My Stringing machine DIY upgrades

tjanev

Semi-Pro
I've finally uploaded the pics to google photos so hopefully i can post them here. I've essentially done 4 upgrades. DIY stand for my stringer, reel and tool holder on the machine, throat/head TPU material contact point replacement with curve, and finally a pic of my reel holder that i made for a corner cabinet that i am using in my little workshop room where i also string.

DIY #1 - the stand
So, i started with an idea. i found an old office chair and broke the base off. the piston was still attached and it had a hole running right through it. so what i did was 3d print a sleeve ( in the baby blue ) and used a threaded bar( that i eventually cut to size ) and large washer, at top ( shown ) and bottom. the sleeve was very tight onto the piston, but the thickness of the sleeve was exactly the same as the inner diameter of the pipe i used ( approx 2.5 inches ID if i remember correctly ). When the pipe fits on top ( had to hammer it on ) and then tighten the nut from the bottom of the base, it actually compressed the sleeve and pushed the petg plastic sleeve outwards and further tightened the piston/sleeve onto the pipe. needless to say, it wasn't going anywhere. the marks on the plastic are when i was partially test fitting the pipe on. you can see how much the inner pipe rubbed off on it.
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measuring the hols on the tomcat mount, and also my very first ever attempt at welding. the plate onto the pipe.
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here it is all assembled, and painted. i even drilled and threaded the pipe to add 2 bolts on the bottom of the pipe to make sure there was absolutely no play of the base to pipe. bolts painted afterwards.
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here's the final product plus new locking castors purchased from amazon in a very messy garage. i was initially going to make a a smaller inner pipe sleeve that i would attach to the plate that i could use to adjust the machine height up and down, but i just cut to height and i was happy with it. i could always go back and do it later on if i want.
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i'll post the tool and reel holder next post.
 
DIY# 2 tool holder

I designed and 3d printed 2 trays, one for the badminton holder arms, rubber clamp 4 point ends and the calibration tool for tension. the other tray holds my needle nose pliers, 2 starting clamps, cutters, and the string cutters. the 3rd is the reel holder that sits on the end of the machine ( slides right in ) and is adjustable height that holds the reel while i'm pulling string. i have a nut in the plier tray and an only deep socket that i use against the frame with i'm doing the yonex method.

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2 trays on printer tray. clutter partially gone.
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reel holder
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TPU soft rubber replacement. Also 3d printed.
before ( hard plastic. had to over tighten because racquet was moving. Cosmetic damage on inside of my racquet :( notice the single point of contact and gap.
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After. dont mind the crappy print job. dont feel like making a cleaner one cause it works fine. also notice how it now arches around the racquet. it doesn't move at all and less force needed to clamp.
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old piece, new one mounted
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Why not just save on time and buy the ghost-2 machine?
Why stop there, why not a Yonex precision 9?
I think the OP has done a great job and apart from saving money the satisfaction of repurposing old parts and making a custom solution with your own hands cannot be overestimated.

I do wonder though about the stability as the chair looks like a fairly narrow base for that machine.
 
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I like the mods and the 3D printed items. PETG or PLA+ with 100% in-fill may’ve worked better on the billiards vice TPU, but good mods. Did you create the stl files for the trays, etc?
 
I like the mods and the 3D printed items. PETG or PLA+ with 100% in-fill may’ve worked better on the billiards vice TPU, but good mods. Did you create the stl files for the trays, etc?
thanks. i created them myself based on what tools i had.

here's the normal clamp bumper design in TPU, and i created an extended version as well for those over sized racquets that the clamp cant reach.
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Why stop there, why not a Yonex precision 9?
I think the OP has done a great job and apart from saving money the satisfaction of repurposing old parts and making a custom solution with your own hands cannot be overestimated.

I do wonder though about the stability as the chair looks like a fairly narrow base for that machine.
surprisingly, the base is super stable. i questioned it as well, but i started comparing the bases of other lower end machines and found that the chair base may actually be wider, and 5 point legs being superior to the 4 point legs. Love the castors with brakes as well. i postioned one of the legs directly towards me so it can make pulling towards me much more stable such as the starting and ending knots.

compare my picture #4 which is the base with stinger mount all assembled vs the tomcat base stand.
base.jpg
 
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i have an older cr10s with hemera head running marlin. and my new printer is the ratrig vcore 3.0 500x500 with hemera revo head, running klipper. i use the latest cura. i tried orca but it seems to add gcode to every print forcing the bed levelling. rather than troubleshoot the slicer, i went back to what i know best.
 
i have an older cr10s with hemera head running marlin. and my new printer is the ratrig vcore 3.0 500x500 with hemera revo head, running klipper. i use the latest cura. i tried orca but it seems to add gcode to every print forcing the bed levelling. rather than troubleshoot the slicer, i went back to what i know best.
I’ve got a CR10S Pro as well…pretty good machine.
 
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I’ve got a CR10 Pro as well…pretty good machine.
I bought it over 10 years ago. lots of upgrades on it. Back then, 300x300 bed was on the larger side. pretty bullet proof. Wife saying he'll use it once then its a paper weight. proved her wrong and got an even bigger headache. the vcore. lol
 
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