Cross Stringing Tool from Stringway

[Dez]

I wanted to start a thread to talk about the Stringway Cross Stringing Tool, I believe this is a FANTASTIC Tool that can be used on any machine!

I recently got a Stringway ML100 and the stringing tool with it.
I'm new to stringing and very slow weaving the crosses (missing the odd weave...arghhh!), so a couple days ago I actually started using the tool, it was a little tricky at first but once I got the hang of it... end result: I strung the racquet 15minutes quicker but more importantly , NO missed weaves! It's practically impossible to miss weaves when using the tool and NO string burn!

For more experienced weavers the tool probably won't make you go quicker but it would make stringing crosses MUCH more comfortable, ESPECIALLY with Polyester strings! No need to bend over to get under the string bed to weave and it will reduce the string burn!
Check out the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoktfpQE4C0

It's a quality tool, at a reasonable price, that can be used by all stringers since it's machine independent.

Any of you currently using the cross stringer? I haven't seen many post regarding this tool.

 

[Lakers4Life]

Since you are new to stringing, it's easy to miss a cross at first. But you really don't need a tool to help you. All you have to remember, is if you start OVER you finish UNDER, and visa versa. If you keep that in mind you will never miss a cross again, or at least catch a missed cross faster.

Though the tool has it's benefits, I don't think it will speed up doing crosses, excep for Natural Gut.

 

[Dez]

Since you are new to stringing, it's easy to miss a cross at first. But you really don't need a tool to help you. All you have to remember, is if you start OVER you finish UNDER, and visa versa. If you keep that in mind you will never miss a cross again, or at least catch a missed cross faster.

Though the tool has it's benefits, I don't think it will speed up doing crosses, excep for Natural Gut.

Thanks for your input Lakers4Life!
The speed factor will probably only be a factor for beginners and I agree that as you get more experience the number of missed crosses will reduce, however this tool basically eliminates missed crosses which is a plus.

What I do find to be very beneficial, regardless of experience, is the total reduction of string burn when pulling the crosses since there's NO friction as you pull the string.
Also, I'm a tall guy and with the tool I don't have to bend over to get under the string bed to do the crosses, the tools allows me to sting crosses standing upright, it's not a big deal when doing 1 racquet but when you do several in a row it takes it's tole on my back so, at least in my case, this is a great advantage! I have the stringer on a standard height table and won't put it on anything higher because then my son would have a hard time using it.

Ultimately, the tool can offer several benefits and I wanted to let people on the forum know it exists, if they think it could be beneficial, great, otherwise, over under over under it is! :lol:

 

[GnRFan]

Hey,

In my opinion the greatest advantages the tool offers is:

A) Basically no string burn
B) No bending over to do crosses
C) Its also much easier to string those 18/20's!

All the Best.

 

[YULitle]

Hey,

In my opinion the greatest advantages the tool offers is:

A) Basically no string burn
B) No bending over to do crosses
C) Its also much easier to string those 18/20's!

All the Best.

It doesn't look like it can handle some of the 18x20s. They are very dense. It looks like it would only work on more open patterns. But, looks can be deceiving I suppose.

 

[Lakers4Life]

Thanks for your input Lakers4Life!
The speed factor will probably only be a factor for beginners and I agree that as you get more experience the number of missed crosses will reduce, however this tool basically eliminates missed crosses which is a plus.

What I do find to be very beneficial, regardless of experience, is the total reduction of string burn when pulling the crosses since there's NO friction as you pull the string.
Also, I'm a tall guy and with the tool I don't have to bend over to get under the string bed to do the crosses, the tools allows me to sting crosses standing upright, it's not a big deal when doing 1 racquet but when you do several in a row it takes it's tole on my back so, at least in my case, this is a great advantage! I have the stringer on a standard height table and won't put it on anything higher because then my son would have a hard time using it.

