Material to top off enclosure

[Shiggidy112]

Good afternoon everyone,

I've been lurking on this site for a while now, and gathering lots of good ideas for my own simulator build. I've sourced most of the materials and I'm now just waiting for them to arrive (along with my Mevo+).

One component that i can't decide on what's best is the material to top off the enclosure. I assume it's best to have it black out as much light as possible, as well as catch errant pitch shots. I'm using photography backdrop background for the sides.

I am building my cage with 1" EMT conduit. The dimensions are 12'x9'x5'.

Thanks in advance.

[JayJo13]

I used this -- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00YOT5B0M/ it was inexpensive and it worked out pretty well. Golf netting would be good as well but it's a bit more expensive.

[Brent628]

Hi.. I'm on my 3rd simulator build. I started with net on my first one.... I literally just wrapped my first "cage" in net.. covered all sides. The second one I went to Joann Fabric and purchased a 5x11 sheet of heavy black cloth. I stretched it between two 2x4s and it worked very well. You could do the same with your conduit.. Just wrap and staple. My current build is more custom and complete. I actually purchased about 96 pieces of 12"x12" sound insulation pads.. I glued them to a piece of plywood and hung it on the ceiling. It looks fantastic and has worked well thus far. I believe i only paid about $50 for 96 of them.

[trhuke]

I use an inexpensive tarp that hangs loosely from my ceiling. Attached close to the screen and about 8 feet away with a U shaped sag in it. It has enough give, and absorbs enough impact, to keep high wedge shots from turning my ceiling into a cratered lunar landscape. Dark blue tarp cost me about $8-10. Easy and inexpensive solution.

[tcb121]

I went the mesh tarp route as well. The tarp I went with is super heavy and could take whatever shots you could throw at it.

https://gemplers.com/products/gemple...open-mesh-tarp

I couldn't find a 22oz weight tarp on Amazon. These are super heavy duty and I built my simulator in a sunroom that is basically all glass, so I could not have any room for error on stopping a golf ball. You could probably get by with a lighter weight mesh tarp like JayJo13 posted, but that tarp looks pretty light weight to me. JayJo13, would that tarp that you purchased take a driver pop-up or would a ball go right through it?

[JayJo13]

I was a bit worried about it as well but it's way more durable than I thought. I hit my 60-degree straight into it all the time. Haven't popped a driver up into it yet but it's not showing any signs of wear.

[Shiggidy112]

This is great. Thanks, everyone. I went with the lighter tarp & grommets. I'm trying to stay on budget. We'll see if I'll need to make an upgrade down the line. I'll be sure to update folks on how this works out.

[gmbtempe]

Hi.. I'm on my 3rd simulator build. I started with net on my first one.... I literally just wrapped my first "cage" in net.. covered all sides. The second one I went to Joann Fabric and purchased a 5x11 sheet of heavy black cloth. I stretched it between two 2x4s and it worked very well. You could do the same with your conduit.. Just wrap and staple. My current build is more custom and complete. I actually purchased about 96 pieces of 12"x12" sound insulation pads.. I glued them to a piece of plywood and hung it on the ceiling. It looks fantastic and has worked well thus far. I believe i only paid about $50 for 96 of them.

where did you get the tiles, I am mostly finding $1 a square foot pricing?

[Brent628]

Hi. Sorry.. Haven't been on in awhile. I had purchased them from Amazon.. Maybe since everything happening in the world, pricing has gone up since I am going to assume they were manufactured in China.