This is constructively debating and a good idea. This is actually a Pacific clamp, where the racquet lies in a radius
exactly! the ideal machine actually exists in parts in different designs already, but i have not seen it in a single design. firstly there should be surround support, not just 2 points, 6 points. there should be 12 points. The side supports should be mounted on a metal round ring board so there will be maximum stiffness and no deformation and secondly the support should be dual, there should be a shallow C-shape clamping from top and bottom of the frame. thus providing both inside and outside force whenever needed. that will be the ideal support.
with the advent of CNC machining, I am sure we can come up with something from the comfort of our desk and have it fabricated by some CNC fab. The cost might be prohibitive though. But when's the last time that stops us?
Yeah, I feel like we'd be treading into territory where the setup is also incredibly laborious. Aligning an inside edge support against crosses/mains on the 10/2 position would be awful, and getting the racket out again would be a real trial. I'm still in favour of current 6 point setups. This other machine design seems to be based on the idea that each part of the racket's 'hoop' can withstand an equal amount of force, and therefore points of collapse are easily calculable. But that just isn't how real materials work. The design seems reminiscent of the older 'bolt down' machines where you had a screw-in protector at the top of the frame. I'm a bit unconvinced by the machine as a whole. It doesn't appear to offer a better experience than can be found elsewhere. The probability is, this machine is better than a Pro's Pro crank machine, and maybe this mechanism is better than standard crank mechanisms. But we also have drop weight and electronic machines. So to me, I feel like there are better options in terms of mounting and pulling mechanisms at the price offered - but hell, your machining might be a notch better than some of the competitors, it's not for me to say really. The big selling point seems to lie on the mathematics that I don't really think work out for materials. At 500 euros, I would be recommending a 6 point mounting system drop weight machine with fixed clamps. Perhaps this would make a good tournament stringing machine? On the other hand, a lot of the UK tournaments have on-site stringing, but they usually have professional grade machines from major manufacturers at hand (such as YY, Babolat etc) - even at the lower grade tournaments.
I think that it was Silent Partner who had a machine with 4 direct supports against the inside and 4 outside supports as well. I can not find the picture though Do not know if that was used for badminton also
I can't find the one you referred to. but this is something to start with. a ring support so we can mount many supports around the frame.
and I just noticed that even though that is an Alpha branded machine, it has the same turntable and various components as my Gamma. obviously OEMed from the same factory. http://www.chinaglobalmall.com/products/525164212669
I knew that I've seen this ring type mounting frame before: https://www.tennisman.de/Weiteres/Besaitungsmaschinen/Merco/Besaitungsmaschine-Sensation-B-200.html Definitely once more from the same OEM, but the basic idea is great.
what's puzzling is that they are not really taking advantage of it. in fact, all they did was to put 2 outer side supports on each side so it is not that different than regular 6 point. it looks as if it is an exercise on being different, and potentially save some cost without having the fancy adjustment mechanism. even that is dubious given the new mechanism for side support and more material needed for the ring.
i really like this merco/alpha machine. It is beautiful, original, looks quality and stable. And it seems like gamma direct support upgrade can be installed on it. But, based on internet reports, it has 2 problems: 1. weght scale goes only up to 12 kilos, that is clearly not enough. So it is necessary to add 99 Eur for superstringer dropweight or 350 Eur for cheapest electronic head. Wise may be an option too. 2. And this is a deal breaker for me. There are reports that gamma/alpha/merco machines use thin aliminium base plate, that is bending when clamp is pulled at certain angle. is it true i dont know. Unfortunately, there is zero reviews of actual users in text or video. In any language, nothing. I only found 5 min youtube flick of stringing with the same alpha m1 machine, poorly filmed.
Fully agreed. If you ask me for a storyline behind it, I'd say that there was ne clever person who had a great idea and a certain vision but got run over by the decision makers way before he could really finish it. The way the machine is now, it's half-done. Or even less.
