Hi I am interested in buying stringing machine from any company. I wanted to know the manufacturing company mnames. jay
Take a look at the EAGNAS website. In US they are represented by Maxline. http://pw1.netcom.com/~maxline/ The interesting point about their website is that there is a small comparison chart of some other makers which provides you with some ideas on what you might want to look for in a stringer. In general, most machines will provide you with the basics for stringing a racquet. You will need to first determine how much you can afford to spend and balance that with what you intend to use it for (ie. personal use only, occasional use, full time stringing use), also which sport you intend to support (badminton only, all racquets sports, etc). I had a very low cost Rayline portable stringer that I used for nearly 8 years. It handled all my basic badminton needs, but it was not a 'fast' machine. Because of the drop weight and floating clamps, the unit was adequate for badminton but usually took around 40 minutes to string. I recently was lucky to purchase a used Prince stringer with hydraulic tensioner at a very low cost, and the stringing time is around the 25 minute mark for badminton. Hope this helps.
hey badrad, read your post re stringing time and had some questions. I have been stringing badminton racquets for nearly 3 yrs now, with an alpha axis (upright, pull tension machine). When i started it was quite frustrating, and time consuming. I have much impoved since, and reduced the time required. However, 45 minutes for a racquet would be on the quick side for me .. and sometimes takes as much as an hour. My question, do you use one piece stringing method or 2 (I use 2 piece 90% of the time, depending on what is recommended for the particular racquet). I'm assuming you tension each string seperately as I do. What I find most time consuming is the shared holes on the crosses, and weaving them. What methods do u use to reduce time, and how do you have a specific technique that makes it easier to put the string through shared holes on the crosses?? I have to cut the string at an angle, then direct them through using pliers ... I can't imagine how it could be done so quickly ... Thanks for your input ..
Shared holes. Some racquets are a pain in the butt (and takes longer - ProAce's), where the shared holes are quite small. Yonex (higher end ones and some of the cheap ones too) have fairly decent size holes to that make it easier to thread. Cutting an angle helps, as well, you need to put a slight tension on the string to widen the opening a bit. Weaving is done with two hands and you can 'wave' the string through. What I mean by that is with one hand on top, other hand on the bottom, you thread the string with a wavy motion. Not too sure if I explained this right. I found this be very quick. Although it did take some time to get the technique down (it took me about a month or so before I got very proficient with it) I usually use two string method. The preference for that is more for players that break string often (which are some of my customers) and mains separate from cross helps to allow for repairs. The one string method only saves about 18 inches of string. This may be useful if you have a spool and you want to squeeze out an extra racquet from the spool.
Forgot to mention: I also made a special awl. I found a sewing needle, the same thickness as an average badminton string, then put it on a dowel. Since the needle is quite smooth, when I get to difficult tight holes, I use this special awl to 'clear' the hole for the string. This works with the tighter holes, but be very very careful not to damage the string that is already in place. I only use this rarely, but seems to work whenever I need it. Also when threading the string, I twist the string slight to ensure the string is tawt. Once the string is in place, I will pull this through as straight as possible so the the grommet is not damaged, or string is burned from friction. Typically tighter hole racquets may take up to 30 or 35 minutes if I have to work the grommets. 25 minutes is without having to manipulate a grommet or shared hole.