Ultimately, the tool can offer several benefits and I wanted to let people on the forum know it exists, if they think it could be beneficial, great, otherwise, over under over under it is! :lol:

Most of us know about it and it does have it's benefits. I'm a tall guy also, and my back hurt from bending over my old Flex 940 at it's maximum height. Ever since I got my Gamma 5003, I don't bend over as much any more. The guy who owned my 5003 before me was much taller and I had to lower the table height of my turntable for my height. It's a matter of ergonomics.

Though it's a useful tool, it has it's limitations. I don't mean to "rain on your parade". I just wanted to point out it's limitations. Also for a person new to stringing, you seem to be concerned with string burn.

 

[GnRFan]

Hey,

Yeah I think the string burn can sometimes be an issue mainly with gut. If you are stringing gut a lot I think this can help.

A lot of people also don't want to see this type of stuff come around stimply because their identity is a bit wrapped up in the skill of stringing. They like the fact that they can weave faster than anyone else, etc, etc. The fact is the game is changing. I can pretty much guarantee that one day all the major tournaments will have automatic stringers that require a ball boy to insert a racket and push a button, and boom a machine does everything in like 10 mins max.

Of course people will still string for themselves because they enjoy, I am just saying that things change. Sometimes for the good, sometimes for the bad.

All the Best.

 

[YULitle]

Hey,

Yeah I think the string burn can sometimes be an issue mainly with gut. If you are stringing gut a lot I think this can help.

A lot of people also don't want to see this type of stuff come around stimply because their identity is a bit wrapped up in the skill of stringing. They like the fact that they can weave faster than anyone else, etc, etc. The fact is the game is changing. I can pretty much guarantee that one day all the major tournaments will have automatic stringers that require a ball boy to insert a racket and push a button, and boom a machine does everything in like 10 mins max.

Of course people will still string for themselves because they enjoy, I am just saying that things change. Sometimes for the good, sometimes for the bad.

All the Best.

It'd have to be much faster than that.

Having a machine string racquets is certainly possible. I doubt though that the research and development investments in such a product could be recouped in an appropriate amount of time.

 

[Lakers4Life]

I don't doubt Tennis will eventually evolve. In the future there may be no need for strings. But for now we still need to manually string rackets. We still need to rely on our skills to do so.

 

[GnRFan]

Hey,

Trust me guys I love stringing myself. Not only is it fun, but I just would rather do it myself than a machine. Its for the same reason I try and avoid auto checkouts at the grocery stores... They kill jobs. But don't doubt that they will soon have all auto checkouts at the grocery store with 2 people watching them instead of 10+ cashiers.

Unfortunately things move that way. Who knows what will happen, its just an idea

All the Best.

 

[YULitle]

Hey,

Trust me guys I love stringing myself. Not only is it fun, but I just would rather do it myself than a machine. Its for the same reason I try and avoid auto checkouts at the grocery stores... They kill jobs. But don't doubt that they will soon have all auto checkouts at the grocery store with 2 people watching them instead of 10+ cashiers.

Unfortunately things move that way. Who knows what will happen, its just an idea

All the Best.

Yeah, cause they just found those auto-checkouts on the auto-checkout-machine tree. Or, perhaps they were donated by people that make them as a hobby, and not for their job?

 

[Dez]

Most of us know about it and it does have it's benefits. I'm a tall guy also, and my back hurt from bending over my old Flex 940 at it's maximum height. Ever since I got my Gamma 5003, I don't bend over as much any more. The guy who owned my 5003 before me was much taller and I had to lower the table height of my turntable for my height. It's a matter of ergonomics.

Though it's a useful tool, it has it's limitations. I don't mean to "rain on your parade". I just wanted to point out it's limitations. Also for a person new to stringing, you seem to be concerned with string burn.

Hi Lakers4Life, your not "raining on my parade", it's great to have different points of view. However I'm a little surprised by the last comment about my concern for string burn

I'm new to home stinging (never had my own machine) but I have strung a few racquets in the past, I just haven't done many so I'm quite slow. Lot's of people on this forum talk about string friction burn, I also saw a YUlitle video on Youtube "Weaving Crosses" where he states it's important to move the crosses as you pull them through to avoid notching the mains, and the guy who's been stringing my racquets for the last few years gave me some tips and mentioned this as well. It's obviously important to reduce string friction (burn) in order to reduce or eliminate notching in the mains. Why are you surprised that string burn is a concern for me?

