Custom-Made Stringing Machine Parts

Discussion in 'Badminton Stringing Techniques & Tools' started by Pete LSD, Dec 24, 2009.

  1. johnlowe88

    johnlowe88 Regular Member

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    Yeah, no wonder it smelt nice!
     
  2. johnlowe88

    johnlowe88 Regular Member

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    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.
    DSC00196.jpg
    Nylon supports installed onto Klip machine.

    DSC00198.jpg
    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.
     
  3. kwun

    kwun Administrator

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    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.
     
  4. kwun

    kwun Administrator

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

    johnlowe88 Regular Member

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    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.

    DSC00199.jpg

    [Edit] Ideally I should use 12mm nylon but I wanted to try this out first before actually buying the proper material.
     
  6. singnflip4life

    singnflip4life Regular Member

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    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?)
     
  7. johnlowe88

    johnlowe88 Regular Member

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    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.
     
  8. singnflip4life

    singnflip4life Regular Member

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    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.......
     
  9. johnlowe88

    johnlowe88 Regular Member

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    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/Products?stockCode=L157

    then a milling machine

    https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/Products?stockCode=M150

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

    https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/Products?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.
     
  10. singnflip4life

    singnflip4life Regular Member

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    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
     
  11. kwun

    kwun Administrator

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    wow. you have a milling machine and a lathe at home? if i have those, the possibilities will be endless!
     
  12. johnlowe88

    johnlowe88 Regular Member

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    One more comment that I would make. Originally I bought the lathe and mill - and thought that it would be big enough. On hindsight, I should actually have bought a larger lathe and a larger mill. Maybe I will think about upgrading it sometime - if I get enough projects to do. The lathe is good enough for small items, but when turning stainless steel - just has too much flex, so needed some upgrading to fix this. The mill is small enough and will do a good job - but a bigger more powerful mill would be easier to use. I have been learning a lot about this, and had issues with slipping collets just cutting the slots in the nylon - so need to buy the right size collets, another expense - but will delay this until I really need to.
     
  13. johnlowe88

    johnlowe88 Regular Member

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    Actually, that is the basic equipment. I thought I could make almost anything, but found that getting the tooling, and working holding equipment like machine vice, dividing head still leaves me wanting more. Those things including tools have already cost more than the lathe and mill together.
     
  14. CovinaStringer

    CovinaStringer Regular Member

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    Just think if he had a CNC machine. ;)
     
  15. johnlowe88

    johnlowe88 Regular Member

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    Working on it. Trouble is my mill has a lot of backlash - to fix this, I will need to disassemble it, clean and fix it - I don't yet have the skills to do this, so am taking it slowly. Then I need to buy some ballscrews from the US and then convert the mill to CNC - I have some motors already and motor drivers.

    If I was living in the US, this would be a much easier task - as much of what I need is readily available and cheaper - but here down-under, we pay extra for freight, extra for tax, extra for... Ok - rambling a little, but you get the idea? I am thinking maybe I should sell this mill, get a bigger one and then convert that one to CNC - then making these custom racquet supports would be much easier - I could take a video of it doing the job.
     
  16. kwun

    kwun Administrator

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    i have kinda looked into lathe and milling machine. went through some sites and that seems to be the general comment. the vice, bits, collets themselves will cost as much if not more than the machine.
     
  17. CovinaStringer

    CovinaStringer Regular Member

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    I have access to a Haas VF1 at a friend's shop, as well as a lathe and milling machine. What I would love to have access to is a water jet like a Flow. I could be making my own stringing machine parts left and right. Anything can be made if you have the design and money.
     
  18. kwun

    kwun Administrator

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    i need to make better friends. :eek: :D
     
  19. KooGuy

    KooGuy Regular Member

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  20. kwun

    kwun Administrator

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    in general i am pretty happy with my WASE. the biggest issue i have with it is how the side support are designed:

    [​IMG]

    the bottom part of the side support as well as the arm protrude into the vertical space of the frame, resulting in obstruction of both access by fingers as well as flying clamps.

    so i need some better designed side supports.

    there have been many very nice DIY designs already in this thread. i think i am going to give it a go as well.

    without fancy machining equipment at home i simply cannot afford to have a complete metal solution like ones above.

    i need to approach the solution differently.

    what i have brainstormed so far is this.

    i need a solid support. hundreds of pounds of force is acting on the support. this can be done with a bolt+nut that attaches to the swing arm. the bolt will stand vertically and solidly attached to the swing arm via the bolt. the actual piece that contacts the racket can be of different material and will sit between the racket and the bolt. the force that acts on this piece will be mainly compression, which many material is pretty strong.

    this is inspired by johnlowe88's design above, he has a metal bolt that screws directly into the nylon.

    so what material? maybe nylon again? or maybe something more exotic like wood? ;)

    the other issue is the support/racket interface, a channel is needed to support the racket in a V-like shape. that needs to be machine, and that's why the material cannot be metal as i don't have the proper tool to machine it.

    i am still brainstorming.
     

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