent here! I just misread the heading of the post.

Well, glad ya finally made it to the party. (And here I was giving your credit for being a creative genius!)

[slotter]

I've never had any of my pachi balls get rusty once they are cleaned up and I'm talking about balls that have been around from my vintage and have had for 30 years. Don't think rust is too big a problem with nice spheres.

[arbycoffee]

I think it is the boat ride myself that is the problem

[drcrippen324]

Hmmm salt water around your spheres cant be good for the soul

[arbycoffee]

it is that slow trip here

[Lddrizzt]

in that damp salt air?

[bf_of_pf]

I've never had any of my pachi balls get rusty once they are cleaned up and I'm talking about balls that have been around from my vintage and have had for 30 years. Don't think rust is too big a problem with nice spheres.

Wow. That's great to know Sloter, although I think the key to your statement is "once they are cleaned up". But at least I can rest assured that once I get these 8,000 balls cleaned up, they'll last until I'm 80. Now that's something to look forward to in my later years.

[Tony Junior]

I'd say "ditto" BF, but I'm too dang close to 80 right now! Maybe 155.

[Sid]

Hopefully TJ!!!

[Tony Junior]

Amen, Sid!

[Fighter Pilot]

I'll second that!!!

[bf_of_pf]

I'd say "ditto" BF, but I'm too dang close to 80 right now! Maybe 155.

Well, he did say "over 30 years", so 80's just the bare minimum. I don't know about stretching it to 155, but depending on how well the cleaning goes, I don't know that 90-95 is unreasonable. How's that grab ya?

[arbycoffee]

unless if you live in a lake ? or swimming pool ?

[bf_of_pf]

unless if you live in a lake ? or swimming pool ?

I guess it all Depends, eh, Greg? (And speaking of Depends, if I were going to market an adult diaper, I sure as heck would come up with a name a lot less wishy-washy than "Depends". Something more along the line of: "Ft. Knox" or "Gibraltor" -- something real solid and dependable. Depends just seems to leave way too much to chance, which is ok for a gambling device, but who'd want to gamble on their adult diaper? We now return to our previously scheduled program, already in progress)

[arbycoffee]

[bf_of_pf]

But seriously folks....the photo below shows two PB's that had been cleaned in a vibratory cleaner overnight. The one on the right shows no darkening at all anywhere on the ball. The one on the left shows (I hope it comes out in the photo; it was kinda tough to capture fully) some darkening in some of the engraved lettering. I can't say for certain that it's rust, but it clearly (at least in person) is not in as good condition as the one on the right.



Whether or not it's serious enough to even worry about is another matter. But that is why I originally posted this -- because a significant percentage of the 8,000 PB's we've gotten recently -- from 4 different vendors -- look like the one on the left, where the darkening is almost always in the engraved sections. Additionally, the seller of the wall mount cabinets that many members here have purchased states in the description of balls he sells on ebay that new, unengraved custom ordered PB's are preferable to used balls. That's where all of this started in terms of my questioning the best type of balls for the machines. Here's the link to an ended auction:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Brand-New-Pachin...QQcmdZViewItem

And this is what it says:

Brand New regulation Pachinko Balls

Official size and weight, no more sorting or cleaning. Will work in all Pachinko machines old and new.

You pay plenty to get a new machine, Use new balls to protect your investment. Dont take a chance, these new machines are guite sensitive to debris and very hard to take apart to clean.

Things that make you go HMMMM

Ever notice how dirty used balls are?
No matter how clean they look they have been handled by many people, and harbor dust, bacteria, rust, and sweat.
Engravings are strickly put on the used balls to keep the casinos apart, they do not alter the game in any way.
If you get balls in a bag with any rust on the bag (orange dust) no matter how good they look they are rusty and will continue to deposit rust in your machine.
We have restored many machines and the largest problem by far is build up in the electronics, using only new balls insures you will have no problems due to debris and rust from the balls.
Our balls are brand new and not engraved for these reasons.
They are straight from the manufacturer to you.
They are guaranteed 100% to work in all Pachinko Machines.

[arbycoffee]

Don't know but you can get balls with out Engravings.

[bf_of_pf]

Don't know but you can get balls with out Engravings.

You don't know if the ball on the left is rusted or not, or damaged enough to worry about, or if the claim that new balls/not engraved balls are better than used/engraved is valid?

As far as getting balls without engraving, most of the 1,000 balls we got from Valley Gaming did not have any engraving. And in sorting through them, they seemed to have the least amount of rusty/corroded balls of any that we've gotten. (Of course, we haven't gotten New Masterpiece yet, so your balls aren't included in this discussion.) We got 6,000 so far from goldenstatetraders1, and the ones that are photographed came from them and most have that same engraving. The first four USPS bags from them, each with 1k balls, had an orange stain all on the inside, although no red dust. The last 2 USPS bags from them seemed cleaner. We also got 2k from SlotUSA (500 with each machine and an extra 1k), and 500 from psr60. As I said, the ones from Vally Gaming were the best, and they were not engraved.

[slotter]

Y'all got me thinking about my balls... I mean, are they rusty, are they dirty inside the engravings, are they too small, or are they too large, or are they any good for anything?

Anyway, you really did get me to go over and look through some of the balls I have and there is variety of types from different parlors. A pic is in order:

PICT2462 (Small).JPG