3 Wheel Pitching Machines

[Westwind]

Who has used a 3 wheel pitching machine?

Looking for tips/advice/opinions on the use of these things.

I bought a Hack Attack Jr. and a "Team Feeder" from Craigslist on a whim while we were at an out of town tournament. The team feeder dispenses a softball every 6.5 seconds, hopper looks to hold a couple buckets of balls. My daughters can hit moving balls without me there feeding the machine (or doing front toss until my arm falls off.) Supposed to throw pretty much any movement pitch that a live pitcher could. It is supposed to be able to throw dimple balls as well as any leather cover softball. I know it will eat them up fast but I can't wait to try it.

The guy slightly oversold the condition but it still seems to be in good shape, I had to order one part so far and the wheels had a nasty residue on them that I am cleaning off one wheel at a time. (I suspect he used seamed poly cover softballs in it against manufacturer recommendation.)

Who has used these? With the Jugs machine that I currently use I have never used balls with seams since the spin is always the same. If you use a three wheel machine do you see any advantage to the Baden dimple balls that have printed seams on them or even the Kevlar seam softballs designed for pitching machines? How much do you do curve balls, screw balls etc.

I know some people don't believe in pitching machines. I am a big believer in front toss. We do ALOT of front toss. Still, I think this might really enhance our hitting work... WW

 

[shaker1]

We have one, great machine. About 3 yrs old and no problems, we use the baden dimple balls. They claim you can use raised seamed balls with no problem, but the wheels cut grooves along the seams. We go through about a dozen balls a year, using the machine a couple times a week.