Hi All,
I would like to build a Simulator setup in my basement and would like to get ideas from you. Please post your setup pictures in this thread.
Thanks,
ttran1999
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Hi All,
I would like to build a Simulator setup in my basement and would like to get ideas from you. Please post your setup pictures in this thread.
Thanks,
ttran1999
I'd love to see these too, I draw all my inspiration from you guys and your home sims.
Personally I can't wait for next week, I'm doing my sim in my 1-car garage (about 15x20 with 10 foot ceilings) and next week I'm having a garage door company come and change my opener from 7 foot rails/opener to a high-lift system tight against the ceiling which will allow me to swing a club in there with no concerns over hitting the tracks/opener on my follow-through.
It's $700 I didn't really budget when I started the program, but a completely necessary step to finishing.
I'll post some before and afters once they are done.
Sounds like a cool setup. Yes, as you get into these projects you usually do hit a thing or two you didn't anticipate (it's hard to plan every detail up front!) but it's worth it in the end. A year ago I was in your shoes and it was very exciting seeing it all come together.
Thanks, DV. It is a pretty basic setup. I used commercial netting from ebay and hung it from a ceiling track which I purchased from a local decorating company. The netting is attached to hooks on rollers so I can slide it out of the way when not in use. The screen is cordura attached to the netting and roller hooks. I still plan to add black cordura border around the screen and a little more esthetics this winter.
The whole setup is very durable and I can and do hit real balls at times. I use the 16:9 setting on my projector for a picture width of about 10 feet.
Psace what are the dimensions of that setup? How far from the screen do you hit?
the screen is about 11 feet wide by 10 feet tall. My projector is about 14 feet away and about 9 feet from the floor. My ceiling is over 11 feet tall so I have plenty of heigth. My sim pad is about 8 feet from the screen.
disco, I used cordura but it is only about 5 feet wide so I had to have two pieces together. I has a seam but only cost about $2 a yard so was very inexpensive. I bought it on ebay. If I had to do it again I would buy a one piece screen from Cory at Par2Pro. The seam is not very noticeable but I am a little fussy.
what sim is that?
The pics are of my dancinc dogg simulator setup.
Psace,
What kind of tracking are you using on the ceiling and where did you purchase it? I have a set-up in my basement, but the ceiling is not high enough to swing my driver and thus I am considering putting a set-up in my garage.
Thanks
SORRY - I just noticed that you answered my question above. Does anyone know where ceiling tracking similar to what Psace is using can be purchased?
I saw this pic on the simple life http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=h...:1&um=1&itbs=1. That isn't the Optishot. I think it is the pro7. Is that your pic rdh?
Kball, you should be able to find this aluminum track at any company that sells curtains. I did find the same thing on ebay when I was searching for one. It is almost like the track they use in hospitals to curtain off hospital beds.
Okay...that's freaky bubba. Yes, that was one of my in-progress pictures - not even a finished one! And yes it's my pro 7. This is bizarre...I have no idea why the picture was grabbed and stuck on that website. They're strange times we live in...
Alright, here are a bunch of pics of my actual setup. Some are from the original setup before I had the black canopy over the cage, and the others (with the canopy) were taken this week. My platform is on hinges into the concrete floor so it flips up out of the way when not in use.
(pics 1 to 5 attached here, then the rest on the next posting)
And the last two...
I thought that was your setup. Kinda weird that someone stole it. Feel like letting them know that it is not a Optishot. Your pics look fantastic rdh. Very nice setup.
Great setup you got there RDH.
That Vivitek looks tiny. Mine will be here on Tuesday. Which works out pretty good as it gave me time to work on my setup. I spent yesterday building the cage and hanging the screen.
You mentioned that your projector is about 18ft back and your image is about 9.5ft wide. Is that correct? Are you using max zoom? Vivitek's projector calculator is pathetic as it always assume the ratio is 16:9. I can only go back as far as 19ft with 1ft left for the projector.
Your pictures make a good case for a 4:3 setup.
If I'd had a wider garage (wouldn't a triple car garage be nice???) I would have loved to go with a wide cage/impact screen to get a widescreen image at the same height I have now. But, for my setup 4:3 is definitely best - with widescreen the image height is just too low and the overall image looks too small.
I haven't measured the distance to the projector exactly, but it's in the 18ft-19ft range and with full zoom it basically fills the entire width of my 9.5' screen (with a few spare inches on each side for the border). The vivitek isn't small - it's a pretty normal sized projector (similar to my old one). It's just the perspective and distance from the camera that make it look small in that picture.
rdh what is your cage made of and how is the screen attached to the cage? This is one area where I haven't been able to find a lot of information, and it's the next step in my build.
