Gluing rubbers to bats
Table Tennis Equipment
Last updated 10 years ago
John Wampler Asked 12 years ago
I have noticed that sometimes rubbers can shrink a little after being glued to the bat.
Why does this happen and how can I avoid this when replacing my rubbers?
Alois Rosario Answered 12 years ago
Hi John,
When you glue a rubber it tends to expand because of the properties of the glue. Therefore when the effect of the glue wears out the rubber goes back to its original size.
Try not to stretch the rubbers too much when putting them on. You could be a little generous when cutting them as well. You can't be too far outside the line of the bat because that would make it illegal but you can go a fraction, say 1mm outside.
Thoughts on this question
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John Bartolucci Posted 10 years ago
Hi Alois,
I know this is an old topic, but what J.W. describes happened to me just now. Last week I caught the edge of the table w. top of bat and the rubber got pulled away from the blade. The area without adhesion grew until I thought it was necessary to re-glue the entire sheet. Not sure if it happened when I removed the rubber or when I reset it after applying new glue layer, but it shrank quite a bit. I'm using Xiom Sigma II Europe. It is only 2 months since new.
I used Tibhar TopGlue, but I did not wait 15 minutes for glue to dry before re-applying the rubber. Is it possible that the wet glue interacted badly with the sponge? There's 1mm of blade edge exposed now in some places. Do you think I should replace the rubber or can I use it for a while longer? The rubber is pretty expensive but my primary concern is that the rubber will play differently now.
Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 10 years ago
You don't need to change your rubber. It will still play similarly.