Alpha Clamps

ryushen21

ryushen21

Legend
I'm thinking about replacing the clamps in my Axis Pro Stringing machine. Is there a significant enough difference between the standard clamps that came with the machine and the Alpha 5 Tooth hybrid clamps to justify upgrading them? Are there other clamps on the market that would work in the Alpha that are better quality?
 
I put Tourna clamps in my Axis Pro. They are stamped with a texture pattern instead of having a diamond dust insert glued on. Also think their closing action is a bit smoother than the Alpha clamps.
 
ryushen21 said:
Those are the bases I'm looking to upgrade to as well.
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esm said:
Ah okay. They look like the ones from Tomcat.
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Pretty sure those are the same bases that are on my PP Tomcat. I've seen them available on ali baba. I don't know what you'd be upgrading from, but they have pluses and minuses from my point of view and I've frankly considered trying to "upgrade" to xpyder clamps like those that come on the Tourna 700-ES.

The main plus is that they do clamp to the rail smoothly and tightly and both clamping and releasing is easily and quickly done with one hand. I thought that the gravity release would be a big plus, but it turned out that the way I string I hardly ever use it (though still glad to have it).

Take this with a big grain of salt because I'm relatively new (~9 months) at stringing and I've never strung on anything other than the Tomcat. But I do know tools and machining and the clamps on the Tomcat do have some rough edges (literally and figuratively). My two main gripes are that even after taking the base clamps apart entirely and very thoroughly sanding and polishing the bottom as well as the rails they slide on (also put some dry lubricant on the rails), they don't slide freely enough for me - especially when rotated perpendicular to the rails. The treatment helped a lot - when they first came there was really a lot of friction to overcome and moving them was a herky-jerky thing. But even after really working at it, they still are a long way from silky (I saw YT video of a technifibre ergo one and the clamps moved so freely on it I really think they would slide if you blew on them hard. That made me very envious.).

The other issue with them is that the tolerances are (mid-level chinese machinery) sloppy enough that there's a pretty fair amount of drawback. I can compensate a bit by "pre-loading" the clamp (pushing on it manually) before clamping the string, but if you want to talk about slowing you down, that really slows you (well, me) down.
 
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fritzhimself said:
I find your experience report on this cheap machine very instructive for many who have not yet had this experience.
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I don't want to go too far astray on this thread, but just to give a short reply to this and the very fine quote from Ruskin WRT the Tomcat overall... For my purposes, just stringing for myself and few friends, overall I think the Tomcat is plenty workable and - again, for my purposes - is well above Ruskin's threshold of "losing everything". I'm nitpicking about the clamps - they both work well enough and could work better from my point of view. My overall experience in using the machine is that I actually enjoy and look forward to stringing (I put on headphones and a 70's rock playlist) and as a player I cannot tell any difference on the court between my work and what I was receiving from the shop before - other than that now I never play with dead strings at all anymore which is huge relief. If I were stringing professionally, I'd definitely want (and would have bought) a higher tier machine.
 
I recently acquired a Chinese Sibaosi S616 which is probably in the same league as the PP Tomcat. I was pleasantly surprised by the overall quality of the machine - it was packed well, no machine marks, dripping oil, dirt or dust etc. Finishing was on par Wilson & Stringway & of course better than Eagnas, all machines that I had personal experience with. The only gripe I had were the clamp rails & clamps. 1 rail was smoother than the other. After some set screw adjustment, rail lubrication & doing 20 racquets, the rail issues resolved itself. The clamps were functional but rather ponderous when clamping. Meaning I couldn't really ascertain the pressure or the point where strings "just won't slip". So I felt I was over-cranking the clamp pressure most times. The clamps were cheap tho at US$26/piece. I bought an extra pair when I got the machine.

I decide to upgrade to the Alpha Lightweight 5 Tooth Hybrid Clamp which I got from Alpha China. Its looks similar to the clamps used on the Ghost 2 but is made of an alloy making it lighter (210g vs 330g) & comes in a cool-looking matt gun metal grey. The Alpha store even customized the column length to match my Sibaosi. I've been really impressed by the tactile & precision feel of the Alphas. The teeth are stamped & don't use the stick on diamond insert. Not sure how long they will last but I'm really enjoying them.
 
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fritzhimself said:
So when I read "Siboasi", the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
Have not really seen anything useful from this brand.
Perhaps they have also recently improved the quality significantly.
Basically, you should always be wary when a particularly low price and high quality is promised.
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I totally get it. I had 2 Eagnas machines before which were rough but perfectly functional with some part replacements.
Admittedly you needed to tighten this or that every few times you use them.
My main machine broke during the covid lockdown so I had the choose between the Siboasi S616 or a Xpider Diamond BT (Tourna 700-ES)
Size was an issue so I settled for the cheaper Siboasi. I did order spares with it just in case - extra set of auto clamp bases, clamps & load spreaders.
The Siboasi was US$2300 (with spares) delivered no tax. The Xpider was US$4000 in country.
Siboasi seems to have good reputation in my region because cost is admittedly a factor. String jobs here are US$2-3 per racquet excluding string costs.
 
Booger said:
How do they even afford stringing machines if they only charge $2-$3?
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The $2-3 is for the service. They make a margin on the strings as well & they cross-sell other stuff too.
Its common that stringers offer stringing service with scrap string & off cuts especially for badminton.
I've seen racquets strung with 4 pieces of string.
 
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