LOVE the pic of you tensioning the main tie-off knots! Still planning to string top down even with the alpha supports or are you gonna try going bottom up??
Be careful when you do that Pete. It's not good for the frame the string is resting against, if you feel you must, then maybe some supergrap under it so it doesn't dent or scratch the frame. If it's for a client's racquet, that kind of cosmetic damage may lose their trust in you as a stringer. By the way Pete, any chance you want to sell me those badminton fixed clamps? I've been longing to get a pair as the tennis ones don't allow me to clamp the top cross before tying off which bugs me a little.
I am glad you bought it up. So far, cosmestic scratches only occur with metal clamps and objects against the frame. Nylon strings are quite soft even under tension. The badminton fixed clamps are keepers .
I disagree Pete. I brought my machine to a tennis tournament once and my friend broke his string. I was not familiar with his racquet which had 8 strings inside the throat instead of 6 like the Wilson ones I'm accustomed to. I carelessly started from the bottom instead of the top of the racquet and when I got to the end of the throat, I realized there was no grommet to go to and I had made a mistake. I only realized after pulling tension across the throat and it did make a very noticible streak on the paint. Lucily he didn't mind but that's not something I'd ever want to risk repeating. And it's not very good for the frame. All in all, it's just not worth it because frankly, you just don't use the outside few strings. If you really want them tighter, just up the tension. Oh sorry one more thing, I noticed that your supports are not at their optimal position. You should adjust the 6 and 12 o'clock supports more inwards and move the whole support back. That way your 2, 10, 4, 8 o'clock supports are closer to the head and throat where there is much more stress on the racquet.
So far, no paint indentation on any racquets I strung. Maybe tennis uses much higher tension and hence the cosmetic scratches. I do add 10% overtension on the last main and cross strings. Yeah, I will try to the mounting columns further apart. I just hope the load spreaders don't get in the way of the cross strings.
Actually, I was not tensioning the tie-off knots. The strings would pop if I did that. This process is to stretch the tie-off strings as much as possible before using the string puller to tension the knots.
Am I right in thinking that you use the flying clamps for speed, and not the swivel clamps on the machine?
Surely the load spreaders will stay in the same relative position to the crosses. effectively, the columns and arms will move outwards, and everything else will be the same.
Yes, the loadspreaders shouldn't get in the way of the first cross string if everything else is the same. I will post photos later. I also need to find new loadspreaders. The current ones get bend out of shape after a couple of string jobs.
if youre really determined to always use the load spreaders on top you could pull off the yellow rubbery looking piece to give you room for a firm shim to give your load spreader more support. This was the only way i could see one fitting a shim in the top otherwise you'd block the 1st cross at the top.
