When should a Powerball be cleaned?

[dcash10181]

Hi,

I received my Powerball within the last 2 weeks. I have been making good use of it and improving all the time. My high score is now 11,964, but I am get close to cracking this.

I was just wondering when is the right time to open up and clean the Powerball. I have read in other posts that it may temporarily reduce the speed of it right after cleaning, but I just wonder at what point should I start to think about cleaning it?

Thanks!

Always Powerballing,
Duane Cash

[Adrena1in]

If your action is smooth and consistent, then you could probably go for months and months without cleaning the Powerball. I rarely take mine apart. (I do with the Metal, but that's because it's very easy to unscrew to open it, and the heavy rotor is a bit more harsh on the plastic interior.)

The time to start I suppose would be when it's sounding particularly "scrapey", or starting to feel a bit rough as the rotor axle grinds over the dirty track.

Thing is though, when you clean it you don't have to be that thorough. If you spend ages getting it completely rid of plstic flakes, and use isopropyl alcohol to clean the track, then it's going to be smooth as silk, but perhaps a bit slow for a while, but within 15 or 20 minutes use it'll roughen up and start to run fast again.


Aside from that, if you want a tip to try and improve your speed score, this worked for me when my record was just under 12000 :- Find out what 9000 to 9500 rpm feels like, then maintain that speed for 10 or 15 minutes...or more if you can...swapping hands every 30 seconds to a minute. Afterwards you'll feel pretty knackered, but your muscles should be nicely pumped. Wait a minute or two and then go for some speed records. I increased my record from 12006 to 12802 when I tried this.

[dcash10181]

Thanks Adrena!in,

So far today after reading your advice about increasing speeds, I have now reached 12,835 rpm. It's a total 871 rpm jump since the record I had 24 hrs ago at 11,964 rpm.

I have actually now done a whole lot of 12K+ scores today. So many now that it is hard to count, and I am getting my sight set on 13K!

I tend to have naturally sweaty hands, and I feel if I can just get a slightly grip on the Powerball, then I can reach 13K.

Does anybody know what might be used to enhance my grip? I've read a few options of what could be used on the forum, but I would like to know what is the best thing currently. Thanks!

Always Powerballing,
Duane Cash

[Syed769]

I havent tried any of the stuff like liquid magnesium that people have posted about, but I have had good results from a high quality rubber surgical glove. My hands tend to get sweaty after 10 minutes of using the powerball and rubber gloves work great for long sessions.

Plus, if you don't have access to any of those things, washing your hands and the rubber band around the powerball with cold water and soap helps a lot.