lwto
Hall of Fame
No, I along with several members here purchased them from a LA tennis dealer who sadly was cutting back and was selling the left overs (he had around 6 I believe)for around $1600.
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- Thread starter Kal-El 34
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No, I along with several members here purchased them from a LA tennis dealer who sadly was cutting back and was selling the left overs (he had around 6 I believe)for around $1600.
zapvor
G.O.A.T.
he had 6 sensors?????
lwto
Hall of Fame
he had a bunch, I bought one, my friend bought one, spent 600 dollars to ship them up here to Seattle, couple of other guys here on TW purchaced one and I think he had a couple more.
He had like several different stores, one of the first online tennis stores in the country. I was looking for a stringer and just scoured all over the country on Craigs list and hit on his. I took a chance as I purchased site on seen, one of the guys here Lakersfan was good and kind enough to verify their condition.
They've been great, they are real workhorses and have nary an issue since we got them. Babolat sent two upgraded clamping units for free so that was a bonus.
He had like several different stores, one of the first online tennis stores in the country. I was looking for a stringer and just scoured all over the country on Craigs list and hit on his. I took a chance as I purchased site on seen, one of the guys here Lakersfan was good and kind enough to verify their condition.
They've been great, they are real workhorses and have nary an issue since we got them. Babolat sent two upgraded clamping units for free so that was a bonus.
zapvor
G.O.A.T.
wow so he went out of business thats so sad. i totally missed this i would have got one! yea babolat machines are the best i agree. how did you get them to send new clamps for free
lwto
Hall of Fame
I don't know if Hank went out of business, more so than resized.
You should call him, Hanks tennis in LA see if he has anymore he wants to get rid of, he said he was going to warehouse a lot of stuff. I'm not sure what the name was of the store, but you could probably find it.
It wasn't the clamps, but the housing for the clamps, I guess they were defective. Mine wasn't working right, I called support and he said he'd red a pair over night..
zapvor
G.O.A.T.
babolat is awesome. thanks for the tip i might look it up
darklore009
Hall of Fame
hank actually moved on to a sports club called los cab. This is in fountain valley, CA. He only have one babolat sensor and the store carries shoes, rackets, grips, and clothing,etc
Source: Often goes to los cab to play tennis
Source: Often goes to los cab to play tennis
lwto
Hall of Fame
You are probably right, but I only mentioned that he may have more, because he told me that he warehoused a lot of stuff including a couple more sensors...
Now if he has gotten rid of them since then, that's another story, but it might be just worthwhile to inquire, because who knows. They maybe just sitting there and if someone offers, it makes it real easy for him to sell it.
zapvor
G.O.A.T.
so he run the club now? or just the shop inside?
darklore009
Hall of Fame
he has a shop inside the club. pretty much run a small business within the club
lwto
Hall of Fame
OK so you know I have been busy crafting my stringing space and finally it's done, I think.
I've gone blue, Aussie blue sort of, I created a system for reels, which allow me to easily access, any reel, place them on the reel spindle and I have marked off, the 4 foot table at 1 foot intervals which allow for easy string measurement. The table is also wide enough to serve for balancing measurements if needed.
and
Close up of reel system..
I also created a Stringing software, that basically, will create work orders, maintain customer racquets, string job, service jobs and a variety of other stringing related topics, this is a screen shot of the work order, in this case, the client is Artisan Stringer.. of course fictitious name and the service he wants.
I've gone blue, Aussie blue sort of, I created a system for reels, which allow me to easily access, any reel, place them on the reel spindle and I have marked off, the 4 foot table at 1 foot intervals which allow for easy string measurement. The table is also wide enough to serve for balancing measurements if needed.
and
Close up of reel system..