I don't know about that. I think it is a bandaid to another problem that was found. instead of a grand vision that the designer has. the problem is the same issue with the extruded aluminum base, used in this Alpha machine, the Tennisman machine, as well as the Gamma 6004 that I got. the aluminum base is too soft, not only does that affect the setback at the clamp, it also affect the compression between the end towers. a compression of 5+mm after the mains are tensioned. so the solution is to either completely abandon the good looking base, or bandaid it by having the "ring" to support it and give it back the stiffness. the lack of grand vision means that instead of trying something from the tradition, another solution was created for the side mount and they ended up with the 6 point mounting system again. where, if they had the better vision, with their resource, they could've designed the mounting system from the ground up.
With the recent revivial of your old thread, I've just been reminded once again of that issue with the extruded aluminum bases. That definitely is a design flaw that all the Gamma'ish machines are sharing. And I'm surprised that this hasn't been highlighted by other too - especially looking at tennis stringers where those 60 lbs. are more like a medium tension. The reason why Gamma does it that way is simple. It's a rather cheap solution and gives it a neat and tidy look (which almost drew me towards a Gamma X-Stringer myself). And as long as not more clients raise their concerns about it, I doubt they will move away from that concept anytime soon.
There used to be the True tension string machine where the frame holder is round. check thoses websites or google true tension stringing machine https://gssalliance.com/boards/topic/stringing-nat-gut/ https://goo.gl/images/TERwGm http://www.racquetbase.com/PDF/reviews/26.pdf I think the idea is great but if a 6 pts machine can do the job safely why need that machine. Because it will be hard to work with it. Strings get tangled everywhere. one question for people with 2 points machines, what is the highest tension you have done on badminton racket? I myself have done 27lbs but not higher.
The "idea" with the outer ring is very very old. 30 years ago most of the stringing machines in germany had this kind of racket holding. Also my fist machine was like this. The prices for stringing machines was very expensive at this time. 2000,- DM (german mark) for a drop weight machine The machines was sold with the name stringomat (made in Germany). You find the pictures if you google. click here BTW, i found the concept not bad, and asked alpha a few years ago if they can produce the same machine as the badminton version for tennis. But we stopped the project and so we "only" offerd the merco machine in our shop. As we sell only very low quantities of this machine we never thought of making a tennisstringing machine again.
very interesting! the idea of the ring is probably one of the obvious ones. and it is more of a simple and brute force way of going about it. the mechanism is simpler than the rotating beam that is prevalent today. however, the Ultimate-ness of the idea is not just the ring alone. the Ultimate is to have not just the ring around the racket, but also a ring of supports. the ring around the machine is just a necessity coming from that idea.
Yes, if you have a machine with a ring, you can buy extra racket holders and make a 10 point or 14 point machine ;-) But as we sell 95% of the machines for tennis player which are quite happy with 6 point machines and no tennis racket will break while stringing (if it was not broken before, bequause the Player hit it to the ground or somewhere ) there is no demand for this machines. And where is no demand, there will be no companies who invest their money to develop a new machine. (The example is the merco machine => we sold only one or two the last years!
agree. tennis is very different. there are like 10 times the material, 30 times frame stiffness*, yet the forces/tension is at most 2.5x (higher tension, but also fewer total number of strings**) so the dynamics is very different. so not surprise rackets don't break as much as badminton. a lot more care/precaution/support is needed for badminton. while the frames are incredibly strong for just 85 grams of material, i feel that we are flirting much closer to breakage forces all the time with badminton rackets. * I am going by the approximation that tennis frame cross sections are ~3 times larger on each dimension (3x3 ~= 10), and then stiffness goes up cubic with diameter, so 3x3x3 ~= 30 ** tennis has max 18+20 strings at 80lbs? thats 3040lbs (x2 if deem appropriate). badminton can easily go up to 22x21 at 30lbs. that's 1320lbs
