Babolat Sensor Stringing Machine

J

JayDog5000

New User
Hi Tennnis Warehouse forum!

A local tennis club is selling their old Babolat Sensor Dual Stringing Machine for $1500. It has about 30,000 on the electric counter. A tennis pro looked at it and says it's in good shape. The arms and table work and move freely, no binding or anything. It's about 10 or 15 years old maybe. Do you think this a good price? Does anyone know if these machines are problematic or hard to upkeep? My current machine is a manual Eagnas so I am I guessing this would be a step up. I just don't want to buy an older machine if it is likely to break or be hard to repair. Any info that anyone can post (including any manuals or docs!) would be very helpful.

I will try to post a photo here:

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Looks nice. Please check the clamp bases to make sure they are the current single return spring version, if not, then check with Babolat USA to see if they have any left for exchange. Only other thing that can go wrong is the motor brushes wear out next and could need replacement. Other than these two items, looks like a nice buy.
 
30,000 pulls or 30,000 racket strung?

EDIT: 30,000 pulls is less than1,000 rackets strung.
 
30,000 rackets strung - I think the electric pulling thingy estimates how many rackets based on a number of pulls. So ya, 30,000 rackets I think.
 
Haha, 'cause its a small world ;-) And I was there in Chris's shop when you called him about the machine.

Try for $1000, but no more than $1250

Regards

Paul
 
Irvin said:
30,000 racket is an awful lot of rackets even for a Babolat
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You are correct, 30000 racquets is a lot for any machine. Makes me wonder if it is the number of pulls and not racquets. I know my machine ( not Babolat) , counts the number of pulls of the tension head, as some racquets will have more pulls than others, depending on pattern and techniques used by stringer.
If it is 30000 racquets, I would pass, as the machine has used it's useful life.This would be time machine wearing down and issues. Parts will be getting more scarce. I know Rabbit purchased a couple of the base clamps for the sensor, and commented that they only had a few remaining.
Would be a decent deal if it was 30000 pulls.
 
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jim e said:
You are correct, 30000 racquets is a lot for any machine. Makes me wonder if it is the number of pulls and not racquets. I know my machine ( not Babolat) , counts the number of pulls of the tension head, as some racquets will have more pulls than others, depending on pattern and techniques used by stringer.
If it is 30000 racquets, I would pass, as the machine has used it's useful life.This would be time machine wearing down and issues. Parts will be getting more scarce. I know Rabbit purchased a couple of the base clamps for the sensor, and commented that they only had a few remaining.
Would be a decent deal if it was 30000 pulls.
Click to expand...
The babolat counts racquets.

David pavlich once told me that he strung on a babolat with over 25,000 rackets done and it was still going strong.
 
mad dog1 said:
The babolat counts racquets.

David pavlich once told me that he strung on a babolat with over 25,000 rackets done and it was still going strong.
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Maybe so as long as parts available, any machine can be made to go the distance. Once parts no longer available, and use is great, things do break down. If main board goes down, and no replacement available, what would you have left?
If there was a lower racquet count, odds would be better for a more useful life.
 
uk_skippy said:
Haha, 'cause its a small world ;-) And I was there in Chris's shop when you called him about the machine.

Try for $1000, but no more than $1250

Regards

Paul
Click to expand...

So the Koop is unloading one of their old machines? Wow, 30,000 is a lot of rackets!
 
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I’ll defer to others on this thread as to the number of years left versus price. I can speak to the machine. The mighty Sensor is great to string on and most definitely an upgrade from most anything else. I love mine.

Should you buy, also purchase a good surge protector. I unplug mine after use.

Bottom line it’s a great machine.
 
No doubt it is a quality built machine, but once an item gets a lot of use, then it gets to a point that you need to start throwing money at it to keep it going. Similar to a car that's a few years old that has a great deal of miles, but with most cars you can typically get the parts to keep it going. With Babolat machines after a while parts are difficult to get , then you can't even throw money at it, then what do you do with it?
 
Jim E (The One, The Only, The Legend!), I kinda agree with you. That's why I was hoping anyone with direct experience with this model or similar older machine could perhaps speak to its longevity, ability to be repaired/get parts, or lack there off. Is this a money pit? Or a great idea? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
JayDog5000 said:
Jim E (The One, The Only, The Legend!), I kinda agree with you. That's why I was hoping anyone with direct experience with this model or similar older machine could perhaps speak to its longevity, ability to be repaired/get parts, or lack there off. Is this a money pit? Or a great idea? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Click to expand...
My sensor had approximately 12,000 racquets on the counter when I got it. I had to swap out the old double spring base clamps to the newer more durable single spring base clamps after I took ownership. Nearly 1,000 racquets and 8 years later, it hasn’t required anything else except cleaning the string clamps at the recommended intervals. Just sharing my experience. YMMV of course.
 
It would be fine if parts were known to be available. Without parts supply it makes for a hard decision, at least for me it would. Especially with all those racquets. If it was a lower racquet count, or manufacturer would make parts available it would make more sense.
 
loosegroove said:
So the Koop is unloading one of their old machines? Wow, 30,000 is a lot of rackets!
Click to expand...
Ha! I was talking to Chris about stringing a couple of weeks ago when I was playing a tournament down there. Koop is a nice shop, though I have only ever been to the Hartford area one! I have a tournament in CT this weekend and was planning on stopping by!

