impact screen sewn onto king size memory foam topper

[Jon]

So, I know most people who use a tightly drawn impact screen have some kind of second layer behind the screen to absorb the impact. I was wondering if anyone has tried sewing an impact screen onto either a gel or memory foam king size mattress topper. I imagine it would increase the longevity of the impact screen and possibly reduce the trampolining effect that commonly occurs when an impact screen is tightly drawn.

[Gazpacho]

I bought a queen 2” memory foam topper from amazon for $59. Then put it in a old duvet cover that I pinned the extra material behind it to hold the foam in the cover tightly. Then I slipped a wooden dowel rod through the top then hung right behind my homecourse impact screen. Right behind this is a cloth sheet that’s right up tight to the screen thereby sandwiching the topper in the screen. The screen is pulled tight to a wooden from with the grommets. After three months of fiddling with it it is finally perfect. Great, flat image with minimal bounce back.
one takeaway is don’t by the homecourse set up if you want an out of the box great set up.
memory foam idea from this thread was the final missing piece so thank you!

[steve51523]

so is a higher density memory foam mattress topper better or worst for bounce back? Also, should you avoid gel ones?

[shwag33]

I keep posting this, don't use memory foam. It sucks. It gets torn up if have a lot of swings with higher ball speed.

[steve51523]

shwag33 what would you recommend?

[shwag33]

I would use nothing other than second screen if you have one. The higher quality screen fabrics do well absorbing the impact. I put moving blankets in like some suggested. They were torn up in a few weeks. The mattress topper lasted maybe 3 months. My sim gets a lot more use than probably average, but still.

Perhaps some with lower ball speeds they last a lot longer. My driver is 158-162 on average, which is higher but nothing insane.

[Jon]

I had mixed results myself with memory foam backstop. It was a while ago, but this is what I learned.
If it is too cold, say in an attic in the middle of the winter, it doesn't matter how you set it up, a driver swing is going to destroy the memory foam.
In order to get the memory foam to work as a backstop, it needs to have something solid behind it, concrete wall worked well. And it needs to be fairly thick(at least 4", more is better) and be very high density.
When it comes to dream it up style diy projects the only outcome that you can come to rely on is one other than you imagined. It just never works out like you imagine until you perfect the design. The trick is having the resources, time, and fortitude to get it right, wether it is your 1st build or 20th.

I can at least explain my idea for trying this particular DIY. BB gun targets. You shoot the target and the bb plugs into the target. It usually stays plugged for a second or two and then it falls out and the target regains it's shape from before it was struck by the bb. I thought that was pretty cool and imagined it would be pretty awesome for an impact screen to have your shots plug and then just drop straight down. No significant sound from striking the screen. That was what I was trying to do. Never quite got there.

Unexpected discovery-
all that spent memory foam made for an exceptional floor covering in place of a drop net. Keep balls from rolling all over the place and help sound proof as well.