It doesn't seem to be preached much here as in the tennis forums, but a lot of tennis stringers stress keeping the crosses moving a long the length of the mains while they pull the string through. Reason is that it gives the mains a friction burn and damages the string. Has any one experienced this? Question: Does this happen with badminton strings? And if yes, how do you prevent it while using a pre-string method, as there is very little room to move the string? To me it seems if you pre-string and pull the the string through with the string mover is a equation for disaster. However i've seen and played with rackets that have been pre-strung and were fine.
The effect seems to vary with the string surface. For example, strings like BG-66 or white Ashaway MP (both very smooth) don't tend to do much sawing when pulled, while BG-80 and 85 do so much that you can actually hear it. I can't comment on circumventing it when re-stringing, since I don't do it any more, but you can try sliding the V of the cross if you hold the racket shaft between your knees (while sat down, obviously). When all is said and done, though, sliding the crosses costs next to no effort and eliminates ANY chance of notching during stringing, so I always do it regardless of string surface finish or gauge. As my stringing course's head honcho told me, it's just good practice.
From my experience, you should move it while you pull string. In fact, just like Mark A said, BG80 and BG85 are worse because they are such rough string. Since you pre-weave the string, the burning is not as bad during pre-weave because there is no tension on the string. When you tension the strings, there is not too much distance for the string to travel. So burning is min.
You can also pull the crosses in a diagonal pattern, using the string-mover to pull the crosses in the middle to the opposite end of the frame, as you pull.
