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Clay Golf balls? (Read 4758 times)
Archaic Arms
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Clay Golf balls?
Sep 7th, 2020 at 7:02pm
 
It recently occurred to me that a clay ball that perfectly resembles a golf ball, would probably make for a very effective sling projectile. Being round, I think it would be easy to make them with a two-sided mould, they would stack nicely in a kiln, and they would also be quite durable compared to bi-conical projectiles.
I'm also rather curious as to how far they could be thrown, with the better aerodynamics as a result of the dimples.
Has anyone tried making these?
Do you think it's a practical idea?
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Mersa
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Re: Clay Golf balls?
Reply #1 - Sep 7th, 2020 at 8:58pm
 
dont see why it wouldnt work, wonder what the difference in weight would be.
but for me id make biconicals over spheres
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Re: Clay Golf balls?
Reply #2 - Sep 7th, 2020 at 9:48pm
 
What if you made a biconical with dimples...? Is that a stupid idea? Roll Eyes

It would be interesting - Making your own out of clay would be a lot cheaper than buying tons of golf balls, and more environmentally friendly as well (Especially if you dug the clay out of your own yard!) Making a regular golf ball mold would be considerably easier than a dimpled biconical, but it'd be cool to see how it'd turn out.
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Archaic Arms
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Re: Clay Golf balls?
Reply #3 - Sep 7th, 2020 at 10:51pm
 
Captain_Twine wrote on Sep 7th, 2020 at 9:48pm:
What if you made a biconical with dimples...? Is that a stupid idea?

I've been thinking the same thing.
I have a batch I made quite a while back, but haven't tested them yet.
If the dimples do work with biconicals, then could you imagine how far lead glandes with dimples could go?
If not, what about a very small lead golf-ball?
Much to experiment with...
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Archaic Arms
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Re: Clay Golf balls?
Reply #4 - Sep 7th, 2020 at 10:54pm
 
Mersa wrote on Sep 7th, 2020 at 8:58pm:
wonder what the difference in weight would be.

Just made a clay ball about the size of a golf ball, and its almost 100g when wet. (I also accounted for shrinkage)
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Re: Clay Golf balls?
Reply #5 - Sep 7th, 2020 at 11:09pm
 
Are you trying to make ammo for a maximum distance?? Or just experimenting??
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Re: Clay Golf balls?
Reply #6 - Sep 8th, 2020 at 12:07am
 
Mersa wrote on Sep 7th, 2020 at 11:09pm:
Are you trying to make ammo for a maximum distance?? Or just experimenting??

Mostly just experimenting, but a few practical things might come out of it. I've heard that a dimpled golf-ball hit by a professional can fly about twice as far as a smooth ball, so I think dimples could be of benefit for maximum distance projectiles. 
The clay golf-ball idea is just something that I think would be good for target practice.
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Re: Clay Golf balls?
Reply #7 - Sep 8th, 2020 at 12:45am
 
I believe this is a combination of a few factors actually.
Dimples reduce the turbulence on the surface of the ball .
The ball is struck at a lower angle not 45 degrees, a large amount of backspin and the ball Creates lift. This is why golf balls go further than theoretical maximum in a vacuum. They use air as an advantage. I would like to see a comparison between a golf ball and your clay copy.
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Curious Aardvark
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Re: Clay Golf balls?
Reply #8 - Sep 8th, 2020 at 9:11am
 
biconicals with dimples work really well.
not sure of they work better than without dimples. But some years back - a friend gave me a couple of golf cross balls and one did the rounds of about 4 countries and an equal amount of members for people to try and make moulds out of.

Not sure which country it ended up in, but I never got it back Smiley

I have tried modelling golfballs in the past - but they tended to crash my cad setup.

As I now have amuch more poweful machine - I'll give it another go.
Plus I know a few more modelling tricks now Smiley

Once the basic golf ball base in made - you can stretch it into a biconical.

The actual maths to cover a biconical in dimples is probably beyond me Smiley

But I will give standard golfball type another go.

As far as weight goes - it's about the same size as the skulls - so around 60-70gms when dry. Withmy modelling clay anyway.

As my new 3d printer is now finished being modded (sapphire pro 2 corexy), it'll be a decent test for that too.
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Re: Clay Golf balls?
Reply #9 - Sep 8th, 2020 at 10:50am
 
lol - oh yeah 16gb ddr4 and golf balls are working Smiley

Openscad just needs a stupid amount of resources.
Got some really interesting patterns as well.

here's the first interesting looking one.

Going to keep fiddling with dimple size and depth and positioning.
I think golfball dimples are shallower and smaller.

But rendering them is no longer a problem Smiley
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golfball1-200.png (41 KB | 28 )
golfball1-200.png

Do All things with Honour and Generosity: Regret Nothing, Envy None, Apologise Seldom and Bow your head to No One  - works for me Smiley
 
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Re: Clay Golf balls?
Reply #10 - Sep 8th, 2020 at 11:19am
 
getting some weird patterns.
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golfball2.png (40 KB | 33 )
golfball2.png
golfball3.png (52 KB | 23 )
golfball3.png
golfball3_001.png (52 KB | 56 )
golfball3_001.png
golfball4.png (56 KB | 28 )
golfball4.png

Do All things with Honour and Generosity: Regret Nothing, Envy None, Apologise Seldom and Bow your head to No One  - works for me Smiley
 
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Re: Clay Golf balls?
Reply #11 - Sep 8th, 2020 at 11:29am
 
the problem is I can keep messing with number all bloody day lol

Normal golfballs have between 300-500 dimples.
My biggest problem is preventing too many overlays, which ends up as grooves rather than dimples.

I'll play with the math a bit and see if I can find a different way to place the dimples.

Looking good though. Smiley
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Re: Clay Golf balls?
Reply #12 - Sep 8th, 2020 at 12:13pm
 
Or you can just go to thingiverse and use one that someone else has already done Smiley
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1618447/files

Think I'll print it out as a golf ball first Smiley
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Archaic Arms
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Re: Clay Golf balls?
Reply #13 - Sep 8th, 2020 at 4:11pm
 
Certainly looking promising!
A couple of ideas came to mind.
1: If you can't make a model with that many dimples, you can just do half the number of dimples. When one makes the clay balls, they can press it once, then rotate the ball, and press it a second time to get the full number of dimples.

2: Instead of having dimples in the mould, one could use a separate dimple board to role the clay balls on afterward. (If that's a better idea)
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Re: Clay Golf balls?
Reply #14 - Sep 8th, 2020 at 4:24pm
 
This might be of some interest.
As the drag coefficient for turbulent flow is less than that of laminar, I think it's safe to assume that these bodies would benefit from having dimples on their surface.

Bottom image shows why really pointy glandes are not preferable for maximum range.
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