Custom-Made Stringing Machine Parts

**Fidget** · 02-15-2011, 10:07 PM

Sounds a little scary. A quick search told me only that the ingredients are proprietary but that the solvents may include Fluosulfonic Acid and Hydrogen Chloride. Two lovely critters that will put holes in your clothes (or your eyeball) in no time if you splash.

How long does this stuff claim to stay on the metal before wearing off? Wouldn't some sort of rubber tip be easier?

**CovinaStringer** · 02-15-2011, 10:20 PM

The bottle does not last very long after you open it. It's kinda of like opening a tube of Crazy Glue, it's useless after a week. Just don't sniff it and use it in a well ventilated area.

**johnlowe88** · 02-16-2011, 01:20 AM

Originally Posted by Fidget

Sounds a little scary. A quick search told me only that the ingredients are proprietary but that the solvents may include Fluosulfonic Acid and Hydrogen Chloride. Two lovely critters that will put holes in your clothes (or your eyeball) in no time if you splash.

How long does this stuff claim to stay on the metal before wearing off? Wouldn't some sort of rubber tip be easier?

This is basically a rubber coating. It should last quite some time and it shouldn't be poisonous after it dries. The bottle says that it contains "petroleum distillates, heptane, xylene, methyl ethyl ketone and ethylbenzene". The solvents I believe are to keep the rubber in solution. Just don't drink it, eat it...

**johnlowe88** · 02-16-2011, 01:21 AM

Originally Posted by CovinaStringer

The bottle does not last very long after you open it. It's kinda of like opening a tube of Crazy Glue, it's useless after a week. Just don't sniff it and use it in a well ventilated area.

I will let you know how long this lasts. It did not have a seal on the bottle, just a normal plastic top - so I have closed it firmly and will leave it on the shelf until I need to dip something again.

**CovinaStringer** · 02-16-2011, 01:23 AM

Methyl Ethyl Ketone or MEK is a solvent similar to Acetone. Very flammable and dries quickly.

**johnlowe88** · 02-16-2011, 01:26 AM

Originally Posted by kwun

can you post a pic of them mounted on a machine/racket?

Kwun,

Hi. I put them back on after I finished with the tennis racquet. Here is how they look on the machine, then a couple of closeups to show how it is mounted on the supports.
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I just remove the bottom red pads before I mount them. I just leave the big bolt in it, and the smaller machine screw is to lock it as a failsafe. Removing it is easy, just loosen the big bolt, remove the smaller machine screw and slide it off.

The Muscle Power 2 is not mine... I was stringing it for a customer and found the tension was not right so had to restring it.

**johnlowe88** · 02-16-2011, 01:37 AM

Originally Posted by CovinaStringer

If it's anything like Tennis stringing, 50 string jobs and it's paid for.

Yes, maybe I should have gotten the Wise. I found out I was using the wrong scale on the dropweight bar. The bar has two scales on it - the upper scale and the bottom scale. The upper scale is in Kg and has two numbers - one above the line, and one below the line - I have now worked out that the number above the line is for Tennis, and the one below the line is for badminton. On the other side, it has lbs similarly with tennis above the line and badminton below. So it looks like I was stringing was appeared to be 22lb and was actually 16lb - that is why my new racquets don't seem to be performing. I had to restring a customer racquet again, the MP2 and have restrung one of mine and will try it out in an hour or so.

**johnlowe88** · 02-16-2011, 01:40 AM

Originally Posted by CovinaStringer

Methyl Ethyl Ketone or MEK is a solvent similar to Acetone. Very flammable and dries quickly.

Yeah, no wonder it smelt nice!

**johnlowe88** · 03-02-2011, 10:00 PM

I decided to try my hand at nylon, after finding a cheap nylon chopping board. The chopping board was not really thick enough, but was enough to see if it would be suitable. Here are my new badminton supports.
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Nylon supports installed onto Klip machine.

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A closup of one of the supports. The support now matches quite well with the newer Nanospeed and Arcsaber racquet frames.

The nylon material is soft and should not scratch. I just need to clean up the edges, some of which are still quite sharp. Unfortunately, I don't have a radius milling cutter otherwise it would be ideal to machine the rounded edges at the same time.

***kwun*** · 03-02-2011, 10:16 PM

i am really hating the support that comes with my ASE. it protrudes so much into the inner side of the frame and blocks my hands as well as the flying clamps.

***kwun*** · 03-02-2011, 10:17 PM

johnlowe88, how do you attach the nylon? is there a screw that goes into the nylon piece? is that strong enough?

