Is it common for a ball machine to do this (Silent Partner)

[JPW]

I just purchased a Silent Partner Lite. It has been OK, but after using it about 4 times now I'm seeing the same two repeated issues:

1) About every 10 - 20 balls, one of the balls evidently won't glide down the ramp properly and it gets stuck there. Once another ball hits then both balls come out at once (one right after the other). Obviously one is hit longer than the other because the wheels slow down some once one ball is ejected and attempts to catch up. This is the only ball machine I've ever used so I don't have anything to compare it to. Is this common amongst Silent Partners or any ball machine for that matter?

2) This problem I think is common, that is, balls getting stuck in the basket while the machine is on. I saw one post where somone had 25 gamma balls actually stuck. I have to think that this quite an anomoly. My experience is that the final 3 - 5 balls is what gets left in the basket, but it is still a little irritating only because I look at the basket to see whether my hitting session is complete. Many times I've walked away thinking that the last few were just stuck only to have a few more come flying out. Fortunately, I have seen a few posts on here where others have recommended velcro with foam board as a potential solution. I plan to give this a try.

Other than that is seems to be working pretty well. The speed I'm hitting at is somewhere a little above 3. I can't even imagine those that could hit at 5 especially while possibly using the oscillator. Overall this machine is more powerful than I thought it would be and definetly beyond my ability.

 

[Chas Tennis]

My first month's experience with the SP Lite with remote

I just purchased a SP Lite also. I am very pleased.

Balls. I selected among many mixed balls and used only the hardest 30% - similar to new ball feel. Did not select for diameter or fuzz.

I have never seen 2 balls come out at once. Maybe a very few times the feed held up - probably not once per hopper. If 3-4 balls are left in the hopper corners at the end it looks like more are left when you look through the feed hole.

Machine always on baseline. I have been using pace setting about 4.0 and find that 4.4 is more pace than I want now. (it goes to 9!) At these settings the feeds are pretty reproducible considering the balls are a mixed lot.

The pace setting is too sensitive. I have to get down to avoid parallax and look carefully to set 4.0, 4.2, etc on a very small dial. (Would prefer two rheostats in series with incremental settings, 1-10 + 1-10, etc.) I started with top spin setting 2 but that was a little too heavy and now using TS 1.

I turn the pace setting down to 0 each time before flipping the ON-OFF switch [to reduce any inductive voltage spikes]. Don't know if that is necessary as I don't recall seeing it in the manual.

Low Pace. I find considerably different feed results with pace, especially low pace. When I tried very slow pace and increasing the elevation it was not as reproducible and some balls did not clear the net. I may try elevating it with drywall buckets to get very low pace.

Mostly I have not used it enough with the many setting combinations to understand them. Any SP owners have some advice for very low pace feeds?

The basket is held on with a pin & ring to be placed on the plastic shaft. The manual shows placing the pin-ring on the end with the handle but the plastic shaft on the other end also has a hole. ? Why drill the front plastic shaft and invite using that shaft? Be sure to put the pin through and then flip the ring over the plastic shaft as illustrated in the manual. I did not do that once and the ring-pin fell out of the machine.

I have found myself putting things conveniently in the hopper to carry, the charger for example. I've decided that is not a good idea.

 

[beernutz]

I just purchased a Silent Partner Lite. It has been OK, but after using it about 4 times now I'm seeing the same two repeated issues:

1) About every 10 - 20 balls, one of the balls evidently won't glide down the ramp properly and it gets stuck there. Once another ball hits then both balls come out at once (one right after the other). Obviously one is hit longer than the other because the wheels slow down some once one ball is ejected and attempts to catch up. This is the only ball machine I've ever used so I don't have anything to compare it to. Is this common amongst Silent Partners or any ball machine for that matter?

2) This problem I think is common, that is, balls getting stuck in the basket while the machine is on. I saw one post where somone had 25 gamma balls actually stuck. I have to think that this quite an anomoly. My experience is that the final 3 - 5 balls is what gets left in the basket, but it is still a little irritating only because I look at the basket to see whether my hitting session is complete. Many times I've walked away thinking that the last few were just stuck only to have a few more come flying out. Fortunately, I have seen a few posts on here where others have recommended velcro with foam board as a potential solution. I plan to give this a try.

Other than that is seems to be working pretty well. The speed I'm hitting at is somewhere a little above 3. I can't even imagine those that could hit at 5 especially while possibly using the oscillator. Overall this machine is more powerful than I thought it would be and definetly beyond my ability.

