Custom-Made Stringing Machine Parts

***kwun*** · 02-07-2012, 01:04 AM

Originally Posted by maa2003

business goes well boss ....

so far I have ordered 8 sets (4 sets of old model, 2 sets of new models, 2 sets of incresed-height model) of Michal's side supports.
may order another 2 to 4 sets new models later using red and blue color instead of yellow for friends.

are you playing dress-up with your machines?

**maa2003** · 02-07-2012, 04:00 AM

Originally Posted by kwun

are you playing dress-up with your machines?

it is not for me boss, for friends ....

**DarthHowie** · 03-07-2012, 10:01 AM

Just got my custom Chudek supports for the Gamma 6004 yesterday. pics and initial thoughts will follow later today.

Thanks for all your hard work Michal!

**Pete LSD** · 03-07-2012, 01:44 PM

Can't wait to see the photos Howie!

**DarthHowie** · 03-08-2012, 12:32 AM

I've attached photos of the new Chudek badminton side supports for the Gamma 6004. Attached are pictures of the supports on my machine and mounted with a racket along with close ups of the support compared to the stock gamma supports. The final picture is of my 3 cab 30ms rackets all strung with Zymax 67 at 24.2 x 26.6 lbs on my Wise. 2 of the rackets used the original gamma supports while one of them used the Chudek support. You can guess which one it is. Thoughts on the supports will have to come later...sleepy...zzzz.
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**Michal** · 03-08-2012, 05:25 AM

Thanks for the pictures. I have some questions.
Can you change the position of washers? Top mount-> bottom mount.
What about height and compatibility with a Wise ("top" and "bottom" position)?
What about 360 degrees racquet rotation?

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**DarthHowie** · 03-08-2012, 05:18 PM

Originally Posted by Michal

Thanks for the pictures. I have some questions.
Can you change the position of washers? Top mount-> bottom mount.
What about height and compatibility with a Wise ("top" and "bottom" position)?
What about 360 degrees racquet rotation?

There was no change in height moving to the new supports in relation to the wise (it is slightly below the gripper 1.5 cm -> i always use the diablo).
I know the washer is supposed to go below.. I was contemplating buying another set of washers to raise the supports slightly higher.
I never had 360 degree racket rotation when i used the wise with either the new supports or the gamma supports.

***kwun*** · 03-08-2012, 05:31 PM

1.5cm is a lot to raise purely from the side supports.

are there other ways to raise the table?

**DarthHowie** · 03-08-2012, 06:08 PM

Originally Posted by kwun

1.5cm is a lot to raise purely from the side supports.

are there other ways to raise the table?

yep.. buy new (longer) screws that mount the turntable to the stand and buy washers/nuts to put between the turntable and post....( i already have washers present...about 8mm). So in total you need about 1" more to raise the turntable.

I know where to get the screws..but they only open 9-5 on weekdays and i'd rather see the screws in person then just simply buy them online here

**DarthHowie** · 03-08-2012, 06:18 PM

Currently the gripper is far enough away from the turntable, such that the mounted badminton racket handle will always hit the gripper preventing 360 rotation.. you'll have to raise the mounts and/or the turntable the height of a racket handle in order to get 360 rotation.

Honestly, if you want 360 racket rotation with the Gamma 6004 + Wise combination, the end result will be that your racket will be mounted higher then the gripper on the Wise.

***kwun*** · 03-08-2012, 06:28 PM

Originally Posted by DarthHowie

Currently the gripper is far enough away from the turntable, such that the mounted badminton racket handle will always hit the gripper preventing 360 rotation.. you'll have to raise the mounts and/or the turntable the height of a racket handle in order to get 360 rotation.

Honestly, if you want 360 racket rotation with the Gamma 6004 + Wise combination, the end result will be that your racket will be mounted higher then the gripper on the Wise.

oh right. i am so used to the Shuttle Express dimensions where the part that hits the gripper is actually the shaft. with the gripper moving further away and the gripper contacting the handle, it will take extra vertical distance to get 360.

yikes.

and of course tennis don't have it as bad as badminton as the frame is so thick it is pretty much the same vertical displacement as the frame.

***kwun*** · 03-08-2012, 06:52 PM

this is kinda of related. with the recent thoughts of upgrading to a machine with a tennis sized turntable, i have started to wonder if there are way to have the gripper closer to the racket head.

we know moving the WISE closer is not going to work as the huge turntable is going to block the WISE body.

but can we move the gripper closer? the gripper is just two piece of black Aluminum (the gripper shell) wedged against another piece of aluminum (the drive body) which is driven by the worm gear inside the WISE. what if we machine an extension that is the same thickness as the drive body and then mount the gripper shell on it, and mount the extension on the drive body?

this has the potential of extending the gripper as close as we can to the actual mounting post.

the advantage is that we will now back to an equivalent compact setup. no more long segments of strings going from the frame to the gripper. furthermore, moving the gripper below the shaft instead of the handle, there is less vertical shimming needed to get 360 degrees rotation.

the downside is that we need to make this piece. which is likely need to be precision machined, at the minimum matching the thickness of the drive body exactly for the gripper to function. this will likely be a CNC job. another potential issue is that there will now be extra force asserted on the drive body. but i am not too concerned about that as the body is supposed to handle 80lbs+ of tennis stringing stress and it should handle it with ease.

