New Garage Build

[6-sixer]

Hi Everyone. This is my first post but I've been a lurker for several months as I planned out my build. Thanks to all the great info on here I'm getting close to finishing it up.

Some details:

• Space is roughly 13' wide x 20' long and 11.5' high
• Needed to be in a location where I don't have to move the cars out (winter)
• Needed to be safe to hit in there without hitting my wife's car!
• The hardest part was that the best location was also my work area in the garage and I needed to keep the ability to use it

I decided to create a retractable screen that would hide up towards the ceiling. I did not want a roll up solution as I also needed side netting since my son and his friends might use it. So I decided to build a rigid frame and use an electric hoist to pull it up to the ceiling. The hardest part was picking the right projector. I read so many good things about the Optoma GT1080HD that I wanted to use that but at a distance of about 5.5' I could not raise the screen in that direction since it is 7' tall. As much as I searched on this site and elsewhere I couldn't find a solution. Finally I was able to figure out how to make the screen go backwards on it's way up (away from the projector) to allow clearance as it passed the projector. It turns out a couple of pulleys and some paracord can go a long way. And, yes, a few extra holes in the ceiling, but nothing that can't be patched up. The sides and top of the screen are covered in golf netting with a simple (cheap) photo background material as a light blocker.

This weekend I added some indoor/outdoor carpet as the base that will work well for both the simulator and for regular tool usage.

Still need to do:

• Add more clamps to the top of the screen to hold the netting better (I sent an errant ball through there)
• Add another Peak's Tarp behind the screen to block the light. As you can see in the picture the screen is washed out except for the piece in the middle where I hung a blanket. The Peak's Tarps are awesome. Just ordered the one for the back.
• Need to make some sort of pad for the bottom to block thin shots from hitting the EMT and ricocheting all around the space (yup, that happened also)
• Although it seems to be safe, the projector is about 3' in front of the hitting area. At 30 degree launch angle, a 60 degree wedge should not hit it but I want to make a protective cage for it
• Wait for my Mevo+ (October ship date from GungHo). This is going to be hard to wait for.
• Build PC for TGC2019. Man, those video cards are expensive!

Anyway, if anyone is looking to do something similar to have a multi-use space, please let me know if you have any questions.

[Dax]

Looks great! On the video card I suggest to start looking at GPUs now and over the coming weeks. Prices on theses older cards have to come down once the 3000 series come out. Might be time to start seeing some good deals on good GPUs.

[6-sixer]

Oooh. Good call Dax. Thanks for the info.