The Babolat machine I string for my club with counts pulls and rackets, but it's a newer machine.

Good Luck!
 
Liam Grennon said:
The Babolat machine I string for my club with counts pulls and rackets, but it's a newer machine.
Click to expand...
It may be a little confusing but the Star 5 counts rackets and pulls. I think the counter on the navigator calls it rackets and traction (English version.) Rackets is equal to the traction number divided by 36 rounded down to the nearest integer. I’d assume all Babolat are that way.

EDIT: Therefore if your traction was 30,000 your ractets would be 833.
 
SavvyStringer said:
Which machine? I've only seen total rackets on the star5. I'd be interested to see total pulls vs. total rackets to see how they make the calculation.
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It’s a Star 5 I’ll go make sure of readout right now.

EDIT: My Star 5 has Software Version 02.02.a, counts Rackets (1923,) and Traction (69252.) So traction divided by rackets is actually 1923.66667.

EDIT: I assume in 12 (1/3 of 36) more pulls it will count up to 1924 rackets.
 
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Irvin said:
It’s a Star 5 I’ll go make sure of readout right now.

EDIT: My Star 5 has Software Version 02.02.a and counts Rackets (1923) and Traction (69252.) So traction divided by rackets is actually 1923.66667.

EDIT: I assume in 12 more pulls it will count up to 1924 rackets.
Click to expand...
Interesting I'll have to look this afternoon. The star5 belongs to the university and I only use it for on courts or rackets during warm ups for matches. Last I checked it was at like 5650 in rackets but I don't know that I've seen a traction count. I'll have to scroll through when I'm there to pickup and drop off this afternoon. I checked my Baiardo the other night and based on dividing the pulls by 40 (I'm not sure what would be most accurate) I personally am right around 1100 rackets on it in the last 10 months and total on the machine is like 1500.
 
You should see a racket count, traction count, and work time count. EDIT: I assume the work time is the amount of time power was on.
 
Irvin said:
You should see a racket count, traction count, and work time count. EDIT: I assume the work time is the amount of time power was on.
Click to expand...
Work time will likely be exorbitant. Some of the guys have a tendency to string a racket because they're slack about turning them in and leave the machine on for days at a time. I'll use it on a Sunday, turn it off when finished, and come back the next Sunday to find it on for who knows how long.
 
SavvyStringer said:
Work time will likely be exorbitant. Some of the guys have a tendency to string a racket because they're slack about turning them in and leave the machine on for days at a time. I'll use it on a Sunday, turn it off when finished, and come back the next Sunday to find it on for who knows how long.
Click to expand...
Powering on electronics is when a lot of the wear occurs.

“...every time you power something down, it begins a process called thermal cycling, where it will cool down, then heat up again when you turn it back on. For things with a major temperature swing (like most high-end electronics that get warm), this can be significant over the life of the part (many years)...”

The audio amplifier designers I have spoken to in the past recommended leaving the amp on for this reason.
 
Liam Grennon said:
Ha! I was talking to Chris about stringing a couple of weeks ago when I was playing a tournament down there. Koop is a nice shop, though I have only ever been to the Hartford area one! I have a tournament in CT this weekend and was planning on stopping by!

The Babolat machine I string for my club with counts pulls and rackets, but it's a newer machine.

Good Luck!
Click to expand...

Well to make things confusing, the owner of Racquet Koop West Hartford is Chris, and the owner of RK New Haven is also Chris...but they're not the same Chris.
 
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mad dog1 said:
Powering on electronics is when a lot of the wear occurs.

“...every time you power something down, it begins a process called thermal cycling, where it will cool down, then heat up again when you turn it back on. For things with a major temperature swing (like most high-end electronics that get warm), this can be significant over the life of the part (many years)...”

The audio amplifier designers I have spoken to in the past recommended leaving the amp on for this reason.
Click to expand...

So which is worse? Leaving it on (I think @Irvin posted that wears on the load cell) or turning it on/off with use?
 
Rabbit said:
So which is worse? Leaving it on (I think @Irvin posted that wears on the load cell) or turning it on/off with use?
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The audio engineers told me powering the component on/off is more wear than leaving it on all the time. Not positive if the same is true for electronic stringing machines but I just leave my sensor on all the time unless I am out of town for a week or more.
 
mad dog1 said:
The audio engineers told me powering the component on/off is more wear than leaving it on all the time. Not positive if the same is true for electronic stringing machines but I just leave my sensor on all the time unless I am out of town for a week or more.
Click to expand...
I have my machine connected up to a surge / power strip. If you don't have surge protection I would leave it unplugged when not in use if you have a surge protector I would turn it off if you're not sure when you would use it next. YMMV
 
SavvyStringer said:
Work time will likely be exorbitant. Some of the guys have a tendency to string a racket because they're slack about turning them in and leave the machine on for days at a time. I'll use it on a Sunday, turn it off when finished, and come back the next Sunday to find it on for who knows how long.
Click to expand...
My work time is just over 2,000 hours but sometimes I forget to turn it off many times I just leave it on all day rather than turning if off and on.
mad dog1 said:
Powering on electronics is when a lot of the wear occurs.
Click to expand...
Powering on electric devices is when most of the wear occurs like turn on a light bulb. The heating up and cooling down from one extreme to another causes a lot of damage to the filaments. But in electrical devices when you're using a lot less power and lower DC voltages I doubt it makes as much difference but I really have no idea just a guess.
 
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