Hello to everyone As I’m planning to buy a stringing machine, I did some reading on the net about stringing machines. Well, some reading, better call it a lot reading. My head is kinda dizzy from absorbing all different kind of information. As I don’t want any cracks too soon in my rackets anymore, I’m especially interested in a machine with a good mounting system where I can string on higher tensions without worrying too much about the frame. In my survey, this turned out (at least till now) to be the most difficult part. I hope some girl / guy has a great tip on this point. Furthermore I found out that its all about Tennis. There is soo little information on badminton stringing in the also hard to find comparisons. Okay, lets talk business. My budget is somewhere around 800 USD ex shipping. If there is a very good reason to spend some more (or less ?) I will think about it. I’m thinking about : - Floor model - Crank. - Linear ball bearing string gripper - Fixed or swivel or whatever clamps - 4 or 6 point mounting They almost had me with the diamond dusted stuff, but well, is this so important ? If the lifetime of the string will only be a small bit longer than with just metal string grippers, the springbed by then is probably in a condition ready for a restring anyway. Oh yes, the mounting problem. Should I buy a machine with a hold-down (press down) mounting system, or should it rather be a machine with a suspension mounting system. Is the suspension mounting system similar to the Babolat stick stem device? In former threads, according to David, the Hawk 800 turned out to be not so badminton friendly because of the mounting, which is in this case the hold-down type. According to Lee, the Babolat stick stem device is bad for your fragile badminton racket. The ST-200 is of this type, which happens to be suspension mounting. Annyone out there that is very satisfied with the mounting system ? Cooler, I’m curious what machine you are using, as I read that you have such good stringing results all the time. Thanks Yong
Check out the new Yonex ST-250. The mounting system looks good! I have the Eagnas ST-200, but in retrospect, I should have bought their Easy-3, which has a fixed clamp. One can always add flying clamps (Yonex has the best) but not the other way around. The ST-200 is supposed to be an OEM version of the old Yonex ST-200. I decided at the time that I don't string enough rackets to warrant a "floor" model. I just put the machine on a small coffee table and that works fine. I have also been told that Alpha machines are nice. Both companies have web sites.
Drop weights are the cheapest... but from what i've heard they're not very accurate and are not very efficient.. ..... cheapest drop weight probably around $150 US
Actually, we have been warned earlier in this forum by Kwun and David about Eagnas machines, as they both sold their machines due to some bad using experience. http://www.badmintonforum.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3340
AKFT, do you know where to see the Yonex ST-250 on the net? Cannot find it anywhere. Or is it similar to the Eagnas ST-250 ? But that one doesn't have a fixed clamp.
Go to www.shuttle-house.com. When the home page comes up, go to the left upper photo with a guy swinging backhand. Click on the 2nd item to the right of the photo, then go to the "6 - 2" column, then click on the last item that reads "stretching machine" in Chinese. You have to negotiate the hyroglyphics a little bit!
Probably asking the impossible, but does anyone know a good strining machine for say under £100?? Matt
This is the machine I use, and I am quite saftisfied with it .... I believe it's a good value for the $$, and have never had any complaints from any clients:
Thanks AKFT, I made the trip to shuttle-house.. err not physically, but through the internet it was like a trip (with the very precise descripion of AKFT a nice trip) Looks nice, the ST-250. Too bad there is no fixed clamp. The almost 1000 USD ex shipping, taxes, clamps ? sounds expensive though. I found a nice looking floor crank model on the net on a germen site: the Diamond Beta S6CK machine. It has all rings and bells, like diamond dusted, fixed clamps etc. for 749 EUR The V-shaped mouning points, is this any good ? Matt, they have also some cheaper models there. http://www.diamondsport.de/Besaitung/Beta_S6CK/beta_s6ck.html
RSX, Looks very good. Actually, this is a machine which i want to buy, but the shipping costs, taxes etc hold me from buying. If i find a nice similar European machine, i will buy that one instead.
Hi Yong, Just curious what price you got for the Alpha machine ?? I'd just like to get a comparision because I'm selling mine. tks.
"from what i heard"?!?? how about some personal experience? from my experience, drop weights are very accurate. what's more accurate than law of gravity plus just a tiny bit of friction induced by one pivot? cranks has more moving parts with more points of contacts/friction involved, so for the average low price models of each, i think cranks will be less accurate. drop weights are slower than crank, granted, but with practice, it is not that bad.
Yong, i have seen the Alpha machines in action (David has/had them), and i think they are way superior to the Eagnas. much better engineered. the mount points is a arm that is adjustable via one screw each, and it is a cork-gear mechanism, so the mount point doesn't move (unlike the Eagnas friction based one which sucks). if you are just doing badminton and speed is a concern, you may want to use non-swivel type clamps. only one action is needed to clamp down the string. most stringers in HK i see uses them (speed is a real concern for them as speed = money). anyway, you may also want to look into the Yonex flying clamps when doing the cross strings. that has little effect on the stringing, and speeds it up even more. you can find the Yonex clamp on the www.badmintonalley.com website. with a budget of US$800, you can get a very nice machine. you can also mail David about it, he is a nice (but busy) guy.
Thanks Kwun, that's good information. That mounting cork-gear-mechanism sounds interesting but i do not fully understand it yet.. Do you mean like a wine bottle opener, with some toothed wheels or something like that ? Anyway, good to know that there are good experiences with those Axis machines. Axis sounds like a good choice to me, but since the brand is not sold in Europe, some international shipping, taxes and warranty inconveniences arise. The problem with Europe is that there's less choiche RSX, My first choice is a new machine with warranty, rather than second-hand in combination with international shipping. But thanks anyway, and maybe i will change my mind Hmm comparing the german diamond machine to the eagnas hawk 800 (from pictures), they rather look the same. I think that diamond machine probably has a friction based mounting system as well then.