1. FWIW, I've owned a SP Star since February 2010 and used it about an hour a week on average. At the time I bought it, it was identical to the SP Lite except that the Star had a 3 button remote and a higher capacity battery. During the time I've had my Star I've had a handful of balls get stuck in the throwing mechanism but nothing like what you are experiencing. I bet I've had a ball get stuck 5 times or less in over 100 hours of use and thousands of balls thrown. Based on my experience I would say that you possibly have a defective machine. Is yours still in warranty? Have you called SP about your problem? They've been very responsive whenever I called them. Try and talk to Steve if you can.

2. I had a problem with several (3-4) balls being left in the basket at the end of a cycle so I cut off about a foot of broomstick and put it in the front inner grove inside the ball basket so that balls can't collect there. Occasionally a ball or two will do the same thing in the back part of the ball basket and if I ever get annoyed enough about that I'll create something similar to go in the back part of the basket to make sure all the balls there get thrown. Since this affects at most 1 or 2 balls perhaps every other time I use the machine it really isn't a big enough deal for me to worry about atm.

 

[blastforehand]

The white plastic ramp the ball slides down may be sagging. I fixed my feed problem by shoving a wrist band under the ramp every session. Worked until I sent it back to Silent Partner for another issue. Machine came back practically rebuilt, better than new, for a fair price.

 

[JPW]

I bet I've had a ball get stuck 5 times or less in over 100 hours of use and thousands of balls thrown. Based on my experience I would say that you possibly have a defective machine. Is yours still in warranty? Have you called SP about your problem? They've been very responsive whenever I called them. Try and talk to Steve if you can.

Thanks everyone for the comments. Just to be clear, the ball doesn't stay stuck. I'm guess it sort of sits in there without being ejected until another one comes sliding along to give it a bump. Then both come out. I've even had three come out one right after the other. Coupled with the comments here it does sound like this is a defect.

I just bought it so it is very much under warranty. I could just ask for a refund, but I don't think I will. I'll send Steve and SP an e-mail tomorrow to see what can be done.

Thanks again for the comments.

 

[beernutz]

Thanks everyone for the comments. Just to be clear, the ball doesn't stay stuck. I'm guess it sort of sits in there without being ejected until another one comes sliding along to give it a bump. Then both come out. I've even had three come out one right after the other. Coupled with the comments here it does sound like this is a defect.

I just bought it so it is very much under warranty. I could just ask for a refund, but I don't think I will. I'll send Steve and SP an e-mail tomorrow to see what can be done.

Thanks again for the comments.

Another thing that occurs to me to check is whether your white ball basket is securely attached to the blue lower part of the machine. On mine I have to really push hard to get the three posts on the lower part of the machine completely up through the upper white basket part so that they're connected securely. I then use the cotter pin and ring to secure them during use. I have found that if these two pieces are not pressed up against each other the machine will be more likely to have a ball jam. Good luck getting the issue fixed and let us know what SP says.

 

[JPW]

Well, I don't think I could have asked for a better response from SP. I created a small video so that they could see what I was seeing from the ball machine. They confirmed that it seemed to not be working properly. They are allowing me to return the "defective" ball machine and are sending me a brand new one as soon as they've seen I've shipped it so I'm not waiting terribly long. It really feels good to put my money toward a company like this. Hopefully, the replacement ball machine will operate as it should. I'm confident it will.

 

[njboy]

How to ship it?

Well, I don't think I could have asked for a better response from SP. I created a small video so that they could see what I was seeing from the ball machine. They confirmed that it seemed to not be working properly. They are allowing me to return the "defective" ball machine and are sending me a brand new one as soon as they've seen I've shipped it so I'm not waiting terribly long. It really feels good to put my money toward a company like this. Hopefully, the replacement ball machine will operate as it should. I'm confident it will.

So heavy.
Mine also has some issue.

 

[WileyCoyote]

Feeding

The real problem that I think you have is two balls are being fed by the carosel in the same notch. This happens when the basket is not held tight onto the machine lower section.

I have seen several SP Edge series where the hole that you put the pin in to hold the basket down is not drilled properly to hold the basket as tight as it needs to be and this sometimes lets two balls feed in the same notch and things bind up.

The problem is worse on slow feed because the carosel power is minimal. If you feed at a higher rate, things should improve.

I have even gone so far as to heat the lower lip of the basket with a heat gun and adjust it so that it "kisses" the carosel during ball feed. This seems to help eliminate the jamming.

