Brunswick A-2 Pinsetter - Full Cycle

After seeing the back of a Brunswick A-2 converted model A pinsetter, here we are at a different bowling center with much newer A-2's!

This is at Brandon Crossroads Bowl, a 40-lane bowling center that opened in 1990, and additionally has Brunswick Sync scoring since 2016 as a replacement from Frameworx ones.

These could be late 1980s Brunswick A-2's, manufactured no later than 1985. All 40 pinsetters run on JetBack speed.

[kplinger]

It's not a Jetback machine, it's a A-2. The difference is the way the ball is accelerated back to the bowler. The Jetback uses the same ball wheel as the ball lift where the bowler picks up the ball. The A-2 uses a wide long belt that accelerates the ball at different speeds depending on the diameter of the accelerator motor pulley, max speed is 35 mph which requires the use of a leather brake assembly and the smallest pulley sends the ball back at 11 mph which allows you to eliminate the leather brake assembly greatly reducing ball return problems and cost.

As a mechanic one thing you quickly realize is the slower a Brunswick Pinsetter runs the longer without breaking parts it runs and the more reliable it is. The Brunswick A series operates at three speeds, model A is the original speed but mind you I'm talking the gearbox speed that actually runs the pin setting operation. I've. Seen a center that the machines were operating at Creepy speed which is one half the speed you see in this video. While creepy speed does have its effect of greatly reducing stops with the machine in my opinion the original model A speed is just fine if you reduce the auxiliaries speed as the machine in this video has had done to it. The turret operates very smoothly and it doesn't impede the bowlers.

Next we have the jet back which uses a ball wheel identical to those used in the ball lift up front but Brunswick used a larger motor pulley to speed up the machines cycle time.

The you have the A-2 of which more than half the model A machines were modified in the field to A-2 configuration not using the scotch yoke modification which gently lowers the deck right at the point when it's setting a rack of pins while the machine is runing at A-2 speed of 8.5 seconds cycle time the scotch yoke allows the A-2 to set a rack exactly like a model A but increases the speed of everything else on the Pinsetter. The problem arises when something jams because the machine is running 2 1/2 times faster than it was designed too.
I always ran my machines at model A speed and lowered the auxiliaries speed to quiet and smooth out their operation. And that included taking round stock and making my own turn pan rods exactly like you see it in the video and that little modification eliminated my turn pan jams and burned pins.eliminated the use of carpet covers which greatly increased the speed the pins travelled to the pinwheel and had to decrease the washers used by the previous mechanic to get the pins to move as too much tilt front to back causes the pins to pile up so the ball kicks them out of the machine. 26 new bungees cords kept the pins in the machines and made life easier. The turn pan rods took a few hours to figure out where was the best angle to install them for best performance but it took a machine from 20 to 30 plus turn pan jams a night to zero turn pan jams after I figured out the angle to install the turn pan rod. Previously myself and everybody else tried dozens of different ways to eliminate turn pan jams and this seems to be the permanent fix.

Presently watching on tv the show PBA Bowling in Portland, Maine and they finished last year a 12 lane addition to the privately owned bowling complex and the entire house is less than 10 years old is old school equipment wise by using Brunswick A-2 machines. Why spend lots of money simply to send it overseas for new Pinsetter machines that are built by the Brunswick company but purchased a company in Germany that had what Brunswick needed. A computer driven state of the art bowling machine. The company agreed to be bought out by Brunswick but some caveats where in the purchase agreement, the production and company had to remain in Germany and while they are a technical marvel in my opinion the A-2 will do the same job without the capability of setting whatever individual pins the bowler wants.

I can get all over the country from several bowling supply companies rebuilt to what ever degree you want but the Portland bowling center requested their A-2's like new and that's what they got. A little more expensive to buy that way but saves you lots of time and trouble shooting when they are installed plus you can install 3rd party modifications that are known to eliminate trouble spots on the Pinsetter. Not real problem areas but improve operating reliability.

[FranFJB]

Look close at the End of the video, it looks like either a Missing 8 Pin or Not aligned.