New Disc Idea from Ozone Discs

[Ozone Discs]

One of our goals for 2015 is to bring a brand new take on a disc golf disc. A disc where one mold can produce discs that have multiple shot shapes. Same plastic, same run, same exact disc but slightly different flight characteristics. This is achieved through a patent pending idea of altering the density of foam inserts that are added to the disc post injection molding. So far we are in the 3D printing prototype stage but we are hoping to get test molds made in mid 2015. We are going to update our progress in our monthly newsletter which you can sign up for by clicking on the News button on our site. We are definitely open to feedback and suggestions, and we hope to share this process with the community, hopefully we can get this disc made!

 

[slingdiscs]

Same plastic, same run, same exact disc but slightly different flight characteristics.

Sounds interesting for sure. Looks like not only an overmold but a flight plate interchangeability.

 

[Halcón]

Such a disc would not be legal for sanctioned play.

(C) Guidelines for Discs Manufactured for PDGA Competition
Hi-Tech is the designation given to all discs submitted and approved for PDGA competition. Unless
otherwise specified or restricted by the tournament director, all discs on the PDGA Approved list may be
used in regular PDGA competitions. Hi-Tech approved discs must (see drawing below):
(1) have a circular, saucer-like configuration, with a flight plate unbroken by perforations and an
underside inner rim depth that is between 5 and 12 percent of the outside disc diameter. The flight plate
is defined as the upper (or dorsal) section of the disc, which is delineated by the points where the inner
rim depth is measured. The saucer-like configuration requires a significant degree of asymmetry
between the upper and lower sections, resulting in distinct top and bottom sides of the disc;
(2) be made of solid, non-magnetic plastic material, without any inflatable components. Electronic
components may be embedded/inserted with none of its metal components externally exposed. (Not in
effect until November 17, 2014)

 

[Ozone Discs]

@BigSky Appreciate the feedback. When we first started this project one of our biggest concerns was being PDGA approved. The foam inserts will be added by us in manufacturing as part of the disc construction and will not be able to be removed by the players. So the flight plate will not have any perforations. Once the inserts are added the disc will have the same shape as any other disc. In reference to your second point. The inserts are made from solid plastic material just at varying densities based on their air content. Because we had the same concerns you did we sent our idea along with pictures of our 3D prototype to the PDGA technical standards committee. They did deliberate for some time, but we have gotten the go ahead to go forward with this design as long as it passes the dimension and flexibility tests.

 

[New013]

what's the durability of this foam insert? if a stick hits it will it punch through?

 

[Ozone Discs]

@New013 This was also a concern and the insert is only foamed internally there is still a smooth outer shell. That said we are always working to find the perfect material and density combinations to ensure durability. We don't want to create a disc where the insert wears away but the main hub is perfectly usable.

 

[Ozone Discs]

Pictures

Here are some pictures of the disc without the inserts and a picture of one of our 3D printed prototypes we have been testing with.

 

[Ozone Discs]

If you haven't seen these on our social media pages, here is an updated pic of our latest prototype and a video of it being made on our 3D printer.

 

[Dan Ensor]

How much weight does this take away from the edge of the disc (and add to the center)? How does that affect distance and performance in different wind conditions?

 

[Ozone Discs]

Dan in the current prototype design we can make the outer ring any where from 30g to 6g. We can make the inner ring any where from 15g to 3g. So we can displace a a decent amount of mass. In the configuration where the heavy ring is on the outside and the lightest weight is on the inside you get an extremely gyroscopic disc. This makes the disc very stable and resistant to change and adds less high speed turn and more low speed fade. This will provide the most distance potential in headwinds. A disc with more weight towards the center becomes less gyroscopic and and also allows for the disc to spin faster. Think of an ice skater pulling their arms in when they go into a spin. This faster spin creates more high speed turn. However because it is less gyroscopic it will be more susceptible to change and will have less low speed fade. So this configuration could be used for tailwinds or more dynamic turn shots and hyzer flips. The great thing about the inserts is that we can make them anywhere within the mass range (30 - 6g or 15g to 3g) . So there is really multiple configurations we can make between these two shot shapes. Hope that helps answer your question, if you have anymore please feel free to ask.