Hope this helps,

Harry

 

[Chotobaka]

I just purchased a Silent Partner Lite. It has been OK, but after using it about 4 times now I'm seeing the same two repeated issues:

1) About every 10 - 20 balls, one of the balls evidently won't glide down the ramp properly and it gets stuck there. Once another ball hits then both balls come out at once (one right after the other). Obviously one is hit longer than the other because the wheels slow down some once one ball is ejected and attempts to catch up. This is the only ball machine I've ever used so I don't have anything to compare it to. Is this common amongst Silent Partners or any ball machine for that matter?

2) This problem I think is common, that is, balls getting stuck in the basket while the machine is on. I saw one post where somone had 25 gamma balls actually stuck. I have to think that this quite an anomoly. My experience is that the final 3 - 5 balls is what gets left in the basket, but it is still a little irritating only because I look at the basket to see whether my hitting session is complete. Many times I've walked away thinking that the last few were just stuck only to have a few more come flying out. Fortunately, I have seen a few posts on here where others have recommended velcro with foam board as a potential solution. I plan to give this a try.

Other than that is seems to be working pretty well. The speed I'm hitting at is somewhere a little above 3. I can't even imagine those that could hit at 5 especially while possibly using the oscillator. Overall this machine is more powerful than I thought it would be and definetly beyond my ability.

If you are saying that the ball are getting hung up in the machine, try taking a scrubbing pad (the 3M type) moistened with warm/hot water and dishwashing detergent and place it on the wheels while the machine is running --WEAR A STURDY GLOVE, just in case. Over time, the reside on the wheels becomes slick and does to grab the balls -- thus hanging things up.

I had similar problems and symptoms my Star and all it took was a good cleaning. If this fails, call Steve at SP. He has always been extremely helpful to me regarding both ball and stringing machines.

 

[Magnetite]

I used to hit with a ball machine at times as a teenager.

I can't remember what ball machine brand it was, but it did do both things you mentioned at times.

Wasn't a huge deal, as the problems were infrequent.

 

[tball]

This happens to me, when I try to play with wet balls. Every time. My machines is Playmate. Dry performance is fine though.

 

[JPW]

The real problem that I think you have is two balls are being fed by the carosel in the same notch. This happens when the basket is not held tight onto the machine lower section.

I have seen several SP Edge series where the hole that you put the pin in to hold the basket down is not drilled properly to hold the basket as tight as it needs to be and this sometimes lets two balls feed in the same notch and things bind up.

The problem is worse on slow feed because the carosel power is minimal. If you feed at a higher rate, things should improve.

I have even gone so far as to heat the lower lip of the basket with a heat gun and adjust it so that it "kisses" the carosel during ball feed. This seems to help eliminate the jamming.

Hope this helps,

Harry

Sorry, I should have responded to this thread earlier than now. Basically, I've resolved my issues. Here is what the problem was and the resolution:

1. The balls getting stuck were only partly due to the ramp. The ramp is plastic and will easily bend indward causing the ramp to be more narrow and thus a ball getting stuck there sometimes. What was causing the ramp to bend inward was the outer shell of the SP. Basically, on the right side of the SP where the ramp is the outer shell was bowed inward. It was concave just enough that it was pushing against the ramp. Per Steve's recommendation I took a heat gun to the outer plastic wall and attempted to bend it more outward. It took a number of times to get it right, but eventually pulled it out just a mm or two from touching the ramp. Now the balls flow freely.

2. I'll post some pictures of my cheap and easy solution for this once I have some time. But basically, I find the design of the basket itself to be a little quirky. It has all those odd angles were balls can get stuck in the perimter of the basket. I started to think what might help and on a whim I took some thick adhesive weather stripping and adhered it to the front and back of the inner part of the basket. I think it was 7/16" thick. The nice thing about this thickness is that it was just enough to not inhibit the basket from seating properly when you flip the basket over on to the ball machine for storage or transport. It doesn't look all that pretty, but who cares. No one really sees it anyway. The weatherstripping offers enough cushion to push the balls off the lips that exist and move toward the feeder as they should. I'm actually sort of surprised how well it works.

 

[COPEY]

Nicely done, and yeah, I think pictures will definitely help others who may have similar issues.

 

[JPW]

Here are are a few pics to show what I've done to the basket to help the balls from getting stuck on the perimeter of the basket. Again, it looks a little rough, but I'm pleased with the results.

 

[Chotobaka]

Nice modification. I will pick up some 7/16th inch weather stripping tomorrow and see how it goes. Thanks for sharing.