Hi Everyone! I've been looking around for my first stringing machine to be used for badminton rackets. I started thinking of getting something smaller but decent quality (like the Shuttle Express) and after reading about constant pull, I am really leaning towards saving up for some sort of electric constant pull machine. Would something like this Gamma X-ES machine with badminton fixed clamps be over kill for somebody's first stringing machine? The link is below about the machine. http://www.atssports.com/tennis.cfm?prodid=268 Thank you everyone for you time.
Bought my first machine! Hello everyone! I just wanted to let everyone know I took the plunge and bought myself the Gamma X-ES with badminton fixed clamps and some badminton mounting supports. I worked out to almost $1200 from ATS Sports including shipping. Will let everyone know more once I get this machine. Thanks everyone for their input before.
Hello Again! I just wanted to let everyone know that the machine has come in... I ordered it on Wednesday, shipped it on Thursday and it arrived in Canada the following week on Friday. Everything went pretty smoothly and customs only ended up to be about $130 for my order of $1200. So far, the stringing machines seems really good in a respects, but just one thing that seems interesting, when I clamp with the fixed clamps and pull, the clamp actually moves a little bit... anyone else notice that for the Gamma fixed clamp stringing machines?
Welcome to the world of swivel fixed clamps! All fixed clamps (glide bar, swivel, and hybrid) move a bit after you release the string from the tensioner. This is called drawback.
for the drawback, do you just leave it alone and assume the pull on the next string will get "most" of the tension that wasn't held? Right now, when I clamp the string, I give the clamp a bit of a tug to extra tighten the string to adjust for the drawback... anyone else do that? I've got some photos of the machine in the box and out of the box... I'll post them up when I get the pics uploaded... I'm just waiting for my order of strings to come in so I can mass string all my rackets!
You can only tighten the fixed clamps so much before the string is damaged; so, don't over do it!!! Your machine is constant pull. The next pull should take out "most" of the drawback from the previous string.
Oh sorry, I meant I just try and move/bend the fixed clamp when the strings are clamped so when there's drawback, it won't lose that bit of tension...
Do you mean bending the fixed clamps in the direction of the pull? Yes, this method of reducing drawback works to a certain extent.
I do it sometimes but it's not really easy to be consistent. Because reducing the drawback like this is sometimes tensioning the string a bit more. I don't know if this has really an incidence...
How's the constant pull on your machine? Does it really helps? Does the tensioner activate itself when releasing the clamp, or when the string stretches? I wonder if it's useful for badminton rackets...
It is a nice machine, I think... first one I've had... at first I thought the 6pt mount sucked, but now I learnt how to adjust everything so it fits nice and snug to the badminton racket and allowing me to get the fixed clamps as close to the frame as possible... but the whole setup should be around 50-55lbs... I believe that was how much it weighed when they shipped it out to me... so it might be a bit less? It's just a table top version...
I believe the constant pull works good on the machine... I don't prestretch the strings, and the tension seems to be holding pretty good... the tensioner does usually activate when I release the clamp... still testing out the stringing system though... I usually reduce the drawback on the fixed clamp after I clamp, but maybe over tightening the strings in the process... I'm now stringing without moving the clamps after they're clamped to the string and not to the base yet...
Not sure I understand. You mean that you don't manually reduce the drawback? Anyway, when you tension a string. Does the tensioner adjustant constantly the tension, or just when removing the clamp (assuming it's because of the drawback...)?
Before, when I pull the strings and clamp, the fixed clamp would move just a bit after I release the string from the tensioner... so I would push the fixed clamp a bit (to extra tighten the string) before I tightened it to the base to adjust for that slight amount of movement... no I'm seeing how much of a difference it makes when I just let the next string pull the little bit of string that wasn't tensioned from the previous pull and see if the clamp moves a bit as well... But the tensioner does adjust the tension when I have it pulled and not clamped... just to maintain that constant tension... sometimes when I release the fixed clamp from the previous pull, it will sometimes take up extra tension there as well... so I'm hoping this would keep the tension strung more constant... Hopefully that helps... just these little nuances of stringing I'm still picking up to make sure I get the best stringing job I can for badminton! Hehehe...