Micro milling of fused silica using picosecond laser shaped single crystal

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The shape of the putter head—whether it’s blade, mallet, or mid-mallet—can significantly impact your putting performance. Blade putters are ideal for golfers with an arc-style stroke, offering more control but requiring precision. Mallet putters, with their larger and more forgiving heads, are great for players who prefer a straight-back-straight-through stroke. Mid-mallets offer a balance between control and forgiveness, making them versatile for various stroke styles.

In the putting department, that player with the 11 to 18 handicap (or thereabouts) needs a club that balances multiple elements perfectly. It needs to have reassuring weight and balance that encourages a consistent line and a smooth feel at contact. Made of TaylorMade’s Surlyn and aluminum, the TaylorMade Spider V Tour Putter mixes all of these elements and comes in handy in the bag of a player who might lack a bit of skill, but who has all of the passion necessary to play dedicated golf.

A glance at the Spider Tour reveals its advanced construction. Unlike traditional forged metal putters, it's built with multiple components, showcasing the meticulous attention to detail that sets it apart. Designed in a sleek mallet style, the club is perfectly balanced for a smoother putting stroke.

The weight of the putter will affect the feel and balance of the club. Some golfers prefer a heavier putter that offers a smoother stroke, while others prefer a lighter putter for greater feel and control. Some putters, like the aforementioned PXG Battle Ready Putter, give you the ability to add or remove weight for a more refined stroke.

If you went with a Proxxon or better spindle and so forth it might work. Runout on a dremel is TERRIBLE. I use a dremel for some sanding but past that and some grinding it’s bad news. MDF is actually a great substrate for building a CNC machine if it’s done properly, and it’s fixed bridge. If your adventurous you can buy a BBox kit (you cut up the MDF) from Microcarve’s very own John, and it will be very nice for PCBs, fine lithos, and other things. I’m not associated with him other than after two years I’m still emailing him questions from time to time.

Face inserts and milled faces offer different feel and feedback during putting. A putter with a face insert often provides a softer feel and can help with distance control, especially on fast greens. Milled faces, on the other hand, offer more tactile feedback and are preferred by players who prioritize feel and precision. Your choice depends on your preference for feel and how much feedback you want from your putter during each stroke.

Wow thanks for this info, I just found the local supplier for Proxxon. I’ve preordered the Shapeoko 2 and you just saved me from spending on another Dremel

The TaylorMade Spider Tour is a staple at PGA tournaments in the early stages of the 2024 Tour, and its popularity shows no signs of waning anytime soon. Top players like Jason Day and Dustin Johnson swear by it, and TaylorMade invested extensive research and development into the club, gauranteeing that this putter remains on the cutting edge of design.

What really sets it apart is TaylorMade's innovative "Pure Roll" insert in the putting face. This special insert adds precision-cut grooves set at a 45-degree angle in an exclusive polymer material. The design grips the golf ball's surface on contact, creating more topspin and promoting a straighter, more reliable roll. The TaylorMade Spider Tour not only helps you achieve a smoother putting stroke but also ensures your ball stays on track towards the cup.

As design engineer for PXG Matt Andrews notes, the best part of designing putters is that they’re not as heavily constrained by the USGA or the Royal & Ancient equipment rules than you might expect. “That allows for endless opportunities to make unique putter shapes,” Andrews says. “The appearance of a putter is always the first thing that will draw a customer in. Looking at our Battle Ready II Putters lineup, we have nine unique putter shapes that capture customers looking for anything from a traditional blade to large profile mallets.”

The Pinemeadow Golf PGX Putter is affordable and functional. This is a great putter if you’re new to the game or not ready to splurge on the latest and greatest upgrade. The mallet comes in a brilliant white finish that stands out on the green, and it weighs in at 380 grams, making it “tour-weighted” and suitable for all levels of play. The longer alignment aid makes it easy to line up putts and square the club face to your target, while the three lines help with placing the ball in the center of the club face at address to ensure you hit the sweet spot during your stroke. This helps produces a pure roll on any green, which is hard to find in a putter at this price.

Putter length directly influences your stance, posture and stroke consistency. A putter that is too long may cause you to stand too upright, leading to inconsistencies, while a putter that is too short might cause you to hunch over, affecting your aim. To find the right length, consider your height, arm length and the type of stroke you prefer. Custom fitting can also ensure the putter length perfectly aligns with your body and putting style.

Hm… I’ve already got an Uno, a grblShield, a power supply, and a Dremel. Shall I or shall I not? Decisions, decisions…

In general terms, the higher a putter’s MOI, the straighter the ball will roll if you pull, push or otherwise mishit a putt. The BombTech Golf Blade Putter puts physics to work and looks to encourage more sweet spot contact during the putting stroke. When a ball is struck away from the sweet spot, it relies on the club’s forgiveness to correct the path and produce a shot that’s on target. No, it won’t make every mishit magically find its way to the cup, but it will reduce the likelihood that a mishit has major consequences.

