Pro's Pro Pilot or Challenger 1

Discussion in 'Badminton Stringing Techniques & Tools' started by jjjan, Sep 13, 2007.

  1. jjjan

    jjjan Regular Member

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    Hi,
    the headers says it all.
    Crank machine or dropweight machine?

    What's the best choice on the topics:
    ease of use,
    price,
    speed,
    accuracy (callibration)
    buildquality

    conclusion.


    TIA

    jjjan
     
  2. gsloh

    gsloh Regular Member

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    In general

    Ease of use - crank (IMO)

    price - drop weight usually cheaper

    speed - crank

    accuracy - drop weight - also in general tension holds better with a constant pull drop weight, but you can minimise that by prestretching (Thanks Dink!) the strings before you string the racket

    Build quality - should depend on the manufacturer rather than the type of machine
     
  3. jjjan

    jjjan Regular Member

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    Gsloh,
    thanks for your reply.

    I tought that the cranck type machines, once callibrated, were more precise.
    Or do they have the tendency to shift away from the right tension (during the stringjob).

    Maybe i should use the word consistency of tension.


    Jan
     
  4. silentheart

    silentheart Regular Member

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    The tension head should be same during any 1 string job. After a couple week or month (depend on the quality of the machine) of use the accuracy of the crank machine will be off.
     
  5. jjjan

    jjjan Regular Member

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    silentheart,

    thus it's better to buy immediately a callibration tool with your cranck machine?


    Jan
     
  6. silentheart

    silentheart Regular Member

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    Buy a digital fishing scale. The machine is not calibrated when it is out of the box.
     
  7. jjjan

    jjjan Regular Member

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    Never heard of this type of calibrator.

    The salesman offered me a calibratriontool for 20 euro (approx 27 $)
    http://www.prospro-tennis.nl/site/products.php?product=24 (am 171).
    Is this the tool to go for. Or is the fishingtype the real deal?


    jan
     
  8. Mark A

    Mark A Regular Member

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    When you calibrate, always do so at the highest tension that your scale will allow (or that your machine will allow, whichever is the higher). That way, any errors will be minimized at the badminton end of the tension scale.

    I used a £5.99 analog fishing scale to do mine, and it worked just fine.
     
  9. jjjan

    jjjan Regular Member

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    HI,
    it seems that a cheap analog fishing scale can do the (calibration)job.

    Working with the largest scales is a good tip.

    But how does a cranck type machine deals with streching of the string.
    I saw a you tube movie where the drop weight stringer waited a few seconds till the string was stretched/settled, before he secured it with a clamp.

    Does the cranck-type machine (pro's pro Pilot) provide a system to overcome this problem?


    jan
     
  10. Mark A

    Mark A Regular Member

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    A crank machine does not truly maintain a given tension because all string stretches slightly as it is pulled. Some string loses 0.5lb after a few seconds and then settles, others lose much more.

    There are a couple of ways around this problem:

    1. Pre-stretch the string - http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47621 is an excellent thread on this matter;

    2. Do a pull with the crank, leave it in place for a few seconds, do another pull, leave it a few seconds, and so on. The number of pulls is up to you, but after each of the first few you should see the crank travel slightly further each time. This means the string is stretching.

    Once the crank returns to the same place after each pull, the string is fully stretched and can be clamped.


    For my money, the first option is the best if you can use it, as repeatedly cranking and resetting multiplies the workload by a significant amount. Also, the second method doesn't necessarily pre-stretch all of the string by the same degree.
     
  11. jjjan

    jjjan Regular Member

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    Thanks for the replies.

    I Think i'll go for the Pilot + calibration, pre-stretching and 4 knot stringing.
    I hope to give you some feedback in the near future.

    jan
     
  12. kakinami

    kakinami Regular Member

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    I found Digital fishing scales on ebay for like $20 US. They work just as well as my boss' $100 fishing scale. Mine goes up to 40 Kg
     

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