I am considering buying this machine. However, can I use normal (ASA) softballs or do I need to purchase specific balls?
1339842
There are only two types of balls you can use. The lite balls and the plastic ones.
1956684
I'd be careful with pruchasing anything that doesn't come with it. The balls that come with it are specific to the machine's power and diameter of where the balls come out. We've bought additional balls for my grandson after we knew what we were trying to imititate/replace.
691954
I believe the manufacturer had a 60 mph softball rating and 80 mph for baseball.. its a good pitching machine. Just like the Juggs machine used by many high school teams. Make sure to use dimpled balls for safety reasons, if you use regular balls it has a tendency to pitch them all over the place at high speed setting.
564848
I don't think it would be that hard to modify it to work with a softball. I would have to take a look at one in person, but right now a softball, a long enough drill bit, sand paper, and a drinking straw or piece of wire would probably work. Sand paper, to change the concave shape of that plastic piece to accommodate the larger circumference of a softball. The drinking straw or wire, because a softball is hollow, and trying to thread a string though that without some sort of guide, would suck. I don't know how I ended up here, looking at this product. I don't play sports.
314389
I tried regular baseball in the machine and it struggled. If they are close in weight it may struggle. Hope this helps
232366
It's not too complicated. It involves changing the sleeve that you put the ball in and raising the top part which is four bolts up or down depending on if you're doing softball or baseball. Then the legs you can turn around which gives you the lower release for softball. It takes me less than 10 minutes. Hope this helps. It is a heavy duty machine.
2138347
No, you have to use Slider brand balls which are much lighter than regular balls.
80200
It comes with a small ball that is good quality. My son uses tons of other ones, too. I don't think it's quite big enough for a standard ball, but very close.
1600031
We did use this in a batting cage for practice hits..but it was larger than a 12 foot. I believe 12 foot would be to close. I used practice balls that I ordered from here. (Wilson A1030 3-Dozen Bucket of Baseballs) These were better than the balls that were given to play the games with.. Hope this helps.. You can't beat the price on this machine...if you go any where else it usually runs $200.00. Good luck and hope this helps.
1614974
ATEC only recommends SFT type balls. If you try to use anything else, you will experience unpredictable performance or worse damage the unit.
1883553
I believe so! The pump comes with two small attachments, and should work for standard exercise balls. However, I have not used it for that myself.
2274317
We used the machine for baseball practice. I don't see why the machine would not be great for softball batting practice. We only just started using the machine and did find the pitching to quite accurate. We are also able to practice fly balls and ground balls with just a setting change which only time about a minute. This machine is really cool....
1604790
Hello, this is Rishika from Hamee. Thank you for patiently waiting for your question.As we do not recommend any kind of drilling into the ball as it may crack or break.Thank you for the query.
1971135
Hello, almost types of balls work well with this model. If you are at proffessional level you most try to work with 3 stars but if you are just in tranning or in learning you can use 1 or 2 stars.
819277
No. I only use for softball currently & use the soft lite flight balls. Works great!
722126
Yep, just make sure you get the U-Series ball because it doesn't have the shiny finish on it. These balls are easier to break in (still 6 to 9 months of heavy use).
1340706
Does not matter...any of the balls you can get on Amazon work. The ones you get from the set are a little smaller but when they are all together, you don't notice. We have the 20 it came with (smaller) plus the 100 we bought (larger) and it fills it nicely.