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  • Marking Balls for Uneekor System

    I am a few days into ownership of the Uneekor system, and I couldn't be happier with it, except for the included balls. While they don't feel too bad during the strike, the spin on them is abysmal. I am losing around 2k-4k (compared to ProV1) on my wedge strikes which complicates how I approach my shots when playing TGC2019. I really need to figure out a way to use my own golf balls.

    I have read about Harry's dot stickers, and while they seem to do the trick, I am concerned with the wear on the stickers if you don't align a clean part of the ball in the impact area of the strike zone. I don't want to align the ball for each shot. Also, my gut tells me that if a sticker is lined up in the impact zone, it will reduce the spin on the ball similar to impact tape. So, I have ruled these out as a solution for me.

    I read on the Uneekor Facebook group that some people have had decent luck with permanent paint pens. I didn't heed the advice and purchase the same brand that was recommended (Edding); instead, I tried the Sharpie oil based permanent paint pen. These will leave marks on the screen even after allowing the balls to cure for 48 hours.

    I've looked into the type of printers that are used to print logos on golf balls, and it seems that these printers use an LED UV ink to print on the balls. To get a name brand printer is going to run $8k-10k for a basic printer, and I don't think I would ever see the return on that investment. It looks like you can buy an unbranded Chinese printer that will do 6 balls at a time for ~$3.2k, or one that will do 4 balls at a time for ~$1.2k. The problem with these is that the specs on the printers is sparse, so I am not sure what technology is used to print and with what type of ink. I am concerned that the marks may rub off on the screen.

    My next solution is to try to use just the LED UV ink to mark the balls without the printer. Since we should only need to to a dozen balls or so at a time, this should only take about 30 minutes to an hour to accomplish manually. In order to do this, we need a method to stamp the ink and cure the ink. It looks like most of the ink uses the 395nm wavelength to cure. This is perfect, because we can easily create a curing unit out of those cheap UV LED nail polish curing boxes that you can purchase on Amazon. These boxes typically have LEDs in the 365nm and 395nm wavelengths which is right in the zone we are looking for. Many of us who 3D print using UV cured resin have used these boxes to final cure our prints, so they have already been tested with this type of use. The stamping can be performed one dot at a time with a paint brush. I imagine you can place roughly 3 sets of triangular dots on one side of the ball at a time. The curing box will hold roughly 6-12 balls at a time, depending on the model. My biggest concern is how the ink will react to the ball's surface will trying to paint the marks.

    My plan is to make a little holder that will hold 6 balls. Put the 3 sets of triangular dots on one side of the 6 balls at a time. Put them in the unit to cure, and while they are curing, paint the dots on the other half dozen. Then, swap them out and repeat the process on the other side. This is the ink I have ordered: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
    And, this is the curing unit: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

    This should be enough ink for a lifetime of balls, so I have about $60 invested in this method. I just ordered the supplies last night, so I should be able to test next weekend and let you know how they turn out.
    Last edited by bbjr; 08-24-2019, 01:27 PM.

  • #16
    FYI the Callaway Suit balls do NOT work. I did extensive testing of the suit balls and the spins were always 500-100 rpm lower than GC Quad. The standard Uneekor balls or balls with trio dot decals showed excellent spin concordance with GC Quad. Just because a ball spits out a spin reading that isn't 888/222 doesn't mean the reading is correct.

    Comment


    • titleistdc
      titleistdc commented
      Editing a comment
      HarryB It sounds like you have tested the Uneekor vs. a GC Quad. Are you able to share with us the accuracy of the club and ball data vs. the GC Quad? A lot of us have been looking for this type of data to no avail online other than a short one swing video comparing the Uneekor to a Trackman 4. Thanks!

  • #17
    For those of you looking at UV printers, keep in mind that you will need to run the printer 6 times for each run. Also keep in mind that you will have a good bit of ink on the ball. If you do not urethane the ball after printing, your screen will require frequent cleaning.

    Comment


    • Gman17
      Gman17 commented
      Editing a comment
      Harry, when you were doing your testing for your dots, did you try 3,4 or 5 areas, or is 6 just mimicking Uneekor's ball?

    • Uk101jkt
      Uk101jkt commented
      Editing a comment
      Can anyone else comment on the frequent cleaning part with a ball thats been printed on 6 points? I have a contact in Asia who can do the printing and i just want to know if it really will mark up the screen. Unfortunately its also not cheap at the moment but i hope to get the price down as shipping dots or balls from USA is time consuming.

    • bbjr
      bbjr commented
      Editing a comment
      Uk101jkt I should be able to let you know after I do some testing this weekend.

  • #18
    So are we saying that if I had access to a UV printer that would do the job (even though we may have to rotate the balls)? What about a laser printer?

    Comment


    • #19
      Originally posted by HarryB View Post
      FYI the Callaway Suit balls do NOT work. I did extensive testing of the suit balls and the spins were always 500-100 rpm lower than GC Quad. The standard Uneekor balls or balls with trio dot decals showed excellent spin concordance with GC Quad. Just because a ball spits out a spin reading that isn't 888/222 doesn't mean the reading is correct.
      500-100 rpms would still be better numbers than using the uneekor ball if the launch angles are all correct

      Comment


      • #20
        Originally posted by Thundergolf View Post

        500-100 rpms would still be better numbers than using the uneekor ball if the launch angles are all correct

        You're not looking for numbers, your looking for accuracy. The fact that the uneekor ball reads the same on the uneekor and gc2 means it's accurate. If there's a discrepancy between the suit balls on the uneekor and GC2.. it means it's not reading correctly. This means you're not going to get an accurate shot shape, it's not just spin numbers. Basically unkeekor can not be trusted with those balls.

