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
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
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
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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
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