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Hi everyone,
I"ve been lurking around this forum for a while now, getting information from others' posts, and I recently finished my build, so I figured it's time to share my experience. It's been a project that's spanned about 9 months, mainly consisting of building a room in my detached garage that will accommodate a full simulator that both left- and right-handers can use (I'm a lefty). I had to remove a 16-foot garage door and enclose the portion of the garage with the sim, for temperature control reasons (there was previously no service door to the garage, only garage doors, and I didn't want the cold Wisconsin winds filling the room every time I opened the garage door). Once the walls were framed, I ran and installed enough electricity to power everything, insulated, drywalled, taped/mudded/painted, installed flooring, trimmed it all out, installed the simulator stuff, then built a wall console for the electronics and a butcher block table for the sitting area. I'm pretty happy with the results.
The room measures 17'Wx21'Dx10'H. In the ceiling, directly above the hitting area, I built in a recessed cove to house the overhead PAR30 LED track lights (I had originally planned on getting a Protee setup, which has more specific lighting requirements, but balked when it came time to throw down the cash). The rest of the can lights are on dimmer switches, which is great for movie watching on the screen. The screen itself is a Supertex 12'x9' screen purchased on Amazon. Optishot graphics, as well as 1080p movies on the projector, show up great on it. I'm really impressed with the image quality. The screen is suspended about 14" from the back wall by EMT conduit fitted into a sleeve at the top of the screen, and hung from the ceiling using the included straps and D-ring anchors. I also have it attached loosely at the bottom at 3 points using the same D-rings. The side curtains are 10' blackout curtains purchased on Amazon, hung from ceiling-mount curtain rails. I constructed the ceiling protection out of 2 sheets of foil-faced sheet insulation, covered with black cloth.
For the projector, I went with a Viewsonic PJD7836HDL. It's a 3500 lumen standard throw projector, mounted at 18' from the screen. The image is great, even with some ambient light in the room. I went with a standard throw projector because I didn't want it anywhere near the hitting area, and calculated that I wouldn't cast shadows on the screen as I'm playing, with the projector being mounted at nearly 10' high. At this distance, and with the size of the screen, I am able to play in 16:9 ratio, although the screen isn't entirely filled out by the image. A 4:3 image would take up the entire screen, but movies play in 16:9 and it's a bit of a pain switching ratios.
I built the hitting platform out of scrap OSB, 2x4's, and door/window casing. I first built a sort of "box" that houses the optishot sensor, then built the platform around the box. I cut strips of puzzle-piece gym floor foam to cushion the optishot, then built the box around that, leaving a cutout for the USB cable. I used regular driving range hitting mats and cut out the opening for the sensor. I had originally gone with an aftermarket turf top off amazon, but after being dissatisfied with its performance, I purchased a Teeline XL turf top from ArseneGolf.com (jagmanjoe). I am much happier with it than the previous turf. The button controller at the back of the hitting platform is from GolfinGator.com. A little on the spendy side, but it had all the buttons I wanted, and was very customizable (wood finish, button color, USB cable location, etc). It's definitely nicer than using a keyboard for in-game adjustments.
I'm using Almost Golf Balls, but have used real golf balls a few times. I'm just a little nervous about busting something in my shiny new room with a real ball, and I'm happy with the Almost Golf Balls, so for the time I'll stick with them.
Anyway, if anybody has any questions about my sim setup, I'd be happy to answer them. Thanks for checking it out.
Andy
I"ve been lurking around this forum for a while now, getting information from others' posts, and I recently finished my build, so I figured it's time to share my experience. It's been a project that's spanned about 9 months, mainly consisting of building a room in my detached garage that will accommodate a full simulator that both left- and right-handers can use (I'm a lefty). I had to remove a 16-foot garage door and enclose the portion of the garage with the sim, for temperature control reasons (there was previously no service door to the garage, only garage doors, and I didn't want the cold Wisconsin winds filling the room every time I opened the garage door). Once the walls were framed, I ran and installed enough electricity to power everything, insulated, drywalled, taped/mudded/painted, installed flooring, trimmed it all out, installed the simulator stuff, then built a wall console for the electronics and a butcher block table for the sitting area. I'm pretty happy with the results.
The room measures 17'Wx21'Dx10'H. In the ceiling, directly above the hitting area, I built in a recessed cove to house the overhead PAR30 LED track lights (I had originally planned on getting a Protee setup, which has more specific lighting requirements, but balked when it came time to throw down the cash). The rest of the can lights are on dimmer switches, which is great for movie watching on the screen. The screen itself is a Supertex 12'x9' screen purchased on Amazon. Optishot graphics, as well as 1080p movies on the projector, show up great on it. I'm really impressed with the image quality. The screen is suspended about 14" from the back wall by EMT conduit fitted into a sleeve at the top of the screen, and hung from the ceiling using the included straps and D-ring anchors. I also have it attached loosely at the bottom at 3 points using the same D-rings. The side curtains are 10' blackout curtains purchased on Amazon, hung from ceiling-mount curtain rails. I constructed the ceiling protection out of 2 sheets of foil-faced sheet insulation, covered with black cloth.
For the projector, I went with a Viewsonic PJD7836HDL. It's a 3500 lumen standard throw projector, mounted at 18' from the screen. The image is great, even with some ambient light in the room. I went with a standard throw projector because I didn't want it anywhere near the hitting area, and calculated that I wouldn't cast shadows on the screen as I'm playing, with the projector being mounted at nearly 10' high. At this distance, and with the size of the screen, I am able to play in 16:9 ratio, although the screen isn't entirely filled out by the image. A 4:3 image would take up the entire screen, but movies play in 16:9 and it's a bit of a pain switching ratios.
I built the hitting platform out of scrap OSB, 2x4's, and door/window casing. I first built a sort of "box" that houses the optishot sensor, then built the platform around the box. I cut strips of puzzle-piece gym floor foam to cushion the optishot, then built the box around that, leaving a cutout for the USB cable. I used regular driving range hitting mats and cut out the opening for the sensor. I had originally gone with an aftermarket turf top off amazon, but after being dissatisfied with its performance, I purchased a Teeline XL turf top from ArseneGolf.com (jagmanjoe). I am much happier with it than the previous turf. The button controller at the back of the hitting platform is from GolfinGator.com. A little on the spendy side, but it had all the buttons I wanted, and was very customizable (wood finish, button color, USB cable location, etc). It's definitely nicer than using a keyboard for in-game adjustments.
I'm using Almost Golf Balls, but have used real golf balls a few times. I'm just a little nervous about busting something in my shiny new room with a real ball, and I'm happy with the Almost Golf Balls, so for the time I'll stick with them.
Anyway, if anybody has any questions about my sim setup, I'd be happy to answer them. Thanks for checking it out.
Andy
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