        Comment


        • #21
          Originally posted by shwag33 View Post


          You're not looking for numbers, your looking for accuracy. The fact that the uneekor ball reads the same on the uneekor and gc2 means it's accurate. If there's a discrepancy between the suit balls on the uneekor and GC2.. it means it's not reading correctly. This means you're not going to get an accurate shot shape, it's not just spin numbers. Basically unkeekor can not be trusted with those balls.
          Do we know it reads the same on both units with uneekor ball? I've yet to see side by side comparison to the quad. And only 1 test done side by side with gc2

          Comment


          • shwag33
            shwag33 commented
            Editing a comment
            I mean thats exactly what Harry said.

        • #22
          Originally posted by shwag33 View Post


          You're not looking for numbers, your looking for accuracy. The fact that the uneekor ball reads the same on the uneekor and gc2 means it's accurate. If there's a discrepancy between the suit balls on the uneekor and GC2.. it means it's not reading correctly. This means you're not going to get an accurate shot shape, it's not just spin numbers. Basically unkeekor can not be trusted with those balls.
          I am with Thunder on this one. My iron numbers would be off THOUSANDS with a uneekor ball. It would be nearly impossible to adjust to playing outside for me. If the club ball is consistently lower and spin axis is close, then it would be simlar to playing in the morning vs afternoon (spin is less with wet conditions).

          Comment


          • #23
            Originally posted by Stingreye View Post

            I am with Thunder on this one. My iron numbers would be off THOUSANDS with a uneekor ball. It would be nearly impossible to adjust to playing outside for me. If the club ball is consistently lower and spin axis is close, then it would be simlar to playing in the morning vs afternoon (spin is less with wet conditions).
            Exactly! Uneekor ball would be around 6k with wedge instead of 12k. If there is a ball that works but is 100-500rpms off,I call that acceptable.

            Comment


            • #24
              Originally posted by Thundergolf View Post

              Exactly! Uneekor ball would be around 6k with wedge instead of 12k. If there is a ball that works but is 100-500rpms off,I call that acceptable.

              If that's the case sure it would be. But that's not including side spin and shot shape. If side spin is off a few hundred RPM it will be a huge difference. Maybe Harry can do a more detailed test.

              Comment


              • #25
                I attempted to mark the balls this afternoon using the materials I referenced earlier in this thread. I used two new ProV1 balls and applied the marks on the first ball using a small rubber stamp, then used a cotton tip applicator on the second ball. The rubber stamp applied a thin layer of ink, but the color was not very saturated. The cotton tip applicator applied a nice black dot, but the ink did not seem to wet the ball as well and the surface tension would draw the ink from the surface of the ball into an irregular dot. When additional ink was applied (enough to nearly fill the dimple in the ball), the ink would stay, but this limits dot placement to ball dimple locations. In addition, the ink is too thick, which I presume would result in chipping upon impact.

                I also could not achieve a complete cure using the UV nail dryer. This could be due to mismatched wavelengths between the LED's and the photo-initiator in the ink, not enough intensity of light from the LED's, or due to some type of contamination/reaction of the surface of the ball and the ink.

                Unfortunately, I do not believe that manual application of the UV ink is possible to mark the balls.

                Comment


                • #26
                  Maybe I missed it, but anyone have date on when the Bridgestone balls will be available from Uneekor? Waiting on purchase when this is available or another alternative comes to light. Thanks!

                  Comment


                  • Uk101jkt
                    Uk101jkt commented
                    Editing a comment
                    They are available now

                • #27
                  All, they are available for $ 30 for two dozen plus shipping. They are a Bridgestone E Series. Not the best, but a lot better than the Uneekor ball. Email Doug with want you want and your shipping address. He will email you back an invoice that you can pay online with your credit card. Doug's addy is: Doug Bybee <dbybee@uneekor.com>

                  Comment


                  • Matt Dryden
                    Matt Dryden commented
                    Editing a comment
                    Gman17 How long do the Bridgestone E Series balls last?

                • #28
                  I have the new Bridgestone balls. They are better by far than the original balls but obviously not as good as a 4 piece Urethane ball. I did a very quick comparison. I hit 3 shots with a SW, 7iron, and Driver with the original ball, the new ball, and a TM TP5x (with Stickers). With only 3 shots the data can change drastically with one slightly bad shot. That said, I really focused on spin. With the SW, the Bridgestone ball spun around 7.5k the TP5X spun at 9.2k, whereas the original ball was between 4-5k. The distances were all pretty good but I think I can get about 2-3MPH more ball speed and a little less spin off the driver with the TP5X vs the Bridgestone. This makes sense because the Bridgestone ball is a bit more spinny. The one area (and I did not test this) that high end balls dominate in is the chips, pitches, and half wedge shots...you will get 2-3k more spin on those shots with a Urethane 4 piece ball.

                  Comment


                  • #29
                    That's great info for the uneekor crowd. Nice testing. Ill just keep hitting whatever ball I fancy

                    Comment


                    • #30
                      I purchased a Uneekor system this week. Based on this thread, I will order the Bridgestone balls. Harry's stickers were an option, just did not want to align every ball. Hopefully the success of this simulator will present premium ball offerings in the future.

                      Comment


                      • rjd1975
                        rjd1975 commented
                        Editing a comment
                        The Bridgestone balls should be the ones that come with your system. They are not using the old balls anymore so you shouldn't have to do anything. One other point, you don't have to align anything to use the stickers. I can place stickers in the same pattern as the original but you will need to replace damaged stickers over time.
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