 

[Dan Ensor]

That's pretty much exactly what I wanted to know; thank you!

Do you have an idea of what a typical golf disc's weight distribution is, compared to your max/min ratios?

Did the PDGA specifically nix discs that the player could switch out rings on?

 

[slingdiscs]

What is the difference in distance potential between stabilities and levels of gyroscopic-ness?

 

[Ozone Discs]

Dan our prototype is built to be a mid-range/fairway driver. I have read that typical midranges are near a 50% to 50% rim to flight plate ratio. We have the ability to go from approx: 54%rim 46%flight plate to 42%rim 58% flight plate in the current protoype configuration. These numbers are not final as we are still working to create the best design but hope that gives you some insight into what is possible.

When we first came up with this idea we kind of assumed that allowing the players to change the inserts would cause some issues for PDGA approval and after submitting our idea these assumptions proved true. Our thought is that they are concerned that users could create their own inserts that would cause the weight or flexibility of the disc to no longer meet specifications and this would be too hard to govern. We fully support this decision, and we were willing to make what ever changes were necessary to have these used in competitive play. We are now working on the best possible adhesive to make sure the inserts stay bonded once leaving manufacturing.

@slingdiscs-

Distance potential really has to do with the armspeed of the player. Professional arms are able to take really gyroscopic stable discs and get them to stay in the air longer because they can put so much speed and spin on them that they can make them high speed turn slightly and stay stable for a long time before fading out. When a beginning player or lower arm speed player throws that same disc the gyroscopic effects will cause the disc to fade left very early hitting the ground before it has the chance to go a max distance. So finding the farthest disc is really finding the disc that best fits your personal throwing speed. We hope that that is one of the strongest benefits of these discs. We hope that if a player wants max distance and finds the most gyroscopic and stable versions are slightly too stable then they can try a slightly less gyroscopic version of the same exact mold until they find one that best suits them personally.

 

[Ozone Discs]

Here is a test flight video of our prototype with the inserts in a slightly less gyroscopic configuration. The outer red insert is less dense than the black insert in the center. In this configuration the disc flips up slightly and rides a nice anhyzer line all the way to the ground.

 

[Dan Ensor]

Any chance of non-approved "test" discs with removable rings? I'd love to try out different variations of rings to see the differences. Also, on casual days I could take 1 or 2 discs and a few rings and have a complete bag.

 

[Ozone Discs]

Test Disc with removable rings.

Dan, actually that's an idea we have been thinking about. We have a few mechanical solutions that we came up with but they would need to be tested. The issue is that you need something that let's you take the inserts out easily but is strong enough so that if you hit a tree the inserts don't go flying. It would be neat also to have un-sanctioned tournaments where you get one or two discs and an assortment of rings for entering and that's all you can use. Once we perfect the PDGA versions we are definitely going to revisit this and start testing some designs.

 

[luckless_pedestrian]

Make a mid that feels like a Buzzz and a fairway like a Teebird and you're good to go.

 

[Ozone Discs]

@luckless Actually our targeted first disc is right in between those two discs. A shorter fairway driver, longer mid range.

Our rim depth is close to the buzz.
Our overall diameter, rim thickness, and overall height are in-between.

You have set the bar pretty high though, hopefully we can try to make something as good as those two !

 

[Ozone Discs]

March Newsletter

Our March newsletter is going out a little late this month as we recently added a new member to the family this weekend. Mother and baby are doing great! Hopefully we will get the newsletter out today. Also we are printing up a new version of the prototype this week as we broke the prototype during testing and we decided to tweak the design to give a little more stability in the stable version and slightly less under-stability in the under stable configuration. Comparison videos to come shortly.

 

[pecosROB]

Our March newsletter is going out a little late this month as we recently added a new member to the family this weekend. Mother and baby are doing great! Hopefully we will get the newsletter out today. Also we are printing up a new version of the prototype this week as we broke the prototype during testing and we decided to tweak the design to give a little more stability in the stable version and slightly less under-stability in the under stable configuration. Comparison videos to come shortly.

Congrats!