Shapeoko2 is very unreliable. Lots of modding to make things work properly. It’s a poor job for the SECOND version of a CNC machine. All they did was make a few mechanical changes from Shapeoko orignal. Advertised NEMA 23 motor operation which they act like they have never tested it 3 months after I bought mine. I suggest waiting for another option.

The putter’s head will affect how it performs on the green. For example, a mallet putter has a larger head and provides more forgiveness, while a blade putter has a smaller head and offers more control. The head design that’s right for you comes down to your putting style and personal needs.

I cut 5mm and 1/8″ acrylic on my modded Shapeoko (basically it’s a somewhere between V1 and V2). It works. I’m not sure about 1/2 inch. Can you find two flute bits that long?

You’d be putting extra torque on which ever stepper has to lift the gantry. You could put a counterweight, but then you’d have all that extra inertia to deal with. Technically, yes, you can do that, but it’s not going to work well.

MOI stands for the physics term Moment of Inertia. In the golf world, MOI refers to how designers measure a putter’s resistance to twisting or otherwise distorting its shape when striking the ball. While such numbers are more in play with drivers or irons because of the smash factor during their faster movement, there’s still some instability in a putting stroke.

This will never cut aluminium cleanly. I’d be suprised it it cut acrylic at a reasonable speed. I think these should only be considered engravers, theres just not enough rigidity in it.

I can cut with a .125″ endmill at .25″ at 35 IPM with my Microcarve machine. It’s a terrible idea, but it’s happened before. More realistically I do .08″ DOC with a .125″ at 80 IPM and .14″ DOC with a .25 endmill.at 140 IPM. I thought about the Shapeoko and super-sizing it but it’s rigidity could be questionable for anything that requires a lot of it.

yeah im still debating the mechanical kit, it just seems like theres a lot of mechanical bits you still need.. weird.

Lining up a putt is one of the trickiest parts about putting, but the Odyssey White Hot OG Seven allows you to stand it up, aim it right on line and get behind it while it sits upright on its own to check your alignment. The three dots on the top make it easy to see where the head is pointed in relation to your target. As one reviewer put it, the White Hot OG Seven essentially blends “the accuracy of a mallet and the distance control of a blade” which makes it a reliable option for beginners.

Few moments in golf are as gratifying as making a shot that lands perfectly on the green, but to truly capitalize on that, you need one of the best putters in your bag. Since the putter is the only club you'll likely use on every hole—unless you're fortunate enough to sink an approach shot or pitch—it plays a crucial role in determining your final score. After reviewing the top golf putters, we determined that the TaylorMade Golf Spider Tour is the best putter overall, thanks to its sleek mallet design and grippy face, while the Pinemeadow Golf PGX stands out as the best budget putter at just $50.

http://www.makerslideeurope.com/eshapeoko-kits.html I purchased an eShapeoko kit several months ago. These guys had all of the updates that the eShapeOko 2 has, but long long ago! I am very happy with the kit. They are out of the UK, I had it delivered to Spain.

I’d like to get one of these to mill 1/2″ acrylic. I’m not really interested in milling wood as much. Does anybody have enough experience with cutting acrylic to know if speeds/feeds are reasonable for a machine like this?

When it comes to irons, wedges and fairway woods, PXG is well known across the golf world for applying the finest possible (and often patented) materials alongside priceless research and development to build elite golf clubs. Their designer put those same ingredients into their putters, and one look at the PXG Battle Ready II Blackjack Putter proves there’s science in play here.

Yes this machine can do acrylic. With the dual motor now on the gantry it may even do aluminum, so long as the spindle can run low enough in rpms.

The mid-handicapper knows how to play the game of golf and can get around most golf courses competently. Still, no element of this devoted but flawed player is perfectly developed. He or she needs a forgiving driver and irons and the right grind and bounce on a wedge.

Probably not. A Dremel moto-tool is a pretty lousy spindle. Thing probably has a particle board base too. Most of these things do.

The Shapeoko 2 is available in two versions, a $300 mechanical kit that requires you to go out and get some motors, a power supply, and a grblShield, the full version, for $650, includes everything you’ll need to start routing wood metal and plastic at home.

I’d guess a 1/8th endmill could do 10IPM at 2mm depth of cut with reasonable surface finish. Rigidity is the limiting factor though, in a proper machine you could probably run a quarter inch deep at 400IPM given proper chip clearing.

We have long-term experience with all of the golf brands featured in this story, including TaylorMade, PXG and Odyssey. In addition to our coverage of putters, the Forbes Vetted gear team has extensively evaluated other clubs and equipment, including golf clubs for beginners and the best drivers.

The new Shapeoko 2 keeps the same V wheel on an aluminium extrusion design with Makerslide, but fixes a few problems that limited the original Shapeoko. There’s a larger work area on this version, and the Y axes feature dual stepper motors. The biggest feature, we think, is the ability to handle materials larger than the machine itself thanks to its open front and back.

