Pneumated1
Hall of Fame
Well I did my first one piece today on my BB London and ran the first cross with the short side. I'm still trying to figure out this old Klippermate, but all in all, the string job turned out pretty well, even though I made a few mistakes. I'm really not sure what I did, but I lost a little tension on that top cross when I went back to tension, clamp, and tie it off. And even though I put 7lbs more on the last mains and top/bottom crosses, they all lost tension. I'm starting to think that that may be a fact of stringing with floating clamps.
One thing that bugs me a little is that when I run my mains (at least the first 4-5) on this Klippermate and drop the arm level with tension, the arm falls past level when I release my clamp to move it. A third floating clamp would be very useful to eliminate this problem. I'll put that on the Christmas list as well, if I even wait that long.
I had my greatest success with my knots tonight. For some reason I had a hard time with your recommended Wilson Pro Knot. When I finally figured out how to cinch the loop without the tail interfering, I cinched it up nicely---too good it would turn out, as I snapped the string in half with pliers. Fortunately, I barely had enough string to run another loop for a 2 half hitch tie off.
When I tied off that top cross, I used a Parnell and it really fell into place for me. For some reason, this knot allows me to see how the cinching should take place. I cinched my tightest knot yet, even pulling all of the slack on the outside of the frame. I was puzzled as to why I lost tension on that top cross, but the knot was good.
Edit: This Klippermate has been a good experience for me, as I'm learning a ton and starting to see exactly what it is I want in a stringer. But let me ask you this: Would you put an eight-month old BB London on a Klippermate? It seems that people go back and forth on this issue, but that frame is under a lot of pressure on this machine; no doubt about it. I just don't know if I want to learn the ropes at the expense of my best frames. This dilemma has me really considering whether I should at least bump up to something like an Alpha Pioneer DC or DC Plus---something with a 6pt. mount and fixed clamps. I don't mind the dropweight, but a few hundred more entertains the idea of a crank. It's a lot to think about.
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