Help Me Design a Basement Putting Green

[iacas]

Just now, Pretzel said:

After NCAA Nationals means after the 25th, correct? If that is correct I should be able to have a full parts list with links to supplier and such by then, along with a CAD model for assembly if you know what you want. Shoot me a PM and we can discuss details of exactly what you want.

We're done on the 13th, actually. Division III, man.

But no rush, and I'll find some way to thank you if you're able to provide some help.

[bmartin461]

This setup would be sweet, I like the effect the mirror has:

[Lihu]

38 minutes ago, Pretzel said:

Yes, I could provide assistance in that regard now that finals are over. Just packing up my things and moving out now, actually.

After NCAA Nationals means after the 25th, correct? If that is correct I should be able to have a full parts list with links to supplier and such by then, along with a CAD model for assembly if you know what you want. Shoot me a PM and we can discuss details of exactly what you want.

Looks like 80/20, and they have CAD models for the beams and stuff. Not cheap. . .

https://www.8020.net/

Mcmaster-Carr is a good place to go for everything else, and they also provide CAD models for many of the parts.

 

Come to think of it I have a whole bunch of 8020 rails that we are throwing away, I might be tempted to build one of these babies myself.

[Golfingdad]

What about jacks?  Have you considered those?

[Pretzel]

7 minutes ago, Lihu said:

Looks like 80/20, and they have CAD models for the beams and stuff. Not cheap. . .

https://www.8020.net/

Mcmaster-Carr is a good place to go for everything else, and they also provide CAD models for many of the parts.

 

Come to think of it I have a whole bunch of 8020 rails that we are throwing away, I might be tempted to build one of these babies myself.

80/20 and T-Slots are the two manufacturers that I've had experience with in the past for t-slotted extrusion (my robotics team was sponsored by both, so we built boatloads of parts out of extrusion for the convenience of assembly). McMaster-Carr is pretty good, but can occasionally be a bit more expensive than a local distributor. I'll make a couple calls to see what the distributors near Erie would charge, since it would be much cheaper if you were to actually go pick it up yourself versus get it shipped out (since shipping on a 12' section of extrusion isn't exactly the cheapest thing in the world.

[bmartin461]

7 minutes ago, Golfingdad said:

What about jacks?  Have you considered those?

Jacks, what a stupid idea, whoever originally suggested those in this thread should be banned for life.

Now I do like the idea of electric actuators, controlled by a Raspberry Pi perhaps that can auto set any desired putting configuration.  #envious

[Lihu]

10 minutes ago, Pretzel said:

80/20 and T-Slots are the two manufacturers that I've had experience with in the past for t-slotted extrusion (my robotics team was sponsored by both, so we built boatloads of parts out of extrusion for the convenience of assembly). McMaster-Carr is pretty good, but can occasionally be a bit more expensive than a local distributor. I'll make a couple calls to see what the distributors near Erie would charge, since it would be much cheaper if you were to actually go pick it up yourself versus get it shipped out (since shipping on a 12' section of extrusion isn't exactly the cheapest thing in the world.

Funny you mentioned robots, but our old ER1 was the inspiration for almost all 8020 based robots when we were still Evolution Robotics at Idealab***. I still bring it to some STEM presentations.

True, I have the luxury of being only 18 miles from the Norwalk Mcmaster-Carr facility and they courier it to my work or house.

The aluminum panels could also be substituted with 1/2" or 3/4" plywood if you add another 8020 bar down the middle. Might save some cost.

 

***http://www.geek.com/hwswrev/hardware/er1/

[No Mulligans]

1 hour ago, bmartin461 said:

This setup would be sweet, I like the effect the mirror has:

What if you put this on heavy duty caster wheels and had angled wood ramps on one side that you could roll up on and apply a break when you achieve the desired slope?

Start with your max left to right slope and then roll it to get all other slopes.  You could even design it for uphill and downhill slopes using this idea.