**Pete LSD** · 03-20-2012, 12:13 PM

Master Howie,

How are Michal's shoulder supports so far? Do you still need +10% on the cross after further experimentation?

**DarthHowie** · 03-20-2012, 04:03 PM

Originally Posted by Pete LSD

Master Howie,

How are Michal's shoulder supports so far? Do you still need +10% on the cross after further experimentation?

Please don't call me Master.. that is undeserved.

Since I still do top down for the crosses, i've used your suggestion of proportionally raising tension to the +10% as i move downwards (starting with last top shared grommet or the grommet just before). I noticed i was getting better frame shape as a result of this.

I have not yet had enough time to test out applying same tension on main and cross (the thought scares me) .

My opinion still hasn't changed of the Chudek supports. I find it far more superior in terms of support and finish compared to the Gamma (slide-in) supports. Michal Chudek gets top marks for being a one man army of design, manufacturing and customer service. We are lucky to have him help us all out.

**Mark A** · 03-20-2012, 05:10 PM

Originally Posted by kwun

this is kinda of related. with the recent thoughts of upgrading to a machine with a tennis sized turntable, i have started to wonder if there are way to have the gripper closer to the racket head.

we know moving the WISE closer is not going to work as the huge turntable is going to block the WISE body.

but can we move the gripper closer? the gripper is just two piece of black Aluminum (the gripper shell) wedged against another piece of aluminum (the drive body) which is driven by the worm gear inside the WISE. what if we machine an extension that is the same thickness as the drive body and then mount the gripper shell on it, and mount the extension on the drive body?

this has the potential of extending the gripper as close as we can to the actual mounting post.

the advantage is that we will now back to an equivalent compact setup. no more long segments of strings going from the frame to the gripper. furthermore, moving the gripper below the shaft instead of the handle, there is less vertical shimming needed to get 360 degrees rotation.

the downside is that we need to make this piece. which is likely need to be precision machined, at the minimum matching the thickness of the drive body exactly for the gripper to function. this will likely be a CNC job. another potential issue is that there will now be extra force asserted on the drive body. but i am not too concerned about that as the body is supposed to handle 80lbs+ of tennis stringing stress and it should handle it with ease.

I can imagine exactly what you're after - I think it would end up looking fork-shaped, with the prongs fitting where the gripper assembly currently attaches. Essentially it would reproduce the gripper attachment point further down the WISE.

While we're on the subject, I've thought a tilted tension head would be a good WISE improvement - wouldn't affect the pull height, but it allow more of the gripper to engage string coming down at a steep angle from higher turntables. This would also be the work of a CNC process. I feel the old CAD itch coming on...

***kwun*** · 03-20-2012, 05:33 PM

Originally Posted by Mark A

I can imagine exactly what you're after - I think it would end up looking fork-shaped, with the prongs fitting where the gripper assembly currently attaches. Essentially it would reproduce the gripper attachment point further down the WISE.

While we're on the subject, I've thought a tilted tension head would be a good WISE improvement - wouldn't affect the pull height, but it allow more of the gripper to engage string coming down at a steep angle from higher turntables. This would also be the work of a CNC process. I feel the old CAD itch coming on...

actually, i went and took a look at the WISE in more detail.

the cleaner way is to replace the whole assembly. including the drive body (the vertical AL piece that the gripper shell attaches to). the body is attached to the worm gear unit with 2 allen bolts. if we take that the drive body out, and then machine a piece of L-shaped aluminum (Aluminium

), and then attach it using the same allen bolt holes, then we don't need any forked shaped or other hack. it will be simpler to machine and much cleaner result.

as for the tilt head. i am not totally convince the utility of it given the presence of the diablo.

if indeed just something simple U shape, we just need access to a mill and while CNC would be nice, it probably won't be needed.

**Mark A** · 03-20-2012, 05:39 PM

Yeah... I did consider going into the bowels of the WISE and designing a completely new "gripper carrier" piece - has the advantage of being completely flat, so it could be cut out of sheet aluminIUM, and there'd be total freedom to have the tension head wherever and pointing whichever way we wanted. If I had the equipment... but I don't. I can CAD with the best of 'em, though

.

The diabolo certainly forces the string into line with the plates, but that's the ONLY reason I use the diabolo, and it puts the gripper a good few inches further away from the turntable. I've done test-pulls on many strings and concluded that gripper marks only manifest with mine after three or four pulls (and we shouldn't be pulling the same string three or four times anyway!).