Portable ball machine owners...please check in

rjw

Professional
Who among you fellow ball machine owners think that it is a good idea to raise your portable ball machine up, and if so, by how much?

My sp lite ejects the balls from around 10" off the ground. I am thinking of designing a base that would raise this to around 3 feet, so as to kind of replicate where the ball would be coming from, if hit around waist high from a 6 foot opponent (or thereabouts)

I saw another thread, where some were buying a tool cart and simply placing their machine on it, but I want something really light and that can be torn down/assembled in a matter of minutes and fit easily in a car trunk or in my case, my oversized tennis bag.

I have something designed in Solidworks and with wheels, it should weigh maybe 10 or 11 pounds total.

Also, I noticed that on clay, the SP machine's rather smallish rubber feet dug into the clay until the machine was sitting on its base rather than the rubber feet.

It rocked a bit and depth of shots changed as it dug in...not that many probably use a machine on clay, but I guess a 12" x 14" plastic sheet would spread the load and not mess up the court for others, and right at the service area..lol???

Any input/thoughts are appreciated...I start building mine tomorrow...

tia

on aside note, I want mine to also be expandable so as to be able to get it up to service level...but that's down the road
 

ATP100

Professional
I have seen all kinds of contraptions, just make sure it is very very secure.

As far as clay, brush, compact, brush, compact, I have only had the problem on clay you are experiencing only a few times. (Out of literally thousands)

I guess you could put down a small piece of plywood if you had to.
 
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