EYE XO Protection

[COgolfengineer]

Anyone put any type of protection around their EYE XO to protect against massive mishits where you sky the ball? I recall someone posting pictures of a cage around it but can't seem to find it.

Anyone ever hit the unit with a ball and it survives?

Btw, I haven't hit the unit......yet. It would be nice to spend a little to protect the 10k investment!

[GutterSnipe]

That would be a tremendous sky ball, something on the order of 70-80 degrees launch. I have had one person in the simulator hit a ball off the top of their driver. It was literally a 15 foot high gentle toss into my second floor over the balcony.

So it’s not impossible, but if you hit any part of the face at all, it’s going to launch forward, not straight up.

[myrison]

Local sim I play at has had to send theirs back for replacement glass (warrantied) once in the first 5 months of having it and told me it’s been hit a few other times without damage as well. (But they are subject to any random hacker showing up, so (maybe?) your own guests would be slightly more skilled?)

[COgolfengineer]

Oh yeah, definitely possible to hit the EYE XO when teeing the ball up and hitting under the ball such that the ball hits the top of the club. I've done this a few times on the course and even a couple times in my simulator. Luckily, when I did it in my garage, the ball hit the ceiling about 3 ft to the left of the EYE XO, left a dimple on the ceiling drywall, no big deal. So I am worried about guests but also myself! Haha.

Uneekor does offer the 2 year strike warranty, but what a pain. I'd rather have some amount of protection to prevent down time, just in case.

I found this picture where they had a buddy make this in his metal shop. Pretty cool. Stainless steel, spray painted black, 1x2" grates and a bigger cutout where the cameras are. He said no misreads and performs the same as before. I asked him if his friend could make another and ship to me, I'd pay of course, but haven't gotten a price back yet. I might be able to cobble something like this using wire shelves or wire baskets.

I was also thinking of making a template of the EYE XO to match the locations of the cameras and IR LEDs and having a local plexi shop make a polycarbonate box for it. Have holes drilled out for each IR LED and bigger holes for the cameras. I asked Uneekor if they could provide locations of the LEDs and cameras so I could make a cover and they said no. That would've saved time but oh well.

For a commercial environment, I think the QED is better since it sits behind the ball. Chances of that getting hit are near impossible.

[pwade3]

I don’t know for sure about mounting yet. I have several ideas. I will be using 1/2” high density foam between the lexan and the Eyexo at locations where there are not lenses and IR lights. Thats how the glass is mounted on the Eyexo. If you have your protection 2” away, you may have to have the holes for the camera views bigger. Remember, the lense view will expand as it gets further away from the lense. I don’t want holes that a golf ball can go through. You would have to test at that distance to see what you get. Not sure. I also can’t mount it too far away from the Eyexo as it will interfere with my projection.
I don’t believe you need holes for the IR lights. Just clear Lexan will allow them to work.

[COgolfengineer]

I was thinking of basically building a box around the EYE XO, but I like your idea of basically mounting the Lexan to the existing EYE XO glass using some 1/2" spacer. Maybe double sided tape on both sides of the 1/2" foam? It would be a pain if you needed to remove it though. It would be nice to be able to easily remove it and put it back on if necessary. I don't know why you would have to do that, but you never know. Something that acts like a press-fit would be good, so then the Lexan just kinda snaps into place on the glass (well with some space in between).

I found these that might provide some press-fit type attachment.

https://www.starhanger.com/collections/all

The screws could possibly screw into the Lexan and the brackets could attach the EYE XO glass with double-sided tape? Still kinda messy. They also have some side-mount brackets so those could go on the sides of the XO?

I think the clear Lexan would still attenuate the IR lights, but the XO already has tinted glass anyway, so the clear won't attenuate nearly as much as the tinted. If only the holes for the lenses are needed, then that's pretty simple and the attachment of it becomes the hard part. I'm very interested in any ideas you have on this.

