Stringing and engineering

Discussion in 'Badminton Stringing Techniques & Tools' started by yan.v, Mar 13, 2012.

  1. yan.v

    yan.v Regular Member

    Joined:
    Mar 19, 2011
    Messages:
    1,544
    Likes Received:
    101
    Occupation:
    USRSA MRT & Certification Tester
    Location:
    Montreal, Canada
    This is more of a curiosity thread.

    I have noticed that a lot of users that browse and post in the Badminton Stringing Techniques & Tools forums are engineers or have very good knowledge of physics, materials and pretty much everything that makes engineers what they are. For instance, we know that Kwun, the admin of BadmintonCentral is an engineer, and I am myself an engineering student. We have also a lot of threads regarding new systems and parts made by our members (Chudek supports!), racket structure and even about how strings react and how temperature, time and other factors affect tension (if only I could find that thread again, it was really interesting).

    So I'd like to know who is an engineer and even who isn't ? If you're an engineer, what is your domain and if you're not, what makes you so smart (aka what do you do)!

    Maybe we can find some trend where badminton players who are also engineers are more likely to want to string their rackets ? Or maybe I'm just crazy :p

    Anyways, just a little thought of curiosity before going to sleep.
     
  2. TimothyHsu

    TimothyHsu Regular Member

    Joined:
    Sep 3, 2011
    Messages:
    215
    Likes Received:
    1
    Occupation:
    high schooler
    Location:
    Milpitas
    I had intentions of becoming an engineer but now I've decided to go into business managing. Im very interested in stringing rackets and I'm a highschooler. Im not sure if that means anything
     
  3. johnv

    johnv Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jan 19, 2012
    Messages:
    54
    Likes Received:
    0
    Occupation:
    IT
    Location:
    Hong Kong
    Looks like a good topic for a poll...

    Me: Electrical Engineer / Comp Sci graduated from UNSW. I want to understand more about the strings that are on my rackets and their current condition and how that affects play. But I will leave the art of doing it to the masters.
     
  4. visor

    visor Regular Member

    Joined:
    Dec 7, 2009
    Messages:
    16,401
    Likes Received:
    2,001
    Location:
    Vancouver, BC
    Calling PeteLSD, j4ckie, MarkA, and a few others. :)
     
  5. Mark A

    Mark A Regular Member

    Joined:
    Sep 2, 2005
    Messages:
    7,170
    Likes Received:
    695
    Location:
    St Helens, UK
    Well, my degree title has "engineering" in it, but I'm more of a diletante these days:).

    Stringing has that lovely esoteric, OCD underbelly, so I wouldn't be surprised if engineers were propping up the Techniques forum.
     
  6. DarthHowie

    DarthHowie Regular Member

    Joined:
    Sep 17, 2003
    Messages:
    1,159
    Likes Received:
    183
    Occupation:
    Software Developer & Assistant Coach @ GBC
    Location:
    Toronto & Vancouver, Canada
    I'm not an engineer but have a computer science/mathematics degree. I'm detail oriented and that's probably why I enjoy stringing (aside from the love of badminton in general)
     
  7. R20190

    R20190 Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jun 11, 2004
    Messages:
    2,458
    Likes Received:
    414
    Occupation:
    Chartered Civil Engineer
    Location:
    London, UK
    I think Engineers naturally have an interest in this sort of "hands on" work... I've always been interested in building things, inventing things and exploring how things work. I remember when I was about 12, my dad came home in shock to see his VW Golf bonnet open and bits of his car engine scattered on the drive! I'm the type of person who likes to understand how things work... !!! :)

    Anyway, a bit about me. I graduated with a masters degree in civil engineering, worked as a civil/structural engineer for the past 10+ years, I'm a chartered civil engineer, member of two engineering institutions and now privileged to be working on some of the biggest engineering projects in the UK.


    I got into stringing solely for my own benefit really, I remember as a kid in the 80’s I wanted one of those yonex pocket restringing kits so I could restring my carbonex 8sp which seemed to snap strings all the time, but you couldn’t get them for love nor money. Stringing machines were ridiculously expensive and no one would teach you anyhow as it was the bread ‘n’ butter of the local sports shop. Eventually I bought one when prices came to within reach (about 400GBP)...

    Like many others, I taught myself to string through a combination of observing master stringers at work, research and trial and error. As I collect old yonex badminton racquets, I had a decent number of racquets to hone my skills on...
     
  8. edlui888

    edlui888 Regular Member

    Joined:
    Dec 23, 2007
    Messages:
    30
    Likes Received:
    1
    Occupation:
    Engineer
    Location:
    Toronto
    I think good stinging is more of an art than engineering. In addition to enjoying the game, it's always fascinating to realize so many principles of physics and structural theory are behind the stringing process and that's why I picked up this hobby.

    I am a civil engineer by training and practicing in public drinking water treatment/supply sector.
     
  9. yan.v

    yan.v Regular Member

    Joined:
    Mar 19, 2011
    Messages:
    1,544
    Likes Received:
    101
    Occupation:
    USRSA MRT & Certification Tester
    Location:
    Montreal, Canada
    Nice to see I wasn't completely crazy :p I'm sure there are a lot of other players who haven't posted yet who are engineers too.

    I personally decided to start stringing because of the poor quality of stringers around here and it ended up being sort of a passion, as with everything that touches badminton.
     
