Ball Washer Custom Painting
Sean Sullivan, CGCS, at The Briarwood Golf Club in Billings, Mont., powder coats and paints ball washers with 60 different designs completed at golf courses in the United States and United Kingdom. A hobby powder coat gun ($129) from Eastwood Automotive Restoration, a sand blast cabinet ($250) and a used kitchen oven does the trick. Approximately 6,500 different colors of powder coat are available. Powder normally costs about $15-$18 per pound. It takes about 18 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit in the used oven he got for free that he has been using for 14 years. The whole process includes paint stripper; sand blasting; grinding off the manufacturer’s logo; cleaning with mineral spirits; putting it in the oven briefly; cooling down; applying the powder coat; baking; cooling to apply a stencil; applying the next color if necessary; baking for three minutes; removing the stencil; cooling a bit; applying a clear coat to extend the service life and for easier cleaning. Anything that will fit in an oven such as tee markers and equipment parts can be powder coated. It takes about one hour to do a one color ball washer and three hours for a two color version with logo. It costs about $2 per color, $6 for the logo stencil and $3 for the stripper.
Greens Mower Adjustments
The Tama Country Club, an 18-hole private course in Tokyo designed by Koukichi Yasuda in 1962, uses this simple but effective ramp to adjust the Baroness walk behind greens mower’s mowing height and reel to bed knife adjustment quickly and easily. The box the mower rests on is a heavy duty plastic milk carton crate turned upside down. The ramp is a lightweight aluminum plank, with a “roughened surface” to help with traction for the mower’s drum roller and with holes drilled for drainage.
Explore the February 2016 Issue
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