Portable Tennis Ball Machines with Muscle
Silent Partner Tennis Ball Machines
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Portable Tennis Ball Machines with Muscle |
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Silent Partner Tennis Ball Machines |
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INDEX
ALL PRICES ARE IN AUSTRALIAN DOLLARS AND INCLUDE GST
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THE LITE IS NOW AVAILABLE IN AUSTRALIA ORDER NOW BY USING THE SHOPPING CART TO ENSURE AVAILABILITY |
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The Silent Partner LITE from $1,699 On Sale: Save $200 |
| The Lite with battery power only: The Lite has an on-board battery that will meet the needs of individual players and will even outlast two players. |
$1,499 |
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The Lite with AC power only: Requires an AC electrical outlet on court. Must be connected to the power source via an extension cord (not supplied). |
$1,549
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The Silent Partner QUEST $2,999 Available in February 2010 |
| The Quest with battery power only: The heavy duty battery of the Quest exceeds the needs of individual players and will even outlast two players. |
$2,999 |
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The Quest with AC power only: Requires an AC electrical outlet on court. Must be connected to the power source via an extension cord (not supplied) |
$3,099
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Silent Partner machines are sold with a one-year parts and labour warranty. Any breakdown not caused by abuse or neglect will be repaired free of charge for a period of one year. For the convenience of the customer, Silent Partner provides technical support by email. Parts that can easily be replaced by the customer are sent with instructions when possible. The service facility for Australia is in Adelaide at 5/394 Henley Beach Road, Lockleys SA 5032. Telephone 8234-7828.When sending a machine for repair, the customer assumes shipping costs one way. Return shipment is paid by the factory. The warranty is limited to the original purchaser. Parts not covered by the warranty: Batteries will normally last for a number of years if cared for according to the instructions in the owner manual. They are not, however, covered by the warranty. Parts that are damaged or broken due to physical abuse or neglect are not covered under warranty.
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1) How are balls thrown by ball machines? All quality tennis ball machines presently available on the market use wheels to throw the ball. Normally there are two wheels that turn in opposite direction (thus the label "counter rotating wheels") and have a small space between them. The ball rolls down a chute and is squeezed by the counter rotating wheels which then eject it. The situation is not all that different from gravel being thrown from under a spinning tire, though in the case of the tire only one wheel is responsible for the "throwing". 2) Do machines with a tube that makes them look like a canon work the same way as machines that use counter rotating wheels for ejecting balls? No, machines that look like a canon work by air pressure. Pressure is usually supplied to a drum by a vacuum cleaner motor. A ball is lodged at the throat of the tube and is retained by a collar that is slightly smaller in diameter than the ball. When pressure builds sufficiently to push the ball through the collar, the ball is ejected. Because these machines work on air pressure, they are called "pneumatic". 3) Is there any other way for a tennis ball machine to throw balls? Yes, some machine use a "hammer" to strike the ball, and various spring loaded designs have also been developed. The performance of such machines is so limited that they are not discussed further here. 4) What's better: Counter rotating wheels or pneumatic pressure? All better machines use counter rotating wheels. There are a number of reasons for this. Pneumatic machines are noisy and do not provide the high level of performance achieved by the better wheel driven machines. Pneumatic machines also require a lot of electrical current and cannot, therefore, be adapted to battery power. The only advantage of pneumatic machines is their cost which tends to be lower than that of wheel driven machines. 5) How does a machine put spin on the ball? Wheel driven machines put spin on the ball by varying the relative speed of the upper and lower wheel. When the upper wheel turns faster than the lower wheel, the ball is ejected with topspin. When the lower wheel spins faster than the upper wheel, the ball is ejected with backspin. Of course, when both wheels turn at the same speed, the machine throws a flat ball. Pneumatic machines use friction in the canon tube or just outside the tube to impart spin. When the bottom of an ejected ball is rubbed as it exists the machine, the ball acquires topspin, and vice versa. 6) Can all machines put spin on the ball? No, some wheel driven machines do not have spin capabilities. This is usually because the wheels are arranged in a horizontal plane rather than a vertical plane. By changing the relative speed of the wheels in a horizontal wheel machine, one could achieve side spin but no topspin or backspin. Because side spin is not an important element of tennis, manufacturers of horizontal wheel machines do not usually provide a spin adjustment. 7) What is an oscillator? An oscillator is a mechanism that allows the machine to throw balls in different locations on the court. The most common type of oscillator, known as a random oscillator, causes the machine to sweep the court from side to side repeatedly much like an air fan sweeps a room. Balls are thrown in different and somewhat unexpected locations to simulate play with an opponent. 8) What is an adaptive all-court oscillator? Some tennis ball machines provide for vertical oscillation as well as for horizontal oscillation. Vertical oscillation is achieved by varying the angle of elevation - the higher the ball is thrown, the deeper in the court it lands. Some brands of machines achieve vertical oscillation with a mechanical cam that varies the angle of elevation within a fixed range. The ball must be thrown within a narrow range of speed and spin or it will hit the net or fall beyond the baseline. The adaptive all-court oscillation of the Silent Partner Quest computes an appropriate vertical range to suit the speed and spin selected by the user. The benefits of this adaptive approach are particularly dramatic at high speed and top spin, where the all-court feature provides a pro-level challenge. 9) How important is top speed in selecting a ball machine? Although an intermediate player usually practices ground strokes at speeds of about 40 to 60 miles per hour, a higher top speed is a crucial consideration in a ball machine. There are a number of reasons for this: 1) As the trainee improves, higher and higher speeds are required to keep practice challenging; 2) reflex volleys require much higher speeds than ground strokes; 3) to put spin on the ball, the machine needs to slow one of the propulsion wheels down in relation to the other one, and this reduces top speed accordingly; 4) competitive players require very high speeds to simulate their opponents hard shots. All in all, a ball machine with a poor capacity for speed is quickly outgrown by its user.10) What kind of batteries are used in battery powered ball machines? The batteries used in portable ball machines are sealed and do not leak even when used upside down. The batteries are not motorcycle or car batteries, nor are they "gel cells". The batteries are known as "sealed lead-acid" batteries. Batteries are rated by the number of Amp/hour reserve charge they carry. Unlike certain types of batteries that have a "memory" and that need to be discharged completely before being recharged, lead acid batteries do not have a memory and can be recharged from any state of discharge. 11) How are batteries recharged? Battery powered ball machines are usually supplied with a battery charger that plugs into a household outlet and that connects to the control panel of the machine. Because the batteries in ball machines are sealed, they must not be charged very quickly. This is why charging time is usually about 10 hours. Faster charging can reduce the life of the battery, although occasional fast charging on an emergency basis will not damage a battery. 12) What is an AC-powered machine? An AC-powered machine is a machine that can only run on household current (120 volts in North America, 220 volts in most other countries). Such machines do not contain batteries and can only be used when an electrical outlet is available. Owners of private courts and clubs often prefer AC-powered machines because they can be used indefinitely without worrying about batteries running out. Silent Partner machines that are built to run on AC current cost a little more than their battery-powered counterparts and offer similar performance. The AC converter is housed inside the machine, and the machine remains completely portable and can be carried in the trunk of a car.
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All orders are shipped from Adelaide, SA, and the repair facility also operates from Adelaide. Although Silent Partner operates primarily on the basis or web orders, machines can be seen at the following location: Tasman Golf. 5/394 Henley Beach Road, Lockleys SA 5032. Call Allan Telford at 8234 7828 if you wish to visit. |