OOAK Table Tennis Forum

So I've gotten my hands on an ancient Newgy robot. I think but am not sure that it's a model 1929, pre-model 2000. It has the fold-out catch/recycling net. It had several 38mm balls inside the feeder chute. Couple of problems:

1) The mains adapter is there, as is the lead that goes from the control box to the robot body. But there is no control box, so I can't actually power the robot or adjust its settings. I'll need one of those! That is, if the robot's not already busted in some other way that isn't so obvious. I'll probably need a control box to find out, though. Sigh…

2) It's 38mm. Which is all fine, you can still buy 38mm balls in quantities sufficient for robot use. But I'd like to know if there is a not-horrendously-expensive upgrade path to 40mm or 40+ for a model older than the 2000, and if there is, does it break compatibility with the nonexistent control box, etc.

Any advice from people who know about old Newgy robots would be appreciated.

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"Once you get past a certain threshold, everyone's problems are the same: fortifying your island and hiding the heat signature from your fusion reactor." –Doctor Impossible

I recall, back in the day, the Indianapolis club modifying their 38mm robot to 40mm, but I was not privy to how they did it. Probably involved grinding down some parts to clear the balls. I think if you write to Newgy they might be able to help with suggestions and even schematics for the controller box.

Iskandar

The control box has been found, as has a bunch of 38mm balls. I'm going to plug it in tomorrow and see if it works!

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"Once you get past a certain threshold, everyone's problems are the same: fortifying your island and hiding the heat signature from your fusion reactor." –Doctor Impossible

I couldn't get the robot adjusted to fit my table (Newgy robots come with different thickness rubber feet for the under-table braces – obviously mine was "as is" and couldn't be adjusted) so I placed it on an IKEA kids' table with a gap between the table and the robot, sloppily rigged up the side nets, plugged everything in, and lo and behold, it works!

The ball won't come out at minimum frequency, but since minimum frequency is very slow, that's not a problem. Spin is proportional to speed with the Newgy, and even at low ball speed, spin is still quite pronounced. Not sure if it's a 38mm thing, a robot thing or some combination of the two, but on my "Newgyish" 40mm-ball Chinese robot, which copies the Newgy "twist to choose spin direction" head design but is not otherwise that similar, the spin is a lot less.

I really like having the ball recycling system, even though I don't have it optimally set up. Despite having far fewer 38mm balls than I do for the 40mm robot, it doesn't feel like it.

Not much adjustment needed to contact the 38mm ball, although I've only been hitting it very casually and not under match or serious practice conditions.

Will be following up with haggisv on whether this old thing is 40mm upgradeable.

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"Once you get past a certain threshold, everyone's problems are the same: fortifying your island and hiding the heat signature from your fusion reactor." –Doctor Impossible

Yeah, the 38mm ball could really be spun. Or more to the point - the effects of spin were much more pronounced. My old disguised-spin pendulum serve used to be deadly when we played with the 38mm ball, and not so much now. Brush loops had incredible effect, too, they'd REALLY kick forward and were hard to return, which is why a lot of the top players back in the 1970s and late 60s used anti, and long serves were often suicide.

Iskandar