I also created a Stringing software, that basically, will create work orders, maintain customer racquets, string job, service jobs and a variety of other stringing related topics, this is a screen shot of the work order, in this case, the client is Artisan Stringer.. of course fictitious name and the service he wants.
lwto
Hall of Fame
From the SW its a click to print out the Work order, that I rubberband around the racquet and I like giving the customer a claim form. (I like the idea that the job has been acknowledged and taken receipt of) and of course the obligatory racquet stickers. I use a lot of scanner codes to make things really easy. Everytime someone comes in, I just scan the racquet number from their racquet, the SW pops up with their racquet and last string job, takes 5 secs.
zapvor
G.O.A.T.
From the SW its a click to print out the Work order, that I rubberband around the racquet and I like giving the customer a claim form. (I like the idea that the job has been acknowledged and taken receipt of) and of course the obligatory racquet stickers. I use a lot of scanner codes to make things really easy. Everytime someone comes in, I just scan the racquet number from their racquet, the SW pops up with their racquet and last string job, takes 5 secs.
wow. this is amazing. are you a programmer? how did you set up the system?
lwto
Hall of Fame
Thanks, No, as Irvin, a few others can atest, I am not a programmer. I knew though what a Software database could do and realized that the stringing/service part of tennis was a perfect application for database software. I knew how to setup a simple database, but really it was learn on the fly.
One of the things I hated about this industry, was getting my racquet strung. I remember bringing in my racquet to a store, verbally telling them what I wanted, they would yeah yeah me and beyond that, I just hoped they remembered. THere was never any receipt or acknowledgment that they had my racquet.. in fact I realized, I could come in and just point at a racquet that had been strung, any racquet and say, thats mine.. they would charge it to me and I'd have a new racquet, really just absurd that I could do that.
I don't know about everyone else, but I like to feel that a service store is accountable, I never got that so, despite my system being somewhat formal, I think most people feel better knowing, that I know exactly what needs to be done.. the work order is printed out on their "claim ticket". There is now no gray area if something goes wrong.
But I will say, since I started the database, it's been a lot of tweeks and adjustments, getting it to be more "user friendly" and faster. Someone now, brings in their racquet, in less than 5 seconds, I can have them out the door, with a new work order, they have their claim ticket, and the labels have been created. Thats the other thing, labels, Hate the manual labels as half the time you can never read what the hell it says.
That reciept used to be on a laser printer, but I realized I could tweek the report, its' what it is, a report from the database, to print onto a receipt printer, the kind every store has. As you can see, I think it comes out looking pretty professional looking, give clear and concise instructions, and who exactly the racquet belongs to. In the future, I will be printing out, probably a special or two, as sort of a coupon, on the claim ticket.
Well it is still work in progress, and whats more, its been a challenge, but rather fun little hobby anyway.
What is nice about this database, is that it keeps track of every customer, keeps track of every customer's racquet and every single service that, that particular racquet goes through.
I'm working on right now is a feature that when I click the completed button, it will automatically send out a text message to the customer, telling them that their racquet is done and can be picked up. I think that will be awesome.
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zapvor
G.O.A.T.
that is really cool. so you are using access or something?
i have worked at shops where they just attach a note to the racket with the name, but your system is way superior.
how much was the receipt printer?
i string over 3500 jobs a year, so this would be neat. right now i just use a spreadsheet, which works for me.
lwto
Hall of Fame
Thanks, appreciate the input,
I do use Access, Microsoft,
I first tried a spreadsheet, but, you know it's limitations, which is why I went with the Access database. If I was smarter, and I'm trying to be, by writing it in a language that would be easily ported to the web. I'd like to put it up on the web..perhaps sell it to Tennis wearhouse or something, how huge would that be?
I was at a company and we went through some changes and now I'm on my own, so I have, and it's laughable maybe I do 2 racquets a day right now. Marketing is not one of my finer points.
I used this at our store and it worked great,, in fact what you don't see here, is that I also created a Demo portion, where it keeps track of our Demo racquets, and when checked out, assigns who it was checked out to and keeps track of when it needs to be returned, whats late and most importantly, it kept track of what people demoed. People tend to forget what they demoed and it does a good job of that.