**johnlowe88** · 03-02-2011, 10:32 PM

Kwun,

The Klip support has a spigot that is hooked into the support. I duplicated it as best as I could, and there is also a thumbscrew that secures that back of it - I show both the original support as it looked for tennis and the nylon one. As to whether it is strong enough - I find it difficult to even bend this 9mm thick nylon - so will find out when I string my next racquet.

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[Edit] Ideally I should use 12mm nylon but I wanted to try this out first before actually buying the proper material.

**singnflip4life** · 03-02-2011, 11:06 PM

Just a few of my observations:
I think the support could use with a little extra thickness at the top. Nylon does not bend easily, but it has a tendency to deform under constant pressure aka during the stringing process, causing the contact U to become a Y eventually.

I would also think that the contact points are not very grippy. I would advice some kind of grippy coating or just using scrap overgrip as suggested by Mark A (right?)

**johnlowe88** · 03-02-2011, 11:28 PM

Originally Posted by singnflip4life

Just a few of my observations:
I think the support could use with a little extra thickness at the top. Nylon does not bend easily, but it has a tendency to deform under constant pressure aka during the stringing process, causing the contact U to become a Y eventually.

I would also think that the contact points are not very grippy. I would advice some kind of grippy coating or just using scrap overgrip as suggested by Mark A (right?)

Agree, I have some rubber vulcanizing tape that I could apply to the contact points. The other rubber solution I had might not work with Nylon - but I have a scrap piece I could try it with. Yes, I would have preferred that I use thicker nylon - but anyway will try it this way first and see how it goes. Most of my stringing is between 18-24 lbs.

[Edit] I could also make the thing higher to get more bulk behind it.

**singnflip4life** · 03-03-2011, 12:41 AM

I wish I had all this hardware to make custom parts and do mods. But alas, I still live in a modest apartment...

Otherwise I'd be doing custom supports, custom tool tray, custom racket stand, custom PC case, custom desk, custom bed, custom everything.......

**johnlowe88** · 03-03-2011, 12:57 AM

Originally Posted by singnflip4life

I wish I had all this hardware to make custom parts and do mods. But alas, I still live in a modest apartment...

Otherwise I'd be doing custom supports, custom tool tray, custom racket stand, custom PC case, custom desk, custom bed, custom everything.......

I know how you feel. I lived in a unit for about 20 years. Then about 3 years ago, bought a house with a big garage. Then I started accumulating equipment. First a metal lathe

https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/Pr...stockCode=L157

then a milling machine

https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/Pr...stockCode=M150

then after getting tired using a hacksaw to cut metal, finally invested in a bandsaw

https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/Pr...stockCode=B002

Then I had to think of things I could make with all this, plus buy other equipment. I also have an interest in Astronomy so plan to make some large gears soon.

Actually most of this will fit in a normal garage if you place it on the sides - which is where it is most of the time. I just move the car out when I want to use the lathe. The milling machine is behind the car - with the boot making a convenient table to putting down tools on a large piece of cardboard. The main thing is having some power available.

My problem is buying materials - we can't just go to a shop around the corner like in the US. We have to buy like 4m of aluminium at a time, when I only want 10cm - or pay exhorbitant prices to have small pieces delivered... so we make do with what we can find around.

**singnflip4life** · 03-03-2011, 01:54 AM

Originally Posted by johnlowe88

I know how you feel. I lived in a unit for about 20 years. Then about 3 years ago, bought a house with a big garage. Then I started accumulating equipment. First a metal lathe

https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/Pr...stockCode=L157

then a milling machine

https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/Pr...stockCode=M150

then after getting tired using a hacksaw to cut metal, finally invested in a bandsaw

https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/Pr...stockCode=B002

Then I had to think of things I could make with all this, plus buy other equipment. I also have an interest in Astronomy so plan to make some large gears soon.

Actually most of this will fit in a normal garage if you place it on the sides - which is where it is most of the time. I just move the car out when I want to use the lathe. The milling machine is behind the car - with the boot making a convenient table to putting down tools on a large piece of cardboard. The main thing is having some power available.

My problem is buying materials - we can't just go to a shop around the corner like in the US. We have to buy like 4m of aluminium at a time, when I only want 10cm - or pay exhorbitant prices to have small pieces delivered... so we make do with what we can find around.

Most of the time, I go to junkyards or construction dumpsters or even the landfill if I need scrap material for things that wont be made public. I agree, the mill and lathe will probably be my first "advanced" items, after the basic saw/screwdriver/drill/etc