Since the topic of custom-made shoulder supports, we may consider custom-made columns, clamp bases and turn tables .
by moving the base? but if i were to ever want a custom machine, i would like a 6 point machine's 4 side support to be converted to hold down instead of the "K" or ">" support i'm almost certain it can be done but not sure if it would be good for the racket =T
Yes, it can be done! The Victor machine and its various brethens have this feature: head and throat hold down and four external supports. The only issue is that the shoulder supports are not adjustable to contact the frame at 90 degree!
If you want custom parts I recomend a sheet metal shop. If you have ever been to Bay Badminton Club their stands were made from a sheet metal shop. Paragon Mechanical in Santa Clara, CA. They are Badminton fanatics!! They actually have their own court.
Finally, a thread where my CAD musings are on topic. This is exactly why I'm trying to design a C bracket that will fit the Eagnas et al: it's crucial that the supports have as much contact with the frame as possible, and none of these fixed-arm machines (Victor, Babolat, etc) allow for rotation. The Yonex ES5, from memory, has rounded edges to its badminton "overlays", and so while it will come in at 90 degrees, the contact area is very limited.
If you have a machine that uses hold down at the top and throat, then you won't be able to use c-style side support?
No, that would not be advisable with hold-down. Frames have different thicknesses, and C supports may not meet the frame at its mid-point if the top and bottom are held down; the frame has to "float" at 12 and 6 for C supports to work safely. It's my intention to convert my machine, which does NOT hold down but relies on rubber pads at 12 and 6, to a 10-point support; a C bracket would lift the racket off these pads, allowing the towers to be moved further apart and improving clearance.
Here is a rendering of my supports in my Pro's Pro Pilot and a direct scale comparison of them next to the K brackets. As you can see, the racket will sit higher in the C supports and so will not rest on the black mats at 12 and 6, so the head/throat supports can be wound further out.
My guess is.. ..it should take him a few hours (esp. the 2 parts in the middle of the machine), but not very long. As one can probably figure out, the left and right mounting/unit parts are identical/symmetrical. So, all one has to design/model/render is one side of the mounting part/unit and mirror the other side(s). Same thing with the base. I don't know if that's what Mark A actually did, but that's the quickest way to do the entire model/rendering.
ctjcad knows my tricks. The model was built using extensive "mirroring", so I only had to do the turntable and one support assembly, consisting of support tower, support arms and knobs (again, lots of re-use), one K bracket/C bracket, and then the swivel clamp base and badminton clamp. (I also did the base, rack arm and crank head, but they're not needed here.) I used accurate measurements taken from the machine itself, and it took me around 7-8 hours. I did this model a couple of months after getting my machine so that I could observe the effect of any modifications I wanted to make in the future. Came in handy here!
Decided to model a racket and see how it fits the supports. A to-scale AT800, as shown, goes right in the middle, so larger and smaller beam rackets should be fine; I took the Z to be representatively smallest and Panda U1 to be largest, with only a couple of mm between them Just need a prototype now. Do the supports look too wide to anyone (i.e. covering the racket edge too much)? It's a very easy fix if so...
The supports seem fine. Have you measured a training racket's frame thickness in various places (head vs throat . . . etc)? As for the badminton specific turntable, one of the columns should be permanently attached to it (locked down and non movable). Also, the overall length should be a lot shorter than the one for tennis. Eh, what about the rest of the machine? . . . like the stand and tensioner bar (for WISE Head or Stringway tensioner).
Pete... I took measurements at 4/8 on the Ultra 1 and at 2/10 on the Arc Z, and designed the C's accordingly. Thus, no rackets should fall into the gap and all should fit into the things in the first place. With regard to the rest of the machine, I would be glad to envisage any modifications people can successfully convey to me, but that rendering is of my machine as-is - I still need the support stanchions to move in and out for tennis and squash!
Well, a truly astonishing development: I had a quote back from my machining contact in USA and 100 supports can be made for... $8.25 EACH I'm not sure how to proceed now, as shipping to me from USA would be monstrous for the quoted quantity of 100. I'm thinking of selling the drawings/CAD model on to a willing party in US who can then order and distribute as required, or else taking a percentage cut from each sale - it is, after all, my intellectual property. Any ideas, people?
Quote was for forged aluminium body with stainless steel pins loctited in. Doesn't need to be spectacular, does it. I'll have to investigate plastic padding, or else people can pad their own out ad lib.