Part of our plan for the house included Cat6 Ethernet ports all over so I can wire in as many devices as possible and keep Wi-Fi for devices that need it. My original plan for the network rack was to build a cabinet on the wall, but the space between the hot water heater and the wall is pretty tight.
I decided to build a cart instead, especially since there is enough slack on the Ethernet cables that’ll allow me to pull the cart out and turn it to get at the sides of the rack. When we moved I took apart my old work table, which left me with three plywood panels and pieces of 2×4 glued to them. I thought they would make a good top, bottom, and shelf for this cart and I was tired of moving them around the shop.
I pulled out castors, washers and nuts.
Then drilled recesses and holes in the base so I could attach the castors right away.
I cut notches out of the middle panel and squared up the edges on all of the panels.
I cut 2x4s for the vertical supports, assembled the frame, and put OSB on the back. I learned my lesson with the old work table and didn’t use any glue here since I’m treating this as a shop project and would like to have the option of taking it all apart if/when I want to change the design.
To blend the cart in to the wall, I cut and attached shiplap panels.
I made corner trim from 2x4s and painted it.
I didn’t want to make doors, so I had the idea to make a hidden siding door. I was going to have it slide up out of the top. Thankfully my wife suggested it slide to the side, which is much better.
I made a hole in the back for the power cable and a hole in the top to line up with the bottom of my network rack.
Then I screwed the rack down, wheeled it in place, and loaded it up.
Now I can start wiring up the Ethernet and configuring all of the network hardware.
When I was building the PC for the golf sim, I had a temporary table in my office and I was turning my chair from my desk to the table and back while I installed and configured Windows. Each time I went from the mouse on the PC to the Apple Magic Trackpad I wanted the mouse again. I’ve been using the trackpad for about a year, since I built the desk.
Prior to this desk, I actually had the MacBook Air right in front of me and used its keyboard and trackpad. The trackpad on a MacBook is actually much better than this “magic” one. It really struggles with drag and drops, releasing the click action before I’m done. Maybe it’s user error, but I’d been struggling with that aspect since day one.
I ordered another mouse that same day.
This situation got me thinking. I know I’d been struggling with at least one aspect of the Magic Trackpad, yet I didn’t do anything about it. It took using the mouse to realize there’s a lot of performance to be gained.
Life is too short to struggle with the tools and processes we use. Is there anything else at work I’m struggling with? Maybe I could write more scripts to automate things I do frequently. How can I improve my woodshop processes?
There were two large projects in the new house with the wall for the gym/shop and then the golf sim. Working in the new shop is a joy and will get even better after I build a big assembly/outfeed table.
I’m looking forward to continuing the momentum of November and December in to 2025 and hope to tackle smaller projects through the entire year.
This is the third post in this series about putting a golf simulator in our basement. Part one covered the PC build and part two was all about theenvironment. This one will cover all of the other electronics and some things that didn’t fit in the first two posts.
The launch monitor is the piece of equipment that “watches” you hit the golf ball and determines the spin, speed, direction, and angles. I guess you might call it the brains of the operation.
Before installing the unit, I had to do some electrical work in the basement. I removed a couple of lights in the area, rewired some lighting circuits, and added three outlets in the ceiling.
In order to mount the launch monitor to the ceiling I cut a piece of 3/4″ plywood that could fit in between the joists, resting on the bottom of the I-beams. Then I was able to attach the mounting plates directly to the plywood while I was on the ground. I even locked the launch monitor in to the mounting plate and then lifted the entire assembly up to the ceiling. I felt like it was so much easier than trying to align things while working above my head. This also gave me the flexibility to slide it sideways to dial in the placement. I eventually screwed the plywood to the joists.
At this point I didn’t have the turf and the side netting wasn’t installed. I couldn’t resist and had to hit a few shots. Here’s the very first hit, which was a little chip with an 8 iron.
Due to the distance from the PC to the projector being more than 10 feet, a normal cable wouldn’t work. I snagged a fiber optic HMDI cable from Target. I didn’t need 50 feet, but I had a gift card to use there. It took me a bit to realize this type of cable isn’t bidirectional.
Since most of the basement lights need to be off when using the simulator for a crisper image, I picked up a spotlight to point at the hitting area (the green is quite nice) and a track light (bulbs).
The launch monitor comes with ProTee Labs, which shows ball and club data and allows you to hit on a range. In order to play golf and have other practice options, I got the yearly subscription to GSPro, which is exceptional!
