OMG Alan what did you do??? Actually I'm digging that colour... Though... what is the name of the colour? It's looking like a cobalt blue on my screen, is this correct? Did you do the paint yourself? or have a autobody shop do it? Cheers
Right after getting my machine, I wondered if the moment of force from the gripper itself really could be neglected, as the gripper is not always in the same position (angle) , when the bar is in horizontal position. The gripper felt pretty heavy in my hand, and putting it on a scale showed something like 360 gram. As the distance from the axle to the gripper is about twice the radius of the drum where the string rests, these 360 gram, vould turn into plus 0.7 kg on the string with the gripper in horizontal position pointing the same way as the main weight, and minus 0.7 kg on the string with the gripper in horizontal position pointing the opposite way as the main weight. That's 1.5 kg (3 lb) in total. I took the machine to the physics lab for some consistent testing and found a total difference on 1.47 kg depending on the grippers angle. I went to the local hardware store for some very cheap bits and parts, and back in the lab, it was relatively easy to calibrate / balance the gripper out. I know it's not a very pretty solution, but it's doing alright, and it's actually not that much in the way when stringing.
The machine should be calibrated taking everything into account. So if you use a calibrator on the machine without any modifications, the reading you get should be the same as your drop weight setting if the string is perfectly horizontal. If it isn't then the machine was not properly calibrated.
Load spreaders would be ideal, but I hope I will get them with Christmas. So far no troubles with stringing rackets (tension under 25 lbs or 12 kg), only the Wise I did send back to the supplier. The control PCB is replaced, now it seems that machine works as it should be. Great value for money, but you have to spend some time making a frame for the Wise and Shuttle Express.
I started out nearly two years ago with a Shuttle Express, as it was the cheapest entry into something I may or may not like/be good at: It did OK but reading about fixed clamps and the Wise tension head got me wanting an upgrade soon: I found the Pilot a bit too high for tabletop use, as I'm not that tall, so thought I'd replace it with an equivalent dropweight: Wasn't really happy with this one, the clamps weren't great and by then I was a bit jaded to Pro's Pro quality control - they don't seem to have any! When I had issues with one of the flying clamps from my Shuttle Express after two months (the spring came loose and it started slipping), they didn't want to know. I looked for a better quality machine and found this: That should've been the final instalment, but I guess I'm never satisfied! Hence the delivery of this beast on Saturday: Unless I win the lottery and buy an ES5 Protech, I think it will be my last upgrade for a long time
