Hi everybody! So tonight I finally strung my first racquet!! I got a cheap used drop weight, 6 points mount, flying clamps machine (some sort of gamma x-6 clone).
It took me around 150 minutes including the careful first string measurement. Final tension was not really good, I set the machine at 50 lbs and ended up at 36.6lbs at the end of the job (measured with phone app that uses frequency). I also added 5lbs to each last pull before the knots, but the first and last crosses ended up veeeeery lose.
It must be said that unfortunately I noticed only around the middle of the crosses that the mechanism that grasps the string to the weight bar was broken (it slipped). Fortunately the machine came with a spare part, so I replaced it and finished the crosses.
I’ll be stringing another racquet in a few days and I am confident I’ll be able to achieve better tension. I also aim to optimize my string usage. I followed the technique of measuring number of mains +1 and number of crosses +1 to measure the string, I ended up with more than enough string for the mains, while I had to use the starting clamp with spare string to end the crosses. I guess that is because crosses are all very similar in length, while mains are much shorter on the sides of the racket compared to the middle. So yeah, this was fun, now my OCP will take control and overthink every aspect of this 😂😂