I do use Access, Microsoft,
I first tried a spreadsheet, but, you know it's limitations, which is why I went with the Access database. If I was smarter, and I'm trying to be, by writing it in a language that would be easily ported to the web. I'd like to put it up on the web..perhaps sell it to Tennis wearhouse or something, how huge would that be?
I was at a company and we went through some changes and now I'm on my own, so I have, and it's laughable maybe I do 2 racquets a day right now. Marketing is not one of my finer points.
I used this at our store and it worked great,, in fact what you don't see here, is that I also created a Demo portion, where it keeps track of our Demo racquets, and when checked out, assigns who it was checked out to and keeps track of when it needs to be returned, whats late and most importantly, it kept track of what people demoed. People tend to forget what they demoed and it does a good job of that.
zapvor
G.O.A.T.
very cool. i actually started in access, but at the time i thought it was too detailed,haha. the spreadsheet works out for me. the only things it doesnt do is print the ticket and the sticker, but i dont need that.
i am sure TW has a system already set up. but yea if you can get local shops to pick it up. i know one you can try if you want to pm me
lwto
Hall of Fame
Yes, Access can be a little imposing at first look, but is not really hard, at least the non-programming part anyway.
No, I"m sure TW has their own system, but I was thinking along the line of .. something on-line where anyone can use it, web based more or less. It would be a pretty exciting development for the stringing industry.
zapvor
G.O.A.T.
its already been done. i have seen it. but i know some shops have not implemented such yet
lwto
Hall of Fame
I"ve seen one site that has one, but its really sub par and unusable as far as I can tell.. oh well..
OK I did a search, and though, there were a few, the ones I saw really looked ..well I will stick with mine, I guarantee mine is a lot faster.
I didn't see any new feature I would use, that I don't already have.
Use of barcodes, and applying it directly on the racquet is key.
OK I did a search, and though, there were a few, the ones I saw really looked ..well I will stick with mine, I guarantee mine is a lot faster.
I didn't see any new feature I would use, that I don't already have.
Use of barcodes, and applying it directly on the racquet is key.
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lwto,
Your system looks great! I currently string between 5 to 10 racquets per week ( I do as many as 20 a week during the summer) and use web based software system from Stringjob, here is their website:
http://www.stringjob.com/
But I would be interested in yours if you decided to market it.....
Your system looks great! I currently string between 5 to 10 racquets per week ( I do as many as 20 a week during the summer) and use web based software system from Stringjob, here is their website:
http://www.stringjob.com/
But I would be interested in yours if you decided to market it.....
Overdrive
Legend
From the SW its a click to print out the Work order, that I rubberband around the racquet and I like giving the customer a claim form. (I like the idea that the job has been acknowledged and taken receipt of) and of course the obligatory racquet stickers. I use a lot of scanner codes to make things really easy. Everytime someone comes in, I just scan the racquet number from their racquet, the SW pops up with their racquet and last string job, takes 5 secs.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but do you wrap the sticker around the throat of the racquet?
Crisp
Professional
This is a super professional set up. I would be thinking if this guy spends so much time getting the front end professional I can be sure he doesn't settle when it comes to stringing my frame. And that can only be a good thing. Big props to you sir!!
bluegrass_stringer
Semi-Pro
There are many software programs out there for purchase for this type of thing. As a programmer, I can say that something like this would not be that hard to create. What you would want to do is eliminate the paper part of it on the customer, and have them contain the "claim check" on their phone or something. If they don't have a smart phone, then the paper would be ok.
lwto
Hall of Fame
This is the shot of the opening screen, it shows whats still outstanding , the date, status, and what has been completed and ready for pick up.
From here you start your new service, if it's a returning customer, scan the bar code on the racquet and get to the service order, If it's a new customer, you can create a new customer profile with their racquets or racquet. also you can see a place where if you just need to create a quick label, with out tracking the racquet, you can.