I like the tool , it's got benefits for me (potentially for a few others on this forum as well), eliminating string burn is one, but obviously has some limitations. I'm just sharing my impressions and opinions, as are you. If they're useful for someone on the forum, all the better!

 

[Dez]

It doesn't look like it can handle some of the 18x20s. They are very dense. It looks like it would only work on more open patterns. But, looks can be deceiving I suppose.

There's a High Density tool, actually i think it's just the comb bit that changes for 18x20's.

 

[YULitle]

There's a High Density tool, actually i think it's just the comb bit that changes for 18x20's.

They would both have to change. The silver bit looks like it couldn't help but pushing two mains down, instead of just one, on occasion.

 

[Love50]

There are separate metal pieces for the LD and HD combs.

I haven't used mine yet but the reason I got them was to be able to try the different twisted/textured polys that seem to be popping out from every string brand... I use poly in a cross and these new polys do slow me down significantly (main is gut, so need to be careful).

 

[Mikey Fresh]

Yeah, cause they just found those auto-checkouts on the auto-checkout-machine tree. Or, perhaps they were donated by people that make them as a hobby, and not for their job?

no they are made by auto auto check out machine makers which was made by an auto machine and so on...

 

[GnRFan]

Yeah, cause they just found those auto-checkouts on the auto-checkout-machine tree. Or, perhaps they were donated by people that make them as a hobby, and not for their job?

Thats a silly statement. Most of that crap is probably cnc machined. And logic dictates that if if a few people spend even 10 hours of their time putting one together that even though this will replace thousands and thousands of hours for various cashiers that its still fine because at least a couple people spent their day putting one together after the parts were machined?

 

[YULitle]

Thats a silly statement. Most of that crap is probably cnc machined. And logic dictates that if if a few people spend even 10 hours of their time putting one together that even though this will replace thousands and thousands of hours for various cashiers that its still fine because at least a couple people spent their day putting one together after the parts were machined?

Not to mention the programmers that wrote the software, the person that RAN the CNC machine and the tech people that are required to maintain them. It's not 1-1, but it certainly isn't just destroying jobs.

 

[topanlego]

Thats a silly statement. Most of that crap is probably cnc machined. And logic dictates that if if a few people spend even 10 hours of their time putting one together that even though this will replace thousands and thousands of hours for various cashiers that its still fine because at least a couple people spent their day putting one together after the parts were machined?

The other option would be to hire intelligent and fast cashiers. But that's not likely to happen either.

 

[kkm]

Fanning the cross strings in the manner described by Drakulie elsewhere on TT helps to minimize friction. Though that is less effective approaching the throat of the racquet, the Stringway cross stringing tool has its limitations as well, not usable for the outer mains or the far crosses. So I really don't see the need for someone with decent experience and skill to buy the tool.

I came across this post on the cross stringing tool by someone who claimed to be part of Stringway's development team:

...* The level of concentration can be lower, it is easier to string more racquets without interruption.

Makes me think, "So easy a caveman could do it."

http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1024503&postcount=1

 

[GnRFan]

The other option would be to hire intelligent and fast cashiers. But that's not likely to happen either.

Your basically stating that the cashiers you go to are slow and stupid? Thats quite the generalization. Even the slow ones I get are faster than the machine and calling over the attendant because the auto checker machine is acting strange. Also I have worked in the customer service field. I am not saying you are an idiot, but these cashiers work with a lot of people and a good percentage of them have no common sense and are rude, etc. It doesn't make things any easier...

Cody

 

[bsardana]

One big advantage of stringing with this tool, as mentioned before, is "no burn or friction", specially when stringing natural gut. Before this tool and stringing crosses with natural gut, I tried many techniques - waxing the mains, loop, slide down the main and then up etc., the cross gut did get some burns. With this tool - they come out un-touched.

I am sure experienced stringers will be able to achieve the same without this tool but it is a great tool for less experienced stringers.