Basketball Net

You know the little indoor basketball nets, which we all had back in the days?. We practice our throw when we actually needed to spend time on doing some homework. I'm planning to make one, not a ordinary one but one with fancy lights and solid structures.

The idea is to make the baksteball ring and the hinge with a 3d printer. I'm planning to make the backboard of the basketball net from perspex and costumize it with the lasercutter. I want to light te backboard up with some nice led lights.

The first thing I did was to make the basketball ring and the hinge 3d printable by build them up in a 3d cad program (photo 1). The files are downloadable on this page (Basketball ring.stl and Basketballring hinge.stl).

The second step is to make the basketball backboard laser cuttable. I build the backboard just like the 3d print parts in a 3d cad program. the DXF file is downloadable on this page (BoardbasketballDXF.dxf)

To assembly the basketball net you need to get some bolts and nuts. In this step I will also tell what kind of material you need and how many of it. First thing you need is a 3d printer wich can print objects from 200mm by 175mm (that are the measurements of the basketball ring) the second material you need is a plate of perspex 360mm by 260mm and a thickness of 2-3mm. to assembly the basketball ring and backboard you need four M6 stainless steel nuts and two M6 bolts (look at the picture for some measurements). the last thing you need for the assembly of the basketball board is a M6 screw-thread from about 100mm long. For the attachment of the basketball net you need a small metal plate, M4 bolt, M4 nut and a small ring (photo 4 and 5). As you can see in photo 5 it's necessary to bend the plate on both side's 90 degrees.

In this step you are going too 3d print the basketball ring and the matching hinge. You are also going too lasercut the perspex plate to accomplish the right form. for the 3d printer you need to download the files in the first stap (Basketball ring.stl and Basketballring hinge.stl). In the first picture of this step you see how you need too place the hinge too 3d print it on the right way. In the second picture you see how you need too place the basketball ring for the best print. When you'r finished 3d printing the hinge and ring you are ready to lasercut the backboard. Download the file for the lasercutter (BoardbasketballDXF.dxf) in step two and cut it out.

When you 3d print and lasercut the main parts it's time to assembly the whole thing. The first parts you need to assembly are the hinge and the basketball ring. First you put two nuts in the hinge (photo 1). Then you connect the basketball ring on the right way at the hinge (photo 2 and 3). When the ring is placed right you can put the M6 screw-thread trough the hole's in the basketball ring and hing and put a M6 nut on both sides (don't make the nuts to tight because the ring needs to hinges) (photo 4 and 5). After you assembly the basketball ring and hinge you can tight it on the perspex backboard. Take the two M6 bolts and thighten the hinge too the backboard (photo 6).

We are almost done here. If you don't want some lights on your basketball net skip this step. I bought wire with 40 red led lights on it. The led lights work on batteries. First I wrapped the led lights together to create a kind of led strip (photo 1 and 2). I taped with red tape a square on the backboard just like the real basketball boards (photo 3). Now it's time to put the led lights on the board, I simply hot glue the led's on the back of the backboard (photo 4 and 5). If you executed all the steps on the right way you're basketball net have too look like the mine (photo 6).

Now the basketball net is done it's time to make the attachment. the idea is to make a kind of hook so that the basketball net can be hang too a door. The first thing you do is to drill a hole for a M4 bolt in de backboard, make sure the hole is a bit on the top of the backboard (photo 1). Then it's time to attached the metal plate to the backboard with the M4 bolt and nut (photo 2). After this is done you can hang the basketball net at a cabinet door (photo 3, 4, 5 and 6).

Now your basketball net is finished, it's time to play a good old game of mini basketball. Try the net on different spots with different balls to make it harder or easier for yourself. Thank you for reading my instructables (or even make the basketball net).

Greetings,

Milan.