[COgolfengineer]

Also found these press-fit connectors. Backordered but just to illustrate the idea.

https://www.rockler.com/speaker-panel-connectors?country=US&sid=V91040&promo=shopping&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_campaign=PL&gclid=CjwKCAiAjeSABhAPEiwAqfxURToYjaywmO1mwEL_nnynbqLtIaSVoVjdI_gI1KJBSte0-yFFx5s6VBoCRocQAvD_BwE

[pwade3]

COgolfengineer Those are good ideas. I have been unable to find any Lexan locally so ordered a piece online but won’t get it until next week. I think what I am going to do is glue high density foam to the lexan and then have the lexan attached to the Eyexo by small springs and the foam just resting against the glass of the Eyexo, not glued. If the tension is correct, it should hold in place fine and will be easily removed or adjusted without any effect to the Eyexo. I will make the lexan about 1” larger then the Eyexo all around, so I can have holes in the lexan for the hooks in the springs. The other end of the springs can attach to the eyexo case. Nothing ventured, noting gained.

[Adrenaline]

That sounds really good. can't wait to see pics when you are done.

[COgolfengineer]

pwade3 Oh yep, I can picture exactly what you're saying. I like that idea! It should work well since the XO has a bunch of cut slots in the case for airflow, so there should be many spots for clipping the springs onto. I guess the attach the springs to the Lexan, maybe you'll screw eyelets or something like that to the Lexan?

I was also thinking of something very similar to your idea but using magnets instead of springsspI do like that the springs would pull the Lexan to the XO and the foam would limit the pull, great idea.

Please keep me posted when you try this out! Thanks!

[pwade3]

Ok, I finally received my Lexan. Have built it and tested and it works with no issues. I have not hit driver yet but I get no misreads or no reads with irons. Data all looks just fine. I extended it out at the power switch end to protect the cables and wires.
So I used 1/4 Lexan. I drilled 1 1/4 holes for the cameras. I used 1/4 closed cell foam and basically just mimicked where the foam is under the sensor glass on the Eyexo. I used 1” aluminum flat bar on the sides. To give it some structure and I did not want the lexan to bend or flex to much. I drilled the holes in the flat bar and lexan and bolted in 4 eye hooks. I am using small bungee cords as I have been unable to find springs as i originally planed. I am going to still look for them, but the bungees work just fine.
I glued the closed cell foam to the lexan so that the protection I made just rests against the Eyexo glass and that way I can take it off at anytime and has no effect to the Eyexo glass. Clean and easy.

[COgolfengineer]

pwade3 wow awesome! You're paving the way!

I ordered a 2' x 4' 1/4" thick sheet of Lexan and some foam to do the same thing, should get it next week. I was thinking of the eye hooks on the sides as well. Adding the aluminum strip on the sides is a good idea. I have a couple questions for you.

1. I've never dealt with polycarbonate before, so any special tricks and/or blades for cutting? I've drilled through plexiglass before and you have to go real slow or else it will turn white.
2. How'd you know where the EYEXO has foam under its glass? Is it just in the space between the IR LEDs?
3. When I ordered the Lexan and foam from Amazon, I found some springs, the smallest I could find. Do you think these would work? The ends have loops instead of hooks but was planning on just cutting the loop to get a hook. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1.
4. Can you post any pictures?

Thanks!

[pwade3]

1 - You can cut Lexan like you would plywood. I used my table saw to cut mine to size and it cut very well.
2 - if you take a flashlight and shine it into the glass at close range, you can see where the foam is installed under the glass. I just took measurements from it.
3 - I’m unsure about the springs yet. They will have to have a decent ability to handle the weight and will need to be quite short. I will look into this a bit later.
4- posted picks below.
FYI, the distance between the center of the holes for the lense cutouts was 22 1/2 inches. Gives the cameras a clear view.

[pwade3]

I also just used a regular 1 1/4 hole saw and it cut very cleanly.

[COgolfengineer]

That's great the Lexan cuts very easily with regular tools.

Thanks for the other tips. I'll post when I make mine.

[pwade3]

Here’s a few more pictures. I had to resize them to get them to upload.

[quadrofglio]

That's incredible. We've had multiple near misses in our first 3 months with the unit. I'm definitely pinching your idea! Thanks.

[PDubs5150]

This is great! Curious to know why you went with Lexan instead of plexi? Thanks!

[pwade3]

PDubs5150 Basically because of strength. Plexiglass is more impact resistant then glass by about 17 times. Lexan is 250 times more impact resistant then glass. Plexiglass would work fine and I have no idea if it would crack if hit, but Lexan will not break or crack when hit by a golf ball traveling at the speed that is a flop shot or topped off a driver. This way if it does get hit, I don’t have to make a new one.

[COgolfengineer]

That looks awesome! Nice work! That should keep the EYEXO protected!