Answer to the question, yes, I wrap teh work order around the handle, always up so that when I'm stringing, I can quickly see what needs to be done..
these images is a customer with two racquets to service, you can see what needs to be done on each racquet. The program separates the racquet(s) with each corresponding service and string job to do. You can see one has just the stringing, the other has stringing and a service to put on a new grip.. add a price to each and it comes up with the line item price and the total for each racquet. Also, all the other details such as notes or when they need it by etc etc.
This is how it looks with the work order on the racquets to be serviced.. all up, visible and easy to read..
From here you start your new service, if it's a returning customer, scan the bar code on the racquet and get to the service order, If it's a new customer, you can create a new customer profile with their racquets or racquet. also you can see a place where if you just need to create a quick label, with out tracking the racquet, you can.
Answer to the question, yes, I wrap teh work order around the handle, always up so that when I'm stringing, I can quickly see what needs to be done..
these images is a customer with two racquets to service, you can see what needs to be done on each racquet. The program separates the racquet(s) with each corresponding service and string job to do. You can see one has just the stringing, the other has stringing and a service to put on a new grip.. add a price to each and it comes up with the line item price and the total for each racquet. Also, all the other details such as notes or when they need it by etc etc.
This is how it looks with the work order on the racquets to be serviced.. all up, visible and easy to read..
lwto
Hall of Fame
OH I have the the barcodes on the work order for several reasons. 1 to be able to access them from the program.
2) I use a quickbook like progam where I do the invoice's. When I finish a job, I create the invoice, and save it on hold and apply a name for retreval when the client picks up their racquet.
Now when the client comes in to pickup, I can just scan the code from the work order into the quickbook and the invoice comes up automatically..
Pretty sweet actually.
Yes, Bluegrass is right, any programmer could do this, I'm not a programmer and I did it.
To Crisp, thank you. It just always bothered me the non-chalant way in which shops took your order..very much so.
2) I use a quickbook like progam where I do the invoice's. When I finish a job, I create the invoice, and save it on hold and apply a name for retreval when the client picks up their racquet.
Now when the client comes in to pickup, I can just scan the code from the work order into the quickbook and the invoice comes up automatically..
Pretty sweet actually.
Yes, Bluegrass is right, any programmer could do this, I'm not a programmer and I did it.
To Crisp, thank you. It just always bothered me the non-chalant way in which shops took your order..very much so.
bluegrass_stringer
Semi-Pro
You are exactly right though, in that it shows your professionalism and will let the customer know you take being a racquet technician seriously.
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gkamieneski
Semi-Pro
I like the new "V" mounts. That turntable though looks awful thin. Is it aluminum and do you notice it flexing.
Sparkyovcov
Semi-Pro
Any chance of letting other stringers use this program. Looks awesome. I would like to try it out to see how it works. Thanks?This is the shot of the opening screen, it shows whats still outstanding , the date, status, and what has been completed and ready for pick up.
From here you start your new service, if it's a returning customer, scan the bar code on the racquet and get to the service order, If it's a new customer, you can create a new customer profile with their racquets or racquet. also you can see a place where if you just need to create a quick label, with out tracking the racquet, you can.
Answer to the question, yes, I wrap teh work order around the handle, always up so that when I'm stringing, I can quickly see what needs to be done..
these images is a customer with two racquets to service, you can see what needs to be done on each racquet. The program separates the racquet(s) with each corresponding service and string job to do. You can see one has just the stringing, the other has stringing and a service to put on a new grip.. add a price to each and it comes up with the line item price and the total for each racquet. Also, all the other details such as notes or when they need it by etc etc.
This is how it looks with the work order on the racquets to be serviced.. all up, visible and easy to read..
lwto
Hall of Fame
Yeah I don't mind if you want to try it out.
