Badminton Central Guide to Stringing Tools

Mark A said:
I just got hold of some those Xuron 170 cutters... holy moly.

Imagine side cutters with utility knives for blades, and you'll get the idea:).
Click to expand...

The Victor cutters I received with my machine are pretty good too. I could pretty much cut a string in half in the direction of the string!
 
They look good. I will not be surprised if they are made by the same OEM. and if so they are a better deal than the tamiya ones.
 
Thought I'd share my idea of an economical version of a good cutter. I do have a oem yonex cutter. It wasn't perfect such that it only makes clean cuts on the tip 1/3 of the blade. I'm not the original owner of this cutter, so not sure if it was due to over-usage or it was never perfect. I have cutters that look like the cheaper smaller Xuron cutters, that also initially cut very nicely, but over time developed some play side to side such that the pair of blades no longer meet up perfectly.

Looking at the Yonex design, it essentially looks like a light duty diagonal wire cutter/nipper you can buy at the hardware store. I believe the major difference between a 30-40$ yonex or tamiya cutter and the eg 5$ ones from a hardware store is the quality control. The ones from the hardware doesn't need to be precise since they are made to cutter tough metal wires. Since the key factor is quality control, I took a piece of string and brought it to the hardware store. I literally tested all the smaller diagonal cutters they carried by making test cuts on my sample string and picked the best one. I tested about 20 cutters, and only found 2 that are good. I defined good as ones that cuts cleanly on the entire length of the blade. I'm not sure how durable these cutters will be, but since the design essentially look the same at the Yonex ones, I'm guessing they will stand the test of time. So if quality control is the main difference between an expensive cutter versus a cheap hardware store version, I essentially found a high quality cutter by sorting through a bunch of cheap cutters at the hardware store. Of course this will only work if the store packaging doesn't hinder you from making actual test cuts.
 
jsunsun said:
Thought I'd share my idea of an economical version of a good cutter. I do have a oem yonex cutter. It wasn't perfect such that it only makes clean cuts on the tip 1/3 of the blade. I'm not the original owner of this cutter, so not sure if it was due to over-usage or it was never perfect. I have cutters that look like the cheaper smaller Xuron cutters, that also initially cut very nicely, but over time developed some play side to side such that the pair of blades no longer meet up perfectly.

Looking at the Yonex design, it essentially looks like a light duty diagonal wire cutter/nipper you can buy at the hardware store. I believe the major difference between a 30-40$ yonex or tamiya cutter and the eg 5$ ones from a hardware store is the quality control. The ones from the hardware doesn't need to be precise since they are made to cutter tough metal wires. Since the key factor is quality control, I took a piece of string and brought it to the hardware store. I literally tested all the smaller diagonal cutters they carried by making test cuts on my sample string and picked the best one. I tested about 20 cutters, and only found 2 that are good. I defined good as ones that cuts cleanly on the entire length of the blade. I'm not sure how durable these cutters will be, but since the design essentially look the same at the Yonex ones, I'm guessing they will stand the test of time. So if quality control is the main difference between an expensive cutter versus a cheap hardware store version, I essentially found a high quality cutter by sorting through a bunch of cheap cutters at the hardware store. Of course this will only work if the store packaging doesn't hinder you from making actual test cuts.
Click to expand...

I've done that before, there wasnt a single cutter worth buying! You're lucky your store had some!
 
So I recently got an AEF stringing machine and threw out the rubbish bundled cutters and got a pair of Tamiya 74123 from a hobby shop. On another day I was down at the local hardware street and saw a relatively cheap pair of King branded cutters for more or less the same price as similar Chinese branded ones so I bought a pair for lols just to see how much of a difference a cheap cutter would make.

What happened afterwards compelled me to write a mini-review of... side cutters in BC.

IMG_20161129_150705_zpsxqzmiun6.jpg


I swear I'm not biased but I own some King branded tools which are of very good quality, expected of a Japanese brand. What I wasn't expecting, was that it cut better than the Tamiya. I didn't notice this when cutting thicker synthetic strings like the BG65 but it was quite evident when I was cutting through the Vectran of BG80.

Take note that both of these came packaged, stapled and sealed so there's no trial and error and I did not pick a specific cutter. This mini review is based on the out-of-box performance when I was doing some stringing.

King FC-120 (HKD30/USD3.8)
Picked this up from the hardware store as it was pretty cheap, and more or less the same price as the Chinese branded ones. Make no mistake, this is a legitimately cheap pair of plastic nippers from King and the price tag is still intact as you could see in the photo. It looks similar to Xuron's design but it's Japanese, so expected it to be more durable in the joint. Although not visible, this cutter is spring loaded. This cutter is lightweight and cuts so well I'm baffled why people aren't buying more of this.

EDIT: I just looked up King's parent company, Tsunoda's website and found out that this is a new product in May 2016. No wonder I never came across these before.

Tamiya 74123 (HKD198/USD25)
This was at the same price as the older 74035 from a model shop so I thought I may as well grab the newer model. Mechanically, this cutter is smoother and feels more robust than the King and is a joy to use as the heft is just right. Don't get me wrong, this cutter cuts very well but for some reason it just refuses to make a clean cut on vectran strings unless I'm using the mid to inner part of the jaws whereas the King managed a clean cut from the tip.

Conclusion: Tamiya's are overrated with jacked up prices; I'm not sure how I did not realize this before but King does OEM tools and I reckon are Yonex and Tamiya's OEM. If you could get a King branded tool over its rebrands, you'll save yourself quite abit of money.
 
