Is there any way to apply accurate tension on the first 2 mains with only starting clamps & flying clamps on a no clamp stringing machines?
- Thread starter Jster
- Start date
Well, they've been using fixed clamps for a LONG time. The Ektelon/Prince has been around for ages
and I'm sure the big boys have been using fancier machines for a few decades at least.
If you mean back.....WAY back, ......there are plenty of methods to start and string with floating clamps/
starting clamps (I'll admit, I haven't done it in 30+ years so i'd have to cipher through it again).
and I'm sure the big boys have been using fancier machines for a few decades at least.
If you mean back.....WAY back, ......there are plenty of methods to start and string with floating clamps/
starting clamps (I'll admit, I haven't done it in 30+ years so i'd have to cipher through it again).
Yup, I am just very curious to know how they start stringing the crosses (1 piece(aka 2 knots))
I learnt how to string a racquet(fixed clamp) from a mentor, but know nuts about stringing a racquet with floaties.
My jaws dropped when they ( YouTube videos) pull the first and second cross (or mains) simultaneously. I mean.. What?
Wouldn't the first two crosses(or mains) be of a lower tension as compared to the 3rd, 4th, 5th cross?
Of course, drop weights (fixed clamps) will not have such problems... Ha.
So I mean.. If Rod Laver asked for 65lbs tension for his AO open 1960 championship match, how does the stringer ensure every strand of string was pulled at 65lbs before clamping?
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50 years ago when I first started stringing I used a Serrano machine, a fixed clamp peddle operated automatic drop weight. That machine was an old machine when I bought it in 1968. I still have that machine and it is still very accurate machine.I few years back I put a digital scale on it and it still pulled very accurate. I never got the update to handle the larger frames of today, but it did the job on the wooden racquets, and the T 2000 racquets that we're very popular back then.
That machine was probably made in the 1930's to 1940's I would estimate,and fixed clamps glide bar machine , accurate pulling and basics of stringing is very similar to today.
That old timer that solde that machine back then also had a machine that just had a clamping table that held the racquet and a large wooden dowel and he told me that when he was young he started stringing he used that dowel to hand pull tension and then stick an awl in the hole to maintain tension, said he could hand pull whatever tension was asked for and he said he could pull very accurate. So things we're very simple back then
BTW cranks did not come out till the 1970's.
In 1934 Edmund Serrano invented his machine according to Tennis Machines. From the looks of mine, I have one of the first ones.
That machine was probably made in the 1930's to 1940's I would estimate,and fixed clamps glide bar machine , accurate pulling and basics of stringing is very similar to today.
That old timer that solde that machine back then also had a machine that just had a clamping table that held the racquet and a large wooden dowel and he told me that when he was young he started stringing he used that dowel to hand pull tension and then stick an awl in the hole to maintain tension, said he could hand pull whatever tension was asked for and he said he could pull very accurate. So things we're very simple back then
BTW cranks did not come out till the 1970's.
In 1934 Edmund Serrano invented his machine according to Tennis Machines. From the looks of mine, I have one of the first ones.
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1HBHfanatic
Legend
If you hunt arround, there is a video on youtube of an old stringer, using and showing how he strung the wood rakets using the "hand dowels",,, it was nice to see...
Sean Sullivan
New User
If you were asking how one could start the crosses on a 1 piece job with only "flying clamps", you can use a piece of "scrap string" on the other side of the flying clamp from cross #1 to simulate a 2nd string to fill the clamp. Assuming you have the clamp set to the proper tightness, the mains usually "back up" the flying clamp fairly well on crosses, and I have started crosses this way without slippage on a 1 piece job w flying clamps.
That said, there's probably a bit more drawback than usual doing it this way since the scrap string provides no anchor so the outer main is being stressed more than usual. Probably no big deal, but given a choice, I'd just always go 2 piece if i was stuck using flying clamps and looking to be consistent, accurate, and nice to the strings.
Also, crazy as it may seem, I find that flying clamps are a bit easier to use doing crosses than fixed clamps, while I would never want to use flying clamps on mains. Just feels quicker to get on and off compared to moving between the 2 fixed clamps and locking/unlocking the clamps & bases.
Woodies in the past always asked for for one piece. Haha.
I do not know how long you want to go back in the past.
But lets go back to wooden rackets, 18 length 20 crosses, to be strung with natural gut, in 2 piece. 6.7 and 3.4 meters, in some cases without coating. And just using you hands and a hook to pull the lengths strings. Then do the crosses one by one, not the most easy waving with the gut and very dense pattern. Use the awl to lock down the string.
So no floating or fixed clamps and being able to string on half kg accurate, and 3 in an hour.
Peter
ARNICOLINI
Rookie
Starting clamp is always better but they are not used in the past, like 60-70 years ago.
Awl.... The most useful tool but requires very nimble hands. Hahah
Well in wooden rackets it was easier to use then in the current tubing. But when you have done enough wood stuff, like putting in a new "cross" or repair one or three strings, use the awl for making knots, it is no problem.
Exceptions are in the current market are Tecnifibre Rackets. Very easy to tie a good knot.
Peter
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