[pwade3]

Thanks. It will probably never get hit now, but at least its a piece of mind knowing its protected.
Something else I remembered. I made the Lexan 1” larger on all sides then the Eyexo. I don’t think I mentioned that. that way the flat bar is outside the sensor.

[COgolfengineer]

Absolutely, cheap insurance!

I kinda figured you made that edge bigger than the XO, but thanks for clarifying.

It's kinda surprising that Uneekor doesn't sell a protective case for it. I'm sure even if they sold it for $200-300, it's still worth it for the consumer, and the profit margin for them would be quite high with relatively very little engineering effort. Oh well. It gives us users a good excuse to get creative!

[SGN Golf]

Hey guy, New to the forum, but I've been playing screen golf for 7 years now and juts started a facility. My brother and I are also selling cases for the uneekor eye xo. I attached links to our youtube video of the case. We started our facility without cases and we have had the uneekors get hit several time. we have ball marks in front of the uneekors too lol (I have no idea how somebody did that... I have the cases listed on eBay for 250, but if you say you saw us on golf simulator forums and make a offer of 200 we will give anyone a discount. we are using polycarbonate to build these and I have hit the case with a full 6 iron before in testing before getting it to crack (the uneekor still would have been saved on that shot too).

Also I wanted everyone to know when our uneekor got hit without the case and cracked the glass on the face it still works perfectly fine. we have had zero issues with it even with a crack running through the middle.

Also we are running uneekors eye xo and e6, and gc2 with TGC2019. we have people bring in flight scope memos and skylarks, and all kinds of laugh monitors and the uneekor IMO is the way to go. we have run our gc2 in the same bay as the eye xo and the numbers we get are very close.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHXrh8mSAwI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlR7yXZGXLE

[COgolfengineer]

SGN Golf That looks great, thanks for sharing. Man wish you posted this a week ago! A friend of mine just ordered the savemyuneekor one. A couple questions for you.
1. How thick is the polycarbonate?
2. It looks like the shield doesn't cover the power plug & ethernet wire, is that correct? It would be nice if it did.

Nice looking golf sim facility!

Thanks!

[SGN Golf]

We are getting our polycarbonate from menards. (AmeriLux Clear Polycarbonate Sheet) it is the .0093" thick stuff. If you are going to build it yourself make sure you use polycarbonate and NOT acrylic. acrylic will shatter immediately. it took me a while to break the polycarbonate. i worked up to a 6 iron directly at the case before it cracked. that was at 130mph ball speed. ill try to post some more videos of the case taking shots on our youtube channel. we have a cut out for the power switch and the case does cover the plugs. ill get a picture of the case from the ground looking up so you can see the strike protection, we did take all the photos from 10 feet up at the ceiling so it does look like we left a gap to hit the cables lol. the cut out is for the power switch and the case dose provide strike protection for the two plugs. we have had around 1500 players this year and have never had a cracked case, or a broken uneekor. We allow people to byob at our facility so we have had some very destructive drunk people it here trying to do long drive competitions and see if they can hit flop shots backwards lol.

If you guys want any more info on building the case, or any videos or pictures just let me know.

[mstas]

Another 'cage-type' option for those wanting an alternative to the Lexan approach.

I was planning on building a similar structure as pictured above using heavy-gauge steel mesh. While I was at a local hardware store shopping for materials, I saw a retail end-cap rack that would serve this purpose perfectly (48" long; 14.5" wide; 4.5" deep) and would offer better protection than the steel mesh screen I was there to buy. I found the item on Amazon and have ordered one. I'll report back on how the install goes and whether the 4.5" depth is enough. As with the install above, I'm assuming I will have to cut a 'window' in the steel 'spokes' to clear the line-of-sight for each of the cameras. I'll attempt to post a link below.

At $63.66, it is more than you would need to spend on materials to build the one outlined above, but this approach seemed like it would offer better protection and same me the time of fabricating... and $63.66 to protect a $10k investment seems like a no brainer.

https://www.amazon.com/Grid-Panel-En...8393820&sr=8-1

[SGN Golf]

Hey guys,
I wanted to post an update on our SGN Golf Uneekor eye xo protective cases. We are now selling them for 179.99 on eBay with free shipping. You can also check out our links to YouTube on the eBay listing to see the case in action below.

Uneekor Eye XO Protective Case SGN Golf | eBay