  10. kwun

    kwun Administrator

    Joined:
    Apr 24, 2002
    Messages:
    41,041
    Likes Received:
    2,065
    Occupation:
    BC Janitor
    Location:
    Santa Clara, CA, USA
    a few observations. :)

    the type of people who are inquisitive naturally like to do things on their own. DIYers, so to speak. DIYers are hands on type of people who are never contend to let other people do a job for them. or at the very least interested in how to do it even if he doesn't want to get his hands dirty.

    more DIY type ends up engineering and other technical fields.

    stringing is one of those tasks that is simple enough for the average DIYers to do but complex enough that the non-DIY type won't attempt.

    i personally has a degree in Computer Science but was also a double track EE and probably could have gone into ME or other related fields. i love to tinkle with stuff since small and is more handy than most people.

    there are a few motivations for me to do my own stringing. firstly is i am naturally curious about the process. secondly while there are other strings in the area, i am not getting a consistent stringing job all the time. the cost of doing stringing is also rather high. i ended up stringing a lot of racket due to my wife also playing badminton and also i need to string racket for racket reviews. and then last but not least i naturally cannot sit idle by when you guys have all the fun stringing and talking here in BC. i just need to do it to learn as well as to share. call it peer pressure. :)

    all these add together makes it a no brainer.

    and one last observation. notice how many people have made modification of their machines? it is part of the nature of an engineer to make and improve things, to tinker with things, and to wonder how things can be done differently..... whether it is broken or not. :)
     
  11. bsmith

    bsmith Regular Member

    Joined:
    Nov 30, 2010
    Messages:
    96
    Likes Received:
    2
    Occupation:
    Engineering software developer www.elitesoft.com
    Location:
    College Station, Texas USA
    No doubt about it. Engineers are much more likely to be DIY type of people who also want to constantly try and improve things.

    I graduated with a mechanical engineering degree in 1979 from Louisiana Tech University. But I liked personal computers so much that I started an engineering software company within a year after graduating and have been doing that ever since.

    Besides a natural curiosity for stringing, I also had a very practical reason as well. The closest place to me that strings badminton rackets is 90 miles away in Houston, Texas. With a lot of hard hitting family members, strings break fairly often for us.

    With no local stringing service available, I decided right away to invest in stringing equipment. I think the investment has paid off very quickly. Almost everyone in my family can string a racket now, especially if I set things up for them and supervise a bit. But I guess only my 16 year old son knows enough to do everything by himself.

    Of my six children, the only one that's going to be an engineer just also happens to be the 16 year old that can already string rackets completely by himself.
     
  12. kwun

    kwun Administrator

    Joined:
    Apr 24, 2002
    Messages:
    41,041
    Likes Received:
    2,065
    Occupation:
    BC Janitor
    Location:
    Santa Clara, CA, USA
    wow. i cannot even imagine how software companies are like in 1979/1980. i was only 6 yrs old.

    i too had the same issue when i used to live in Pittsburgh. buying a machine was a very obvious choice instead of going to those tennis shops who are incompetent to string badminton rackets.

    must be tough to raise 6 kids!

    i cannot wait till the day when this old man can just hand my son the racket and have him string it for me instead. he can earn his spare money from advertising his stringing service in craigslist.
     
  13. KingO

    KingO Regular Member

    Joined:
    Oct 11, 2006
    Messages:
    64
    Likes Received:
    2
    Occupation:
    RN
    Location:
    SoCal
    When I first got back in the game of badminton, there was only 1 decent stringer in my area (now there's at least 4 of us) that strings badminton rackets. Usually would take at least 2 weeks to get a racket back... that's why I decided to get my own machine.

    I also liked to tinker with stuff at a young age, which is probably why the decision to get a stringing machine came easy for me. I did some modification to my machine (although I usually just use the standard suspension mounting, but now with the Chudek side supports) like Kwun mentioned some of us stringers do. I'm on my third and last stringing machine (unless I win the lotto, then I'm getting an ES5Pro). I went from an ATS SuperStringer... to an Alpha Revo... and now the LaserFibre Quantum.

    I am a nurse by profession, but my first major was Architecture (not exactly engineering, but a little related) when I started college in the Philippines.
     
  14. johnlowe88

    johnlowe88 Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jan 26, 2011
    Messages:
    207
    Likes Received:
    17
    Occupation:
    IT Consultant
    Location:
    Sydney, Australia
    I graduated as an Electrical Engineer at UNSW but have been doing IT work up until a year ago - still looking for a job. I spend my time working on electronics, telescopes, machining gadgets, stringing racquets and right now, repairing electronic tension heads, i.e. five Eagnas Plus 8000's.
     
  15. GaryC

    GaryC Regular Member

    Joined:
    Apr 12, 2011
    Messages:
    140
    Likes Received:
    1
    Occupation:
    IT Analyst
    Location:
    Markham, ON
    Computer engineering degree here but I have since went back to school changed completed a Computer Networking degree.
     
  16. kakinami

    kakinami Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jan 26, 2005
    Messages:
    1,039
    Likes Received:
    702
    Location:
    somewhere
    Does a professional sandwich engineer count? I used to construct sandwiches. Otherwise I am a nobody who just liked to learn how to string. Lucky enough to string for at a 2011 World Championships, 2011 Pan American Games, 2012 All Englands, 2012 London Olympic Games, but now not needed to string at any more Yonex tournaments.
     
  17. Mark A

    Mark A Regular Member

    Joined:
    Sep 2, 2005
    Messages:
    7,170
    Likes Received:
    695
    Location:
    St Helens, UK
    Bacon, lettuce, tomato - three variables, I suppose... and six possible orderings...:)
     

Share This Page