Well, I can put a 3D printer in my house and other than the ugliness of the machine, it’s fine. I can’t put a CNC machine unless I want to deal with chips of plastic/wood/aluminium forever.

The Battle Ready II Putters employ a hollow body with a firm face wall construction, an injection molded core and a finely thinned face. The result is a high moment of inertia design with accurate feel and confident contact that adds confidence to every putt.

My tip – always get good quality cast acrylic. Extruded acrylic is very hard to mill as it melts too much. Cast acrylic is a joy to use on my Proxxon MF70. Extruded acrylic will laser cut but not as well as cast and it smells a lot worse. My wife shouts at me when I laser cut extruded acrylic and then complains that I smell bad when I come to bed. Sex is not an option.

Putters can range in price from less than $50 to over $500. Of course, price doesn't always correlate directly with quality, but more refined, detail-oriented putters are usually more expensive than the budget-friendly alternatives.

The length of the putter is incredibly important because it directly influences your stance and posture while putting. A putter that’s too long or too short can lead to poor putting form and inconsistent results. Technically speaking, each putter will coincide with a specific golfer’s height. For instance, golfers that are six feet or taller will want a 35-inch putter. That said, we recommend stopping by a local golf store to determine what length putter is right for you.

Then the USGA and the Royal & Ancient got together and changed the general rules of golf so that any club could only be guided by two hands. While it’s no longer legal to anchor the putter into the body, a broomstick putter can still be used to “sweep” the golf ball instead of stroking a putt with a standard shaped club. This Bell broomstick unit offers good balance and a flush (non-offset) blade head to enhance that sweeping motion.

The grip of the putter improves comfort and control. A grip that’s too large will feel overwhelming, while one that’s too small will offer less than enough space for your hands to properly grip the club.

To find the best putters, we sought out reputable brands we have experience with, like TaylorMade, Odyssey and PXG.

3D printers are noisy and leave behind more than a little extra plastic for all but the simplest shapes. Cleaning is a part of making.

Until a couple of years ago, a broomstick putter was more often referred to as a belly or anchor putter. It’s a club with a much longer shaft—about 46 inches, whereas the average standard putter might reach 36 inches. The player would put two hands on the grip and tuck the end of the shaft into the torso, holding it steady to make putting more of a full body movement.

Robert Bettinardi is one of the best putter designers in the game. Thanks to the close attention he pays to design details and precision milling, his putters produce a great roll on the greens. The Studio Stock 28 Putter features Roll Control Face Milling from a solid block of 303 stainless steel. This version of milling is engineered to get the ball into a true roll faster while producing a comforting sound off the face. Made in the USA and finished with Bettinardi’s signature, smooth Diamond Blast finish to appease the eye, the SS28 comes with a tour-grade shaft and Lamkin Sink Fit grip in both standard and jumbo sizes.

For all the 3D printers that hit the Hackaday tip line, it’s surprising we don’t see more CNC routers. They’re arguably more useful tools, and with the ability to mill wood, plastic, and non-ferrous metals, open up the door to a whole bunch more potential builds. One of the most popular – and certainly one of the least expensive – CNC routers out there, the Shapeoko, just received a huge update that makes this minimal machine even more capable.

TaylorMade’s Odyssey line is ever-present on the PGA Tour, but the putters are priced reasonably enough for any amateur to get a hold of one. At the 2024 PGA Show in Orlando, Odyssey made a big deal out of its dedicated use of AI to create more refined, more accurate golf implements.

Before you invest in a putter, you’ll need to consider everything from length to grip to price and beyond. Here’s everything you should think about when shopping for a new putter.

Doh! Acrylic. I was doing corian at 45 IPM with a .125″ 2 flute spiral solid carbide endmill at .1″ DOC. That was taxing on my machine, I think something like this might buckle at that speed.

Well, if we’re going through the trouble of mounting it on the wall, why not mount it upside down? That’d resolve the whole chip-clearing issue. :)

If you encase it, have a $50 vortex separator,a shopvac and suck it up when it piles up you’ll be good. I’ve had it accumulate in single jobs to the point the machine stalls from all the chips :) That idea does depend on how well these things handle dust though since my machine uses bushings and not ball bearings.

It sounds as if you have never used a 3D printer. In comparison, the 3D printer is much quieter than a CNC mill with the noise of a spindle and bit cutting through material. I have one of each, the noise of the 3D printer is quieter than the Television and very tolerable, the noise of the CNC: not so much.

The TaylorMade Odyssey AI-One Putters feature the new Ai-One insert with an aluminum backer and urethane striking surface. The AI-designed insert plays off the idea that amateurs usually miss the center of the club face, reducing accuracy. The multi-material construction uses contours on the back of the face that minimize ball speed losses on off-center hits, increasing the overall sweet spot space. Finally, you can thank computers for improving your short game.

I just went through the process and shipping to CT was less than $17. Maybe it costs more to get it to the moon.