In this article, we will introduce how to make pickleball by a pickleball making machine.
What is the pickleball game?
Pickleball is a game where two or four players use solid paddles to hit a perforated polymer ball over a net. Pickleball combines baseball, badminton, tennis, and ping pong games.
Pickleball was invented in 1965 in Washington, USA. In 2022 pickleball was adopted as the Washington state’s official sport. The game is also growing internationally, with many European and Asian countries adding courts.
Several years ago, the pickleball game was still a very niche sport; very few people heard of it.
With the popularity of pickleball sports, pickleball selling will also become a good business.
Some customers are getting involved in this area.
So you might be interested in pickleball manufacturing.
Pickleball Ball Specifications
According to the USA Pickleball Association Equipment Standards Manual, there are several requirements below:
1. The ball shall be made of a durable material moulded with a smooth surface and free of texture.
2.The ball shall be 2.87-2.97 inches[7.29-7.54cm] +/-0.020 inch [0.51 mm]
3. The ball shall weigh between 0.78 – 0.935 ounces (22.1 and 26.5 grams)
4. The ball shall have a bounce of 30 to 34 inches (76.2 to 86.4 cm) to the top of the ball when dropped from a height of 78 inches (198.1cm) onto a granite surface plate that is a minimum of 12 inches (30.5 cm) by 12 inches (30.5cm) by 4 inches (10.2 cm).
5. The ball, undergoing a test performed in accordance with (IAW) ASTM F188809, shall yield an average compression test result of <43 LBF.
6. The ball shall have a hardness of 40 to 50 on a Durometer D scale at an ambient temperature of 70 degrees F plus or minus 5 degrees F.
7. The ball shall have a minimum of 26 to a maximum of 40 circular holes, with spacing of the holes and overall design of the ball conforming to flight characteristics. The ball must have a manufacturer’s or supplier’s name or logo printed or embossed on the surface, in addition to the “USA Pickleball Competition” seal or text treatment in the case of balls intended for competition, or “USA Pickleball Approved” seal for non-competition applications.
How to make qualified pickleball?
We will explain how to make qualified pickleball according to the above seven standard requirements for pickleball.
We often use new pp material to make pickleball meet the above requirements.
New pp material has a lot of good characteristics that match the bounce, compression, and hardness requirements.
The round balls, you might think, are made unibody.
They are not. We made two separate halves first. Then two halves would be welded up to one ball.
In this whole process, we need two primary machines to process.
The first pickleball-making machine is an injection moulding machine, and the other is a pickleball welding machine.
Pickleball making machine
As we mentioned before, one pickleball is not shaped by the entire body but consists of two halves.
The whole sphere is hard to demold in an injection moulding process. So we make half-spheres first.
We need a lot of machines in this process
Injection moulding machine(pickleball making machine)
The injection moulding machine is the main machine for pickleball manufacturing. It provides power and pressure to melt plastic pellets and inject them into pickleball moulds
Autoloader
The autoloader loads plastic granules into the injection machine hopper automatically
Hopper dryer
The Hopper dryer heats the plastic granules to keep them dry
Chiller
Chillers provide cooling water to cool the pickleball moulds
Cooling tower
The cooling tower cools the injection moulding machine when the IMM is working
Robot
The robot takes out the shaped, finished half balls for the following welding process
Pickleball mould
Pickleball mould is for half ball shaping, from melting plastic flow to shaped half balls.
Pickleball welding machine
After the half balls are removed from the moulds, the robots will take them to the automatic welding machine.
Hemispheric symmetry detection
First, the robot will inspect the balls to check that all holes are symmetrically along the weld line. If not symmetrical, the robot will rotate the half balls to keep them symmetrical.
Hemispheric welding
Then, the robot will insert these half balls into the welding mould. After welding, they would be taken out.
Until now, all the processes finished. You will get finished pickleball.
Conclusion
Above is the pickleball manufacturing process with a pickleball making machine and welding machine. If you need to know more details, feel free to contact us.