Last edited:
Finally got around to buying a non-shite starting clamp - peanuts off ebay from HK, about fifteen quid plus postage. The difference between this and the Pro's Pro one is... well, I'll show you:

DSC04053.JPG DSC04054.JPG

You could drive a bus through that gap! Add to this the much more powerful springs and the bevelling of the through-holes... my old PP is going in the bin.
 
^^ Nice.

Having good tools makes the job 10 times more enjoyable.

In reference to the earlier posts about cutters above. I am using cheap but good quality ones I bought from Wilko (UK) which were good, but after taking a diamond grinding stone to them, they are absolutely brilliant, seriously sharp, straight and a joy to use.
 
Mark A said:
Just ordered a pair of these

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/AEF...id=1b2157f2-8915-43e7-91e5-d093835e7800&tpp=1

Pricey, but this is the first four-tooth version of the Gamma-style diamond-dust/roller-cam clamp I've ever seen.
Click to expand...
These are the same that came with my Superstringer machine last year. Very compact but still holding the string safely. I've strung tennis rackets up to 26 kg / 57 lbs. with them and they didn't even blink. Not cheap but still excellent value for the money IMO. Let me know what you think of them.
 
DSC00227.JPG
Been a very long time since I've been impressed by aftermarket parts, but where have these been all my life? Cracking lever action and the teeth fit everywhere on a racket without bending mains out of the way.

I've no rackets to do at the moment but I might do one just to try em out.
 
oh nice Mark. they look really good. might put these on the shopping list after my next paycheck.
what machine do you have? ive got a pros pro plus with the wise electronic tension head. And im now thinking of replacing the swivel bases. any suggestions?
 
yippo888 said:
oh nice Mark. they look really good. might put these on the shopping list after my next paycheck.
what machine do you have? ive got a pros pro plus with the wise electronic tension head. And im now thinking of replacing the swivel bases. any suggestions?
Click to expand...
You can get new swivel bases and my clamps from the same Aliexpress seller:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/AEF...id=1b2157f2-8915-43e7-91e5-d093835e7800&tpp=1
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/AEF...id=1b2157f2-8915-43e7-91e5-d093835e7800&tpp=1
Those auto-lock bases are brilliant if you can afford them, second only to the Prince (and, of course, Yonex) ones, and they'll go on a Pro's Pro - I've got the same turntable.
 
Mark A said:
You can get new swivel bases and my clamps from the same Aliexpress seller:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/AEF...id=1b2157f2-8915-43e7-91e5-d093835e7800&tpp=1
Those auto-lock bases are brilliant if you can afford them, second only to the Prince (and, of course, Yonex) ones, and they'll go on a Pro's Pro - I've got the same turntable.
Click to expand...
The clamps are great, hands down. And for less than 80 GBP per pair(!) that's just ridiculous.

I guess you grabbed the wrong link for the bases. Should be this one:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Bad...id=aeb5148c-fddc-462f-a2ca-a882a47ad9f6&tpp=1

I have the same combination of clamps and bases on my Superstringer T20 and they are brilliant. That "click" when you smoothly lock the base without any noticeable force is awesome. I've only had the PP stuff as reference, but currently I don't think it can get any better than this without making myself a poor man. ;)
I almost never use the auto-unlock function with only dropping the clamps, but the release button is also a very elegant solution. And what's probably most stunning for a former PP user: I haven't had to re-adjust or re-tighten anything on them yet after around 60 rackets). :eek:
 
s_mair i dunno what year you think we live in.... but your exchange rate is way off!

but yes defo thinking about upgrading the clamps and bases soon. I got new pros pro clamps a few years ago and they were much better... but i think its time to upgrade. and the bases just keep needing to be adjusted.

The clamps are more expensive than the new pros pro ones, but the pros pro ones seem quite basic. The base seems good value similar price to the pros pro one. How does it compare to the latest pros pro auto ones?

https://www.wdstrings.co.uk/pros-pro-automatic-swivel-clamp-base-v2/
 
yippo888 said:
s_mair i dunno what year you think we live in.... but your exchange rate is way off!

but yes defo thinking about upgrading the clamps and bases soon. I got new pros pro clamps a few years ago and they were much better... but i think its time to upgrade. and the bases just keep needing to be adjusted.

The clamps are more expensive than the new pros pro ones, but the pros pro ones seem quite basic. The base seems good value similar price to the pros pro one. How does it compare to the latest pros pro auto ones?

https://www.wdstrings.co.uk/pros-pro-automatic-swivel-clamp-base-v2/
Click to expand...
Hm, at least that's the price the site shows if I switch to GBP:
Unbenannt.JPG

The EUR price matches too.

I haven't seen the PP automatic bases so I can't make any comparison here.
 
oh i see. My bad. i was adding on shipping price too:)

pros pro ones are like 15 quid each. but im pretty sure they are nowhere near as good.
would you say clamp is more important or base?
 
yippo888 said:
oh i see. My bad. i was adding on shipping price too:)

pros pro ones are like 15 quid each. but im pretty sure they are nowhere near as good.
would you say clamp is more important or base?
Click to expand...
If you bases haven't started to disintegrate and the re-adjustmend frequency is acceptable for you, then the clamps are clearly priority A. The clamps that came with my PP Challenger were nothing but aweful. String was either slipping through them or squashed to death.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top