Heeh, but the machine is for the kids!! They will eventually learn on it, string for you, your friends, and all their friends to make the cash flow! You will just be kind enough to "loan" it to them for free
Doh!!! My wife didn't fall for it. She said "What if they're not interested in badminton?" I had no answer for that . So I have to wait (maybe 2-5yrs) to see if they are actually interested in badminton before purchasing a stringing machine. Damn logic . But...there's still hope since she didn't flat out say no . I guess I'll have to make do with new rackets and lessons to keep me busy.
Best argument is to show her how much money you'll save for each string you break, and how much money you make by stringing people's rackets String 1 racket per week, and that's 1000$ per year. With my cheap Eagnas, I got my money back (and more) in less than 4 months, and I was able to sell it for 275$!
She'd probably go for it if it was a $300-400 stringing machine I was looking at. Unfortunately I wanted a $1300 Exthree (sp?) + $500 WISE...approx $2k. For me to make back my investment in 2yrs...I would need to string 6 rackets a month. I just don't know many badminton players that want to re-string their rackets. And the friends that I casually play with never re-string their racket until it breaks (maybe once a year to re-string).
Unfortunately priorioty setting is as follows... Baby > 4yr old > Wife > pet dog >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> me .
You could always buy a cheaper (used) upgradable machine. You can probably find some good deals on Craigslist and Kijiji. Start with a 400$ Gamma machine and build up from there I found my Progression ST-II to be great just for that. I was lucky to find mine when right when I started looking for one, but you might have to look everyday for a couple weeks. IMO, 1200$ for that Exthree machine is a lot, especially since you can get a Gamma 6004 brand new for around that price (not shipped, but still).
Anyone tried mounting a Pro's Pro TX Electronic Tension Head to their machine? (I would love a WISE machine but they are too rich for me right now) http://www.racquetdepot.co.uk/products/Pro's-Pro-TX-Electronic-Tension-Head.htmlIt says on the description it is possible but not sure how easy it could be.... Anyone looked at this bit of kit before?
i had a pro's pro tx700 and upgraded the electric head to a wise. The electric head was ok, but not even in the same ball park as the wise. The wise's accuracy on constant pull is incredible, constantly moving whereas the constant pull on the electric head needed to drop tension by about 2lbs before it would tension again. Dont get me wrong it was better than crank, but not something i would upgrade to. I would hold out for the wise if i were you
Thanks Ash, I will just wait for the Wise. Might have to sell some racquets and an old machine to fund it!!
Hi Ash, I'm new to the forum, wish I'd seen your post before I ordered Eagnas Flex 865, whose tension head is similar with or the same as tx700? Do you know then without upgrading the tension head to a WISE (didn't even know WISE can be installed on electronic machines and replace the tension head!?), should I just set the tension to 2lbs higher than desired tension and just clamp before it's loosing 2lb and the auto re-tensioning? What time window we're talking about? 5 secs, 10 secs? Before it's tensioning again?
Does any one know if a WISE bought in the US will work in the UK? I'm refering to the power supply etc?
It will still pull to the same tension....it just won't keep it at that tension. I use bg65ti which is renowned for stretching and losing about 1-2lb. So I used to just string a couple of pounds tighter to compensate. I have now noticed though that the wise is a lot more accurate and consistent tension over the whole string bed. Whereas when I used to finish some of the strings would be slightly tighter than others...they are all the same irrespective on how long I have taken to string each individual string. The electronic head was clamped onto the base via 2 bolts on the underside of the base....I simply undid these and clamped on the wise with the adaptor that is sold with it. I had to redrill one hole that was closer together than the other. My wise looked like it came from the USA but with a uk plug and adaptor on it.....but like a laptop adaptor
Do you mean that the power supply has a US (2-pin) plug which then goes into a UK adaptor with 3-pins? If that's the case, am I right in saying that the power supply box takes something like 120V to 230V? I'm hoping you'd say yes to this, which would mean all I would need to do is simply cut off the US plug and put a UK plug on or get an adaptor. In other words, I wouldn't need to buy a step-down transformer or something. Many thanks!
the adaptor is basically what you would expect to get from a laptop plug. There is a 3 prong plug that plugs into the wall, this then has the standard "kettle" tpye connection going into a black box which has a round power plug which plugs into the wise. But when my unit turned up it was all boxed like it had come from usa (it had wise usa) on the side. If you click this link you will see an adaptor that looks the same...... http://www.laptop-pc-battery.co.uk/laptop-ac-adapter/toshiba-satellite-a80-adapter.html
the adaptor is basically what you would expect to get from a laptop plug. There is a 3 prong plug that plugs into the wall, this then has the standard "kettle" tpye connection going into a black box which has a round power plug which plugs into the wise. But when my unit turned up it was all boxed like it had come from usa (it had wise usa) on the side.<br><br>If you click this link you will see an adaptor that looks the same...... http://smarttechno.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=108