Hi, First of all, I really appreciate the huge amount of stringing information and I ended up buying a Klippermate to DIY! As my first try took 4hrs, I'm wondering if it's a red flag if I decided to finish stringing the main, tie them off, go for a dinner appointment and finish the cross when I come home? Or should stringing be a complete process from start to finish? Thanks!
Welcome to the crazy world of stringers . Great you managed to get through the toughest moment in the stringer's career - doing the first racket all by yourself . I am sure that after a few rackets you will get much faster and will not need to do it in stages. Finishing the mains means that the racket is subjected to the full load of mains but not counteracted by any crosses, only four spots at side supports. Even at the lowest tension of 9 kg, with 21 mains racket experiencing almost 200 kg, becomes almost 300 kg if strung at 14 kg... How long could you hold that load??? Can you imagine the deformation of the racket? It is probably not so bad if it is a cheap racket that you only used for stringing practice, but I would say try to finish the racket as soon as possible so that there is no racket deformation or uneven string stretching. . I believe breaking the racket is also very realistic if left for too long, especially at the higher tensions...
actually i have a different take. there are a few interacting factors here. firstly, this is the first racket stringing. it is likely not gonna be a perfect string job, so some imperfection with technique is not a great deal. as for the load, yes there are hundreds of kg of force acting on the racket, but it is a static load, the racket will not deform any more over time and the stress will be constant. however, what would normally be a concern is the stretching of the strings. as each string is tensioned, it takes more than an hour for it to slowly settle at a final tension. for most of us who finish in 30mins the main strings are still stretching and it will be in sync with the cross. if you leave it there for a few hours, then the mains stretches and loses tension and then the cross comes in a higher tension, that will be an imbalance. having said that, though, since you did take 4 hours and on top of that, this is likely your first and testing/learning string job, i won't be too concerned with it.
Thank you stradrider & kwun for the sound advise! I will plan my time accordingly and set aside sufficient time when stringing the 2nd similar racket so it will be done in one session. The main reason to restring them is because they both arrived new roughly 20~22lbs when advertised as 26lbs, lol! Will only restring personal rackets as a hobby and taking my time to enjoy the whole process. On my first try, my daughter caught wrong weaving on the first 2 crosses and I had to re-do the cross! Not to even mention the knots & trying not to loose tension while doing so. Getting my hands on the job made me appreciate the craftsmanship of a stringer more than just reading about it. 1st racket came out decent enough to be a practise racket for me after testing it, looking forward to restring the 2nd racket Cheers!