[iacas]

1 hour ago, Lihu said:

The aluminum panels could also be substituted with 1/2" or 3/4" plywood if you add another 8020 bar down the middle. Might save some cost.

It might. I'll look at everything. I'm not looking to do this for $200 or whatever the original thing cost (without the carpet it was probably less than that…).

There are some distributors about two hours away from 16506.

For both 8020 and T-Bar.

[Lihu]

52 minutes ago, iacas said:

It might. I'll look at everything. I'm not looking to do this for $200 or whatever the original thing cost (without the carpet it was probably less than that…).

There are some distributors about two hours away from 16506.

For both 8020 and T-Bar.

This project of yours is definitely inspiring some of us to follow suit.

[iacas]

Just a quick update, as it's mostly done…

I've lightly glued the carpet to it and then trimmed it. The surface was lying on the plywood for quite a long time before that so that it could flatten as much as possible. It's flat now while still having a little "wobble" when the putt dies out, just like a real putting green. If I ever get some better turf I'll be able to rip this off pretty easily, and probably without destroying it entirely.

As the platform is 6' wide… that's 72 inches. That means a 1% slope is 0.72 inches, a two percent slope is 1.44 inches, and so on. I'll make the "risers" for that later. They may just be as simple as some plywood strips that I stack under one side or the other. It's close enough to 3/4" that I'll probably just go 3/4" boards for the risers.

I haven't cut any holes yet, and may not, ever, because now I can use it in whichever direction and from whichever length I want. I have a $7 "hole" that's actually very difficult to hole, so it's good.

I have some extra things that will slide in to the ends, and I'll likely make an elevated aim line solution with some stretchy string to go above for monitoring start lines.

The one mistake, I suppose, was assuming that just because the frame was aluminum that it'd be light weight. The platform is pretty darn heavy. I could have made it smaller, but… honestly, it's fine. I also could have perhaps put some insulation (foam of some kind or another) between the carpet and the plywood, too, but the only purpose that would serve is to deaden the sound a bit when balls are dropped on it.

Overall, I'm very happy with how this turned out, and I'd like to thank everyone who contributed their ideas in this thread, and especially to @Pretzel who had some experience and offered plenty of input on several occasions. Thank you.

---

P.S. I said "mostly done" but I guess the only things remaining are…

• To hide or otherwise "clean up" the exposed plywood on the sides.
• To make the risers for breaking putts.
• To make the elevated aim line thing(s).

That's all I have on the docket, anyway.

Edited October 24, 2016 by iacas
6' wide, not 5'. Duh.

[iacas]

The basement… starting with a shot of the putting green with some photos added.

The Road Hole with 18 behind it (hole location when I birdied), Oakmont (my photo), my Golf Digest Top Young Teachers thing. And @NatalieB's high school golf bag.

@NatalieB photos: mini golfing in a Penguins jersey top left, two photos from a recent photo shoot at Whispering Woods, and her hitting balls on the range at Lake View when she was about 4 or 5.

The same photos. This is more of a room shot, obviously.

An Oakmont poster.

Arnold Palmer and a photo I took of Tiger Woods reading a putt (he should learn AimPoint ).

Actually, because I can, the photos we chose…

 

[jkelley9]

@iacas this looks like it turned out really well. I hope you've been enjoying it. I'm looking to start my own DIY indoor practice putting green project particularly because I could really use a good, easily accessible area where I can do some GOOD putting practice, and start shaving some strokes. My consistency particularly in distance control is a glaring weak area in my game. I also enjoy DIY and have nearly run out of fun projects. I just wish I would have finished something like this recently so I could be using it in this cold weather :)

I'll start my own thread, because I could really use some help particularly in materials (green surfaces, fringe surfaces, and materials for the base). But thank you for this thread because it did have some valuable information to me.