Not necessary for the golf sim, but I bought another Apple TV 4K and a mount. It’s connected to the projector so we can watch movies, football, or anything else. I need to figure out a sound system.
There were several other small purchases, such as an extension cord to run power to the PC, velcro tape to tidy up the wires running down the post, and parts to do the electrical work.
Here’s a video of the golf simulator in action.
I’m excited to see where this can take my golf game. I’ve already started The Strike Plan (from The Practice Manual‘s author) to improve my ball striking and I’m hoping to spend time daily working on my game or having fun with it.
The normal price of the ProTee VX is $6,500 before tax, but I got a bit of a holiday discount. The total cost for everything in this post was a whopping $9,049, bringing the grand total to $14,699. I feel like that’s middle of the road for a home golf sim because you can get really cheap or you can spend more on just a launch monitor! If you have any questions about anything, leave a comment and I’ll be happy to share more.
After I’ve spent more time using the simulator I’ll post some thoughts. There will also be some upcoming side projects.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote the first post in this series about putting a golf sim in our basement, which focused on the PC. This post will focus on the environment.
When we built our home, we did 10 foot basement walls, knowing we’d be putting in a golf sim. This gave us about 9’8″ from the concrete floor up to the joists, which is plenty of room for me to swing every club in my bag.
Back in April, during a Masters sale, I ordered the SIG12 Golf Simulator Enclosure and Side Barrier Netting from The Indoor Golf Shop. By following their setup video, it was very easy to put together. Later in the process, I used a hairdryer to smooth out the wrinkles and fold lines, though I’m not sure it helped much.
The next thing I got was the hitting strip, which is one of the most important aspects of a sim because you want it to hold up for a long time, while protecting your wrists. I bought The Original Country Club Elite based on the price and reviews. The strip is 20×36″ and just under 1-3/4″ thick.
After knowing the thickness of the hitting mat, I could focus on the mats and turf to surround it. I did a lot of online searching and didn’t find many recommendations, which was surprising. A Reddit thread pointed me to the ProGrass ProPutt at Lowe’s and they ship a 8×8″ sample only $1!
It felt nice and from what I’d read, a face weight of 50 oz was good for this type of use. I took the sample over to Menards and compared it to their 44 oz.
The choice was clear, so I made an order at Lowe’s for a 13×15′ piece. To create the base and a cushion under the turf I ordered 1″ thick puzzle mats from Amazon.
Quickly after we put together the enclosure and got a feel for the space, we decided to rotate to the adjoining wall.
The turf finally arrived and I trimmed off the factory edges and cut the width to 13 feet. After hauling it to the basement I cut out the locations for the hitting strip and a couple of 1.5″ shallow putting cups. The cups were actually too tall, so I shortened them to 1-1/8″ on the table saw. Cutting the holes in the turf was nerve-wracking. Too tight and the turf bubbles around the thing you’re inserting. Cut too much of the turf, making it too loose, and you can’t go back. I bought a carpet knee kicker for stretching out the turf to remove the wrinkles and bubbles.
Brandi was a big help with the turf. I’ve never done any carpet work, so I’m amazed at the level of flatness we achieved. I’m pretty sure neither of us has a future career as a carpet installer though. I had some good carpet tape for the edges, that we ran out and the light duty stuff I picked up from Menards was useless, so I ended up buying more of the good carpet tape from Amazon.
I filled the sandbags and installed the side netting.
To help protect the ceiling from sky balls and prevent anything from going through the heating ducts, I screwed OSB over the duct and 2 layers of old puzzle mats. I also bought a 10×12′ mesh tarp from Harbor Freight and mounted it a couple of joists in front of the enclosure and draped it across and over the back.
I’m curious to see how the tarp holds up, though hopefully it rarely gets hit by a golf ball. If it works, it was a cheap solution.
To protect the edges of the turf and hide the base mats, I built a border out of 2x4s ripped down the middle and stained it.
Everything I mentioned was $3,800 and brings the total to $5,650. The third post in this series covers the other electronics and everything else.
We left our foyer empty in the house design so I could build some things for it.
First up was a coat rack. I pulled out a piece of walnut and got the bulk of the bark off the live edge. This piece has a lot of sapwood, which should turn out sweet.
Before getting ahead of myself by sizing the board in any way, I wanted to make the hooks from railroad spikes so I could see how much space they’d need. I bought about 20 of these on Facebook Marketplace a few years ago and still have a bunch.