I actually bought that part of things used on kijiji. It was a package purchased from customdesigngolf originally. They sell corner brackets (heavy duty steel ones) to form the cage shape, then you buy EMT electrical conduit pipe (1/2" I believe) from Home Depot or Lowes in 10 foot lengths that fit into the corner brackets. CustomDesignGolf then sells a 10' x 10' x 10' industrial strength net that fits into the cage. My screen is also from customdesigngolf (but purchased through Cory) and attaches to the bars of the cage using bungee-type connectors. I have a modified setup so I got customdesigngolf to make me a couple custom connectors to facilitate my cage structure. Mine is actually 10' x 10' x 3', but then I have an additional top portion that comes out the front with no bars down to the floor. I attached that to the ceiling with chain for support.
If you're cheap like me. You can get the hardware(corner fittings) from Ebay for about $40. They're basically batting cage/golf cage fittings. The one I'm using accepts 3/4" conduits and makes a square cage. You slide the conduits into the fittings one after the other(might need a second person to help) and after a few minutes, you have a cage. Total cost for me was $70 for the cage + 40 for a used net. Tie wrap the net around it and then hang your screen. My screen is tie wrapped to the conduit at the top and attaches to the bottom conduit with two bungee cords.
That's not being cheap - it's being smart. :)
Well, this project is going to cost me about $2000, including the projector. Which is a lot less then what I was expecting. Obviously the inexpensive DD was a big help.
I'm actually looking for a used P3proswing to add to my setup. I would love to get the 37 courses also but I can't swing the $1000 price tag. A Christmas sale would be nice.:-)
ZMax you are doing it smart. Used p3pro, grass top custom design and wait for a sale from p3pro for the courses. I suspect they will have a sale over the holidays. Enjoy the dd as it does have its good points.
Finally got the projector. Here are some pics. The screen is 7.5'x9.5'. Image is 1920x1080p. Projector is 15' back. I need to put up some curtains. Optishot looks awesome on the big screen. The Vivitek puts out a nice image and is definitely bright enough for me.
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Very nice ZMax! I'm glad you're happy with the projector. :)
I don't see any rainbow effects either...not that I even know what they are. I'm sure if you're some audio-visual techie type you would notice that stuff and it would bother you...but to me the image looks perfect. :)
All you guys really have some awesome sim setups. I'm still stuck in the garage hitting into an old comforter..I don’t think you need to see pics of that…..I eventually plan on doing the complete setup but have to wait to move in Sept 2011. For now I'm just living through all you guys....
Zmax, can you tell me which stance mat that is and if you cut the hole out yourself?
It's the Dual Stance mat for the P3proswing. I bought it from the P3proswing outlet store when it was $60. For some reason, it's now $100 more. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=STRK:MEWAX:IT
I made the cutout myself using a utility cutter. Be very careful here as it's not easy to cut and you can lose a finger. I also cut out a small portion underneath the turf for the USB connector. The DD was a 1/4" too high so I used an anti slip mat that was about 1/8" thick underneath the stance mat. I found it at home depot. I can post a picture of it when I get home.
Looks great. Thanks for providing the images for inspiration, dream of a simulator keeps growing each day!
About to pull the trigger on a projector and impact screen. Curious about the purchasing decisions of your projector? My screen is going to be about 6w x 8h. Probably a 4:3 because of the orientation of my small town home garage. I'm finding HD 1080p projectors, 2000 lumens, w/ keystone correction anywhere from $200 up on eBay. Depending on the throw distance, I can mount as far back as 15'. I have no windows in the garage as for lighting, and the overall size is just big enough for one car.
Go for it. Keep us posted.
Hold on.....$200 for a 1080p projector sounds like a great deal. That can't be their native resolution. I took a quick look at Ebay and some of those are actually 800x480. Like this one:http://cgi.ebay.com/VVME-LCD-Project...item2a0b99b54e
800x480 sucks.
Be very careful with projector resolutions. Lots of projects will SUPPORT high def resolution, but that just means they accept in an HD signal, then translate it down to their native resolution to show it. Be very, very careful!
When I was looking for my projector, I even saw a number of sites that had INCORRECT native resolutions for projectors. There were a couple I was looking into seriously after seeing them listed as 1400x1050 native resolution on a couple websites...then when I got to the details I found out their native resolution was 1024x768.
So, always look up the native resolution on the manufacturer's website to make sure you know what you're getting.
What might be a recommended target for a suitable native resolution. For 6'x8' screen. If 800x480 is limiting. I'm realizing this maybe a topic for a different thread, but was impressed with your images.
Will this projector be dedicated for a golf simulator? Or will you be watching HD movies on it also?
I wanted a native 1080p projector so that I could do both without compromising. Another thing to consider is that a 16x9 golf sim on an 8ft wide screen might still give you a good enough height. It depends on how far you'll be from the screen when you are hitting balls. I thought about doing 4:3 on my screen at first, but now that I've seen 16x9 on a 9.5ft screen, it's big enough for me.
There are 16x10 1280x800 native projectors that might look good enough and could still do HD. What is your budget?
I would not go any lower than 1024x768.