Attaching metal to plastic


  #1  
Old 09-12-19, 02:27 PM
J
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Attaching metal to plastic

So, I'm off to college and my little brother is bummed out I'm not there to use our baseball machine with him.

I'm thinking of setting up an automatically feeder for him as a weekend project when I go home to visit in a few weeks.

Here's the pitching machine we have from SpinBall. Essentially you put a ball into the ball feeder tube chute (red arrow) and the pitching machine spits the ball out with it's spinning wheels.


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https://*******/vXfB3f2


Now, the automatic feeder essentially stores baseballs and releases one every 10 seconds or so into the pitching machine for you, eliminating the need to have someone feed the machine baseballs.






Here is a makeshift feeder someone made (not sure what they used as the motor, and not sure how it attaches to the machine).


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I was able to find two automatic feeders online from Heater Sports for only $60, which is certainly affordable and probably a better route than making my own feeder.


https://*******/CwwZjCZ



The two poles on the automatic feeder attaches to their two holes on their pitching machine, as shown below.


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Heater Pitching Machine


But my pitching machine doesn't have two holes for their automatic feeder, so now the million dollar question is, how do I attach their automatic feeder onto my pitching machine?


(1) My ball chute (where baseballs go in - red arrow on the first picture and the two images below) is actually removable. It has a bracket it attaches to. My preference is to some how use Heater Sports feeder and some sort of flexable computer monitor arm and attaching it to my bracket of my pitching machine then I can easily use flexible tubing to connect the feeder to my ball chute. But the hard part is how do I attach the automatic feeder to a computer monitor arm/holder.

(2) Probably the easiest method would be to attach the automatic feeder directly to my ball chute. It's made of hard plastic and should hold up the weight of the feeder and baseballs. But I have no idea how I'd attach the automatic feeder to my ball chute.

(3) Third method would be to some how get the automatic feeder on it's separate tripod stand (similar to what SpinBall's automatic feeder is) then I could easily use flexible tubing to connect it to my pitching machine. Again, the part that needs figuring out is how to attach the automatic feeder onto a tripod.


Have basic typical tools most households have (drill, screwdriver, wrench etc.), don't have access to or know how to weld.




https://*******/8Phq06x
my insert ball chute



https://*******/nBk9nmf
my insert ball chute
 
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  #2  
Old 09-13-19, 05:49 AM
W
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Is there a question hidden in there somewhere?
 
  #3  
Old 09-13-19, 07:04 AM
A
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Welcome. Good for you looking out for your brother, very commendable, but, like Wirepuller, I'm having a hard time following exactly what you want to achieve. I don't know if this helps, but, for example, if you are trying to attach something to one of those tubes, you could get a piece of sheet metal from your local hardware or big box, something light enough to cut with snips, maybe bend it to double it up if you needed more strength, then toss in a couple of sheet metal screws and a couple of band clamps like you have in the pictures. If you don't find the band clamps individually in the plumbing section you could get them at an auto parts store. And if not long enough you could double them up, one into the other. Otherwise I think anyone here is probably going to need a better explanation.
 
 

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