I don’t have much for metal working tools, so I knew I wouldn’t be able to get consistent length by cutting with an angle grinder. In order to give myself a decent chance at success, I screwed a couple pieces of plywood to my drill press vise and drew a reference line. Then I cut all nine spikes.
At the disc sander I flattened the ends. For the spikes to lay square to the sanding surface I propped them up on some wood.
I soaked the pieces in a 50/50 mix of white vinegar and water overnight.
Rinsed and wiped them off.
Marked the centers as best I could. Then I stepped through 3/32, 5/32, and 13/64 drill bits on each part. I broke one 3/32 bit and luckily it was deep enough in the hole where it wouldn’t matter.
Then came my favorite part, adding threads in the holes. I used a 1/4-20 tap.
I cleaned up the rest of the rust on a bench grinder wire wheel. Then primer and paint.
Back to the wood. After doing a rough mockup, I cut a length of the larger board and ripped it to create pieces for the shelf and main.
Then they went through the planer.
Drilled a bunch of holes, found some bolts in my collection, and did a dry fit.
I applied three coats of the All-Natural Wood Finish from Bumblechutes mixed 1:1 with Citrus Solvent. It was the first time I’d used this on a project and I’ll definitely be using it more. It went on easy with a foam brush and light sanding with 400 grit between coats. Then to finish it off, one coat of their Bee’Nooba Wax, which I’ve used before.
When bolting on the railroad spikes I applied a little thread locker. I mounted it to the wall and put up a sign my sister gave us.
Now I need to figure out what kind of bench to build.
You never know when a long power outage or a malfunction of the float or sump pump is going to result in basement water damage. So it’s a good idea to have some type of backup or early alarm system. Our home builder tried to sell us a proprietary system that costs almost $3,000 and has a yearly $100 subscription fee. The system is only sold to this particular builder, which seemed sketchy, and doesn’t have any API access to the data.
I found PumpSpy, which is a Kalamazoo, Michigan company, because people have been able to integrate the data in to Home Assistant. I bought The Installation Bundle, which costs $667.
I took off our cover and cleaned out some of the debris.
I had to make a minor adjustment to the setup, by splitting the two floats for the backup pump to use separate pipe clamps. With many floats integrated in to the primary sump pump now, it seems like this should be a standard step.
Everything else was smooth sailing by following their installation video and included instructions.
I connected the system to WiFi and setup their iOS app.
I think the entire install took me just over two hours. I love the piece of mind knowing we have a backup system in place.
I have a couple of 5 Ah batteries and both of them stopped charging. They knockoffs from Amazon, with a brand name of Biswaye on them.
One was completely dead and wouldn’t even register on a usual charger. The other showed a defective status. When I put the multimeter on, it read about 15 volts.
This often means some of the individual cells are bad. Before opening it up, I threw it on a Ryobi P119 slow charger, which can sometimes revive cells that are too low for the more complex battery chargers.
After a couple of hours I tried the battery on a regular charger again, but it still showed as defective. So I tore into both batteries, hoping I might be able to get one working battery out of the two.
On the dead battery all 10 cells read zero volts on the multimeter. I wouldn’t be swapping any of those in to the other battery. It’s not safe to try pumping anything into cells depleted that much, so I recycled them at Batteries Plus.
Two of the cells on the defective battery read very low voltages. I don’t have any spare 18650 lithium ion cells and it’s not worth it to buy some since I have enough working Ryobi batteries in my rotation. As a last resort, I put the battery on the little charger to see if it would slowly charge the depleted cells. I had nothing to lose.
I let it go over 6 hours and unfortunately the voltage didn’t jump up on those bad cells, so I still can’t use the battery pack.
Attempts like this don’t always end in success, but it’s a fun opportunity to learn. This battery pack has plenty of good cells, so I’ll save it in case another battery needs replacement cells.
Last week while cutting some walnut with my Ryobi track saw, it kept stalling on me. Turns out the battery was nearly dead because the charger stopped working and the status LEDs weren’t lighting up at all when plugged in.
I opened up the charger and didn’t see burn marks or swollen capacitors anywhere.
Then I found a video on YouTube and sure enough, the resistor at R71 was wide open, reading 152 kΩ on the multimeter.
It’s a surface mount resistor labeled R500, which means 0.5 Ω. I don’t have any resistors that size, so I soldered in a couple of 1 Ω resistors in parallel.
It’s not pretty, but it properly read 0.5 Ω on the multimeter.
I put it back together, plugged it in, and the red LED lit up. Took it down to the shop, put a battery in, and the charger is back in the rotation!
Nick Momrik 