So I get into stringing my own rackets with a dropweight machine. Only strung my second racket so far. First racket (3 hours) with some major issues (loosing tension, skipped crosses etc) , second racket (2h 10 mins) without too many workflow misstakes and without (obvious) errors, surving even the first 2h session. But the issue is, that I seem to skip a lot of crosses ( under- over-under-under-over etc.), so when I strung my second racket I checked every cross before applying the tension. This is very time consuming. So, are there any tips or tools which helps you to speed up checking the correctness of the crosses ?
First of all, it's mostly a matter of routine. The more rackets you string, the more it becomes second nature to get the weaving done correctly (most of the times at least) and then to see weaving mistakes quickly as you move on to the next string. What helped me a lot to reduce weaving mistakes is to weave the crosses one-ahead: Not only does it make the weaving easier and faster, it's also less likely to get the weaving wrong since all the strings are already aligned correctly while doing the weaving. One thing is for sure though - there will always be a certain chance of getting a misweave in at some point. The key is to notice them before you've finished the job.
Simple shortcut to check: check the first and last weave. if you start under and end under it is misweaved by skipping one. same for start over and end over. just work for one skipped cross. If you skip two it don't work anymore but might help for your case to speed it up. If anybody makes a stringing video (again) I want credits for my hints.
What @s_mair said, you will notice a big difference in weaving hard or soft. Always weave soft. Also, when you start the cross weaving under, you should probably end weaving over. Always the opposite, also the opposite of the string next to the current one, you can check when inserting into the grommet. The chance of weaving wrong twice in one cross without noticing is pretty low.
Stop every five or six crosses and look down a diagonal - misweaves stand out like a baboon's arse on the diagonal.
