Tweet
I love it when a plan comes together
Glamour shot first: (Remember this is a prototype not the finial product)
Cribbing heavily from here and everywhere else I find I have the prototype of my garage build up and running. I'm not good with CAD software or drawing so I need to build it to see it.
Thus the "proto" build. The goal was to get a basic setup working and use that experience to make "Version 1.0".
Hardware:
Simulator: Uneekor QED
PC: Old Core i7 desktop, 16GB ram and a GTX 1650 GPU.
Projector: An old XGA business projector I had handy. Not great. Works for now and the price was right.
Screen: White Background Muslin Photographer Backdrop 10'x20' - $34
Backing: 12 Moving blankets - $60
Side Walls: Blackout curtains - $90
Mounting: Zip ties tarp clips and Bungie cords.
Hitting Platform: 1 sheet of plywood, some 2x4's, a roll of carpet padding and Home Depot cheap as heck artificial turf.
Day-1
Technically day 15 if you count the time it took to get all the junk cleaned out of the garage. I have my blank slate to work with. 12 1/2' Wide, by 25' Long and 9' high. Basically 1/2 of our two car garage.
I have a contractor scheduled to raise the joists up to 12', and install a split AC/Heater unit.
Let's build!
The screen wall is two layers of moving blankets and inch or two apart, and the screen material an inch or two in front of that. Zip ties attached everything to the roof joists, bungies attach to the zip ties and tarp clips which hold up the blankets and the screen. For this proto-build it all just hangs down. While I'm sure the zip ties won't hold up for the long run they don't have to. This is just the proto-build. Based on the available space and some advanced geometry I'm planning on a 4:3 screen with a 160" diagonal in the v1.0 build along with a new projector that can do that size from ~14'. For the proto-build I used very inexpensive muslin cloth that is typically used for photographic backgrounds. Not sure how long it will last but it's doing very well so far.
The hitting platform is simple yet functional. One sheet of plywood, side and back edged with 2x4's, two layers of carpet padding, and a layer of artificial turf from Home depot. I purchased a leftover 12' x 10' roll for $56, which turned out to be 12' x 25'. So I had enough to cover the entire garage floor and make the hitting platform as well. I've been using it for a couple of days I don't expect it will last very long but it's easy to replace as needed.
I also added Velcro strips between each blackout curtain and the screen fabric (not shown in the "glamour photo") to help keep balls in the hitting area.
The projector is screwed into a small sheet of plywood that sits between a couple of rafters, it's easy to move it side to side, back and forth to experiment with different distances. Anyway you look at it, this is not a projector that is up to the task but "Proto".
I'm having a lot of fun playing with it now and I've learned a lot that will go into the next version of the build, details on that to follow... Thanks to everyone here for the inspiration.
Glamour shot first: (Remember this is a prototype not the finial product)
Cribbing heavily from here and everywhere else I find I have the prototype of my garage build up and running. I'm not good with CAD software or drawing so I need to build it to see it.
Thus the "proto" build. The goal was to get a basic setup working and use that experience to make "Version 1.0".
Hardware:
Simulator: Uneekor QED
PC: Old Core i7 desktop, 16GB ram and a GTX 1650 GPU.
Projector: An old XGA business projector I had handy. Not great. Works for now and the price was right.
Screen: White Background Muslin Photographer Backdrop 10'x20' - $34
Backing: 12 Moving blankets - $60
Side Walls: Blackout curtains - $90
Mounting: Zip ties tarp clips and Bungie cords.
Hitting Platform: 1 sheet of plywood, some 2x4's, a roll of carpet padding and Home Depot cheap as heck artificial turf.
Day-1
Technically day 15 if you count the time it took to get all the junk cleaned out of the garage. I have my blank slate to work with. 12 1/2' Wide, by 25' Long and 9' high. Basically 1/2 of our two car garage.
I have a contractor scheduled to raise the joists up to 12', and install a split AC/Heater unit.
Let's build!
The screen wall is two layers of moving blankets and inch or two apart, and the screen material an inch or two in front of that. Zip ties attached everything to the roof joists, bungies attach to the zip ties and tarp clips which hold up the blankets and the screen. For this proto-build it all just hangs down. While I'm sure the zip ties won't hold up for the long run they don't have to. This is just the proto-build. Based on the available space and some advanced geometry I'm planning on a 4:3 screen with a 160" diagonal in the v1.0 build along with a new projector that can do that size from ~14'. For the proto-build I used very inexpensive muslin cloth that is typically used for photographic backgrounds. Not sure how long it will last but it's doing very well so far.
The hitting platform is simple yet functional. One sheet of plywood, side and back edged with 2x4's, two layers of carpet padding, and a layer of artificial turf from Home depot. I purchased a leftover 12' x 10' roll for $56, which turned out to be 12' x 25'. So I had enough to cover the entire garage floor and make the hitting platform as well. I've been using it for a couple of days I don't expect it will last very long but it's easy to replace as needed.
I also added Velcro strips between each blackout curtain and the screen fabric (not shown in the "glamour photo") to help keep balls in the hitting area.
The projector is screwed into a small sheet of plywood that sits between a couple of rafters, it's easy to move it side to side, back and forth to experiment with different distances. Anyway you look at it, this is not a projector that is up to the task but "Proto".
I'm having a lot of fun playing with it now and I've learned a lot that will go into the next version of the build, details on that to follow... Thanks to everyone here for the inspiration.