To use it, you need MS Access,
Brother label printer,
Receipt printer
hand scanner
The program is not perfect, in other words, it's not commercial quality, there is a few quirks that will generate program errors, though, easily got around.
Most of these errors could be avoided with proper programming, but since I'm not a programmer and basically have to research every function, I have just skipped it and worked around the errors.
Once you understand where the errors come from, such as inserting a racquet number, where there is no racquet number, you just make sure you enter correctly and you won't get that error.
Really, there are only a couple spots where errors do come in, and once you know where they are, it's not a problem. So if you are still interested, let me know, I'll shoot you off a copy. I should just first, though, clean up a couple of issues.
I could create a thread too, for some tips and technical issues possibly.
There's a lot of things undocumented that you wouldn't know about. For instance, if you are in the work order field and you double click it, then rt click/paste, it automatically inserts the last string job.
If you double click their racquet, it brings of the racquet specs and history..
Things like that.
shoot me an email if you are interested.
I can make work orders for a stander 8.5/11 paper, but the receipt printer works great, clean and just better.
To use it, you need MS Access,
Brother label printer,
Receipt printer
hand scanner
The program is not perfect, in other words, it's not commercial quality, there is a few quirks that will generate program errors, though, easily got around.
Most of these errors could be avoided with proper programming, but since I'm not a programmer and basically have to research every function, I have just skipped it and worked around the errors.
Once you understand where the errors come from, such as inserting a racquet number, where there is no racquet number, you just make sure you enter correctly and you won't get that error.
Really, there are only a couple spots where errors do come in, and once you know where they are, it's not a problem. So if you are still interested, let me know, I'll shoot you off a copy. I should just first, though, clean up a couple of issues.
I could create a thread too, for some tips and technical issues possibly.
There's a lot of things undocumented that you wouldn't know about. For instance, if you are in the work order field and you double click it, then rt click/paste, it automatically inserts the last string job.
If you double click their racquet, it brings of the racquet specs and history..
Things like that.
shoot me an email if you are interested.
I can make work orders for a stander 8.5/11 paper, but the receipt printer works great, clean and just better.
Not that I've noticed. I mostly string racquetball, though. Less tension =)
Have same turntable. There is no flexing that I can see when I string tennis racquets. The v mounts greatly improve stringing on this six point machine.
Audiophile
Rookie
Not the best pics, but.....
gkamieneski
Semi-Pro
Is that just a parking spot for the rod/weight? Looks like a very substantial well-balanced machine. Also the shoulder supports don't wrap around as much as a traditional 6-pt mount, so less grommet holes blocked.
BlxTennis
Rookie
I have a similar machine. No grommet holes block at all.
Nostradamus
Bionic Poster
I dont' like one of those non-electric ones, string bed is so unpredictable after strung with one of those things. It must be electric with state of the art computer in it to be a good machine.
Audiophile
Rookie
Yes. The weight attaches to the tensioning system over on the right, the red part.
Audiophile
Rookie
I will respectfully disagree with that. My machine is very accurate and quite well built.
Lol. Trust me, not my choice of flooring, I just rent here.
Actually, that's not a ruler. It's the gauge you use to set the weight for the tension.
BlxTennis
Rookie
I agree. I also really enjoy using this stringing machine.
eelhc
Hall of Fame
I will respectfully disagree with that. My machine is very accurate and quite well built.
Lol. Trust me, not my choice of flooring, I just rent here.
Actually, that's not a ruler. It's the gauge you use to set the weight for the tension.
I found the "ruler" a bit odd too when I had a Stringway. Those funny Dutch Engineers. They could easily stamp the tension indicators on the rod or just provide a label.
Doubtful they'd re-tool any part of that machine anytime soon...Since it appears that you have worked with this machine in the past, wanted to reach out and ask the following:
I am trying to determine the 'string job count' on the prince 3000 machine. What feature do I need to use to obtain this number?
Also, how would I obtain the owners manual and calibration instructions?
Thanks
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