How to glue rubbers on Stiga NCT blades

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Hi guys, i need your expert advice regarding my blade and how to correctly glue the rubbers.

I've recently purchased a Stiga Rosewood XO, which comes with the NCT coating of the blade surface. I've heard before that the surface is too 'shiny', resulting in difficulty for the rubbers to stick on the blade. I decided to test glue my rubbers normally at first, using a rather thick glue (made by a custom blade company called Soulspin), with two layers on the rubber and one on the blade. I also used a press for about 5-6 hours.

The same night i used my new blade to practice, only for the forehand rubber (a Tibhar Evolution mxp) to peel off in the bottom right corner, for about 1/5 of the width of the blade, after just half an hour.

Now i have to reglue my rubber. Some suggest that you have to lightly sand the surface of the blade for the glue to work effectively, but i would prefer to avoid that solution, partly because i think that the nct coating has its role in the blade performance and partly because i feel bad about sanding a blade that pretty! :eek:

So, do i use a different glue or is there another trick i should do to glue the rubbers effectively, or do i have to accept the fact that i should sand the surface?

I know Dan is Stiga sponsored, and we also have Yogi_bear who tests Stiga equipment on the forum, your experience guys on the matter would be extremely helpful!

Thanks in advance!

 
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I use to play with a Stiga Rosewood V Cpen that had a similar problem, I had the same desire to avoid sanding but found that after 10-20 hours of intense play some part of my FH rubber (remember I was Cpen so I was using FH side much more than BH) always started to come apart. I found that actually after gluing and regluing the same rubber 2-3 times the problem simply went away, it also helped for me to apply 2 layers to rubber (with particular emphasis to the edge of the rubber for the second layer) and one layer to blade (same as you I think). However, whenever I put on a new rubber the same problem appeared. Eventually after more than half a year I sanded it and yeah it wasn't especially pretty but it worked...old or new rubbers stayed on. I sealed the blade first with just standard hair spray and then sanded it with coarse and then fine sandpaper.

I am pretty sure you might find something similar with Rosewood XO, btw my friend has this and it's a beauty of a wooden blade, in retrospect I wish I had bought that instead of Rosewood V but anyway :)
 
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Hi Giorgos! I had the same problem myself when I first purchased an NCT blade 2,5 years ago. It was a Rosewood V and I could not get the rubbers (Tibhar Aurus Soft 2.1) to stick properly. They were coming off during the first practice after the glueing. I lightly sanded the blade and the problem was solved, but then I actually never played with it, since I felt I somehow ruined the blade. This summer I gave NCT blades another try. I got two Intensity NCT blades and I had no problems in glueing my rubbers on both of them. I also use 2 layers on the rubber and one on the blade, but what made the difference and what I think that works is that the glue layer on the blade is pretty thick; evenly spread but pretty thick so that when you attach the rubbers the glue is transparent but still shining on the blade. I used BTY Free Chalk for one blade and Donic Vario Clean for the other with equally good results.
P.S.: Although myself felt I kind of altered the blade by lightly sanding it, I think that it is just in my mind cause every now and then I practice with my Rosewood and it plays beautifully. So if nothing else works, lightly sand it with the finest sandpaper there is and you will be fine. But only as an ultimate solution I recommend that.
 
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I also had this problem with my racket but I think that it could have also been because it was my first time glueing the rubber onto the blade. I didn't have any Problems with my FH rubber but my BH rubber started coming off at the sides and then I just reglued it. It seems to work just fine now. I also used Free Chack.
 
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Use Donic Formula First glue

this is a very strong glue and Im sure your rubbers wont come off

I did it with my Stiga Intensity NCT and Allround NCT and it was even difficult to get the rubbers off.

First time when I used butterfly free check. I hit the table when playing a short push and after the rally I noticed that my rubber was detached amost completely. And I was able to peel off my other rubber without any effort.

But with donic formula first it doesnt come off easily. when peeling off the rubber some parts of the sponge where still stuck on the blade so I wouldnt recommend this glue is you want to use the rubbers on different blades. To just test them out because the chance that the sponge will break is big.
 
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The common thing is that all of us who have Rosewood NCT blades had problems. Maybe it's the Rosewood+NCT combination. Perhaps Rosewood is too dense itself.

+1 with what dio_hgw said

Besides Rosewood NCT V I have used Stiga Offensive NCT and Intensity NCT and yeah no problems with rubber coming off there with similar gluing techniques. Also I remember when I had the Rosewood NCT I was using Butterfly free chack as well. Now I use Donic Vario (although I haven't had to glue another Stiga NCT blade so its hard to compare which gives better bond)
 
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Thanks for all the tips. Friends of mine had the same problem both with Ebenholz and Maplewood blades, so i don't think it's just the Rosewood.

Anyway, i'd like to hear what's the official opinion from Stiga about this, i don't think Xu Xin has to sand his bladefor the rubbers to stick! :p:D

Joking aside, i fear that they'll just tell me to use their own glue. Has anybody tried that one?

For now i reglued the rubber using Butterfly free chack, applying a nice thick layer on the blade as suggested. I won't get the chance to play till Sunday so we'll see how that goes..
 
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Thanks for all the tips. Friends of mine had the same problem both with Ebenholz and Maplewood blades, so i don't think it's just the Rosewood.

Anyway, i'd like to hear what's the official opinion from Stiga about this, i don't think Xu Xin has to sand his bladefor the rubbers to stick! :p:D

Joking aside, i fear that they'll just tell me to use their own glue. Has anybody tried that one?

For now i reglued the rubber using Butterfly free chack, applying a nice thick layer on the blade as suggested. I won't get the chance to play till Sunday so we'll see how that goes..
So, did you play yesterday? Was everything ok with the rubber-glueing?
 
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If you sand the blade only with a fine sandpaper(n.500~800) the blade will not be ruined and the problem will be solved.Be careful to sand to the wood lines direction only and not circular or vertical!
 
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This problem happens often with certain surfaces that are not rough and porous (I remember the nexy Calix being one son of a gun to glue a new rubber)

Also, if you were to over-eager sealing the blade, you get a slick coat there and gluing is 3x more difficult.

The ways to deal with it are....

- use different blade

You prolly don't like that one

- sand down the coating a bit, especially around the edges

You prolly do not like that even more

- use a few coats of glue, then glue it on, wait a bit, take it off, and re-glue with a few coats.

Sometimes, you have to re-glue up to 3 times to get it right, even with a press or careful placement of heavy books overnight


These are the joys you experience as you mess around with more equipment, or fix up stuff for others. You will learn fast enough what works and sometimes, failing where the costs are low is a good way to gain experience.
 
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