[Ty_Webb]

Hi iacas,

Can you share what size bars you used in the base for this project and if they are strong enough when you have it propped up? I'm thinking of doing something similar, but the aluminum is expensive and I don't want to get a higher spec than I need to. Also, what spacing did you use in the underneath? I am thinking of doing 14' by 8', although I may wind up making it narrower. I would really like to be able to add trailer jacks on the sides to make break adjustment easy and safe. I'm worried that the full 14' span will bend when I'm standing on it. I'm less concerned about the width bending as it's a much shorter stretch.

Thanks!

Ty

[iacas]

13 minutes ago, Ty_Webb said:

Can you share what size bars you used in the base for this project and if they are strong enough when you have it propped up? I'm thinking of doing something similar, but the aluminum is expensive and I don't want to get a higher spec than I need to. Also, what spacing did you use in the underneath? I am thinking of doing 14' by 8', although I may wind up making it narrower. I would really like to be able to add trailer jacks on the sides to make break adjustment easy and safe. I'm worried that the full 14' span will bend when I'm standing on it. I'm less concerned about the width bending as it's a much shorter stretch.

I used their 1515 https://8020.net/shop/1515.html which is a 1.5" x 1.5" aluminum. That shit does NOT bend easily. @Pretzel could give you some of the data on it. It's been awhile since I took a Strengths and Materials class.

My platform is divided into eight sections. Three crossbars and then a center section between all of those. The plywood on top helps hold everything beneath in place, too.

I have no fear of anything bending or warping or anything, even when I prop it up on a good angle.

None.

[Eric C]

I'm impressed, and a bit inspired @iacas.  Thank you for sharing the process and results.

While your putting green is outstanding, and your choice of pictures excellent, as a former professional foosball player I question your table selection - please tell me that's not a Harvard . If I may, I recommend the Tornado - http://valley-dynamo.com/product/the/

 

[iacas]

2 minutes ago, Eric C said:

I'm impressed, and a bit inspired @iacas.  Thank you for sharing the process and results.

While your putting green is outstanding, and your choice of pictures excellent, as a former professional foosball player I question your table selection - please tell me that's not a Harvard . If I may, I recommend the Tornado - http://valley-dynamo.com/product/the/

I don't know what it is. I paid very little for it from a family who was moving to San Diego.

I'm looking into resurfacing the putting green, btw, with SynLawn. SynLawn (https://www.synlawngolf.com) is the surface we have downtown, and it's INCREDIBLY GOOD.

[Pretzel]

On 11/10/2017 at 1:08 PM, Ty_Webb said:

Hi iacas,

Can you share what size bars you used in the base for this project and if they are strong enough when you have it propped up? I'm thinking of doing something similar, but the aluminum is expensive and I don't want to get a higher spec than I need to. Also, what spacing did you use in the underneath? I am thinking of doing 14' by 8', although I may wind up making it narrower. I would really like to be able to add trailer jacks on the sides to make break adjustment easy and safe. I'm worried that the full 14' span will bend when I'm standing on it. I'm less concerned about the width bending as it's a much shorter stretch.

Thanks!

Ty

To give a little bit of perspective on the strength of the 1515 material from 80/20 that @iacas used, 80/20 has a handy deflection calculator on their website that can be found HERE. If I had a 14' piece of 1515, supported only in two places (one at each of the very ends of the material), and placed 300 pounds of weight in the dead center of the beam it would deflect a total of 3.0635 inches. If the weight was evenly distributed it would only flex 1.5183 inches. Provided you design your base in such a way that one single beam wouldn't even hold the entire load, which in most designs would not be the case, deflection will be quite minimal.

The extrusion is pretty darn rigid, and the main advantage to using it is how simple it makes the assembly of a lot of projects. You can order it cut to the lengths you want it, and then you can drop t-nuts into the slots to use as fastener points for brackets and whatever surface material you decide upon, meaning the only thing needed to assembly the frame would be the hardware (t-nuts, brackets, and bolts) and an allen wrench for the bolts.