Loki's QC?

[TensorBackhand]

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Loki 2024 New Arrival K3 Rubber Table Tennis 37 Hardness Non-sticky Ping Pong Racket Rubber With Black Negh Sponge - Buy Ping Pong Racket Rubber table Tennis Rubber rubber Table Tennis Product on Alibaba.com

www.alibaba.com

I stumbled upon this video of the Loki factory testing the sponge hardness of their rubbers.

Loki has the absolute most inconsistent sponge hardness of any brand I have ever seen. So it surprises me that they could miss the hardness that badly if they test the rubber.

 

[Zwill]

Depends on their standards. For example if they state the sponge is 40 degrees however anything between 35 and 45 is ok according to their standard then it's withing their spec and acceptable. Of course assuming they actually test... Not every promo video is reflecting reality.
For tighter tolerances some companies charge more, you can say DHS does that openly. But Butterfly does the same too in a way, only that their base tolerances are very tight to begin with.

 

[Grumms]

Loki 2024 New Arrival K3 Rubber Table Tennis 37 Hardness Non-sticky Ping Pong Racket Rubber With Black Negh Sponge - Buy Ping Pong Racket Rubber table Tennis Rubber rubber Table Tennis Product on Alibaba.com

Loki 2024 New Arrival K3 Rubber Table Tennis 37 Hardness Non-sticky Ping Pong Racket Rubber With Black Negh Sponge - Buy Ping Pong Racket Rubber table Tennis Rubber rubber Table Tennis Product on Alibaba.com

www.alibaba.com

I stumbled upon this video of the Loki factory testing the sponge hardness of their rubbers.

Loki has the absolute most inconsistent sponge hardness of any brand I have ever seen. So it surprises me that they could miss the hardness that badly if they test the rubber.

8 LAC for me, and never more or less than 46/47º, that is pretty consistent.

 

[TensorBackhand]

Depends on their standards. For example if they state the sponge is 40 degrees however anything between 35 and 45 is ok according to their standard then it's withing their spec and acceptable. Of course assuming they actually test... Not every promo video is reflecting reality.
For tighter tolerances some companies charge more, you can say DHS does that openly. But Butterfly does the same too in a way, only that their base tolerances are very tight to begin with.

I've had several Rxton 5, and the hardnesses were all over the place ranging from 41d to 36d. Had Rxton 3 Pro, one soft and one hard.

Had 40d Rxton 7 that felt much softer.

I like their rubbers and prices, but I just hate that the hardness isn't accurate.

 

[Lazer]

....

I like their rubbers and prices, but I just hate that the hardness isn't accurate.

, Its just that...
To be cheap You have to cut the cost somewhere...

Cheers
L-zr

 

[Zwill]

I've had several Rxton 5, and the hardnesses were all over the place ranging from 41d to 36d. Had Rxton 3 Pro, one soft and one hard.

Had 40d Rxton 7 that felt much softer.

I like their rubbers and prices, but I just hate that the hardness isn't accurate.

Yeah, it sucks but what can you do? Loki is obviously a budget oriented brand so far. Maybe later they will change. If you can find these rubbers in physical store you could measure the weight of each sheet. That should indicate sponge density somewhat.

 

[TensorBackhand]

, Its just that...
To be cheap You have to cut the cost somewhere...

Cheers
L-zr

Well i wish they could at least label the hardness of the rubbers. They claim they measure the hardness of each rubber.

Why not separate them into 40d, 39d, 38d etc.

 

[Tyce]

I'll try to be more fair to Loki here. They seem to be much better in QC on their premium lines (Telson, Arthur) than they do on the budget (Rxton) and super cheap (Kirin) products.

"measure the hardness" of course is just as empty a claim as "dermatologically tested" as it tells you nothing about the testing methods, tolerance or even whether a product actually failed the test or not. You can push your finger into it and call it a test.

 

[haggisv]

It's hard to test for hardness once they're packaged, but they could weigh them to catagorise them, as softer sponges are lighter. It won't be accurate, but if they could just label them as soft, medium and hard, it will give customers some indication at least.

 

[The0rigina1]

I've been playing the Rxton 1 for about 4-6 months now and it's been amazing. It's only 15 RMB (around 2 USD) and at this point, what more do you ask for lol

 

[Grumms]

Mesure all the brands and you'll be surprised. My Bluegrip S1 is 42° instead of 47°, Xiom Vega Europe H is 43° instead of 45, Battle III 38°A is 50°C instead of 46-48, etc... You should not pretend a rubber is X° if you did not measure it. "Feels" means nothing, your sense can be wronged, and even the hour of the day can change your feel.

 

[Zwill]

The hour of the day can change the hardness of the sponge and rubber. Tho I wouldn't blame it on the hour but on the temp changes during the day.

 

[suds79]

Mesure all the brands and you'll be surprised. My Bluegrip S1 is 42° instead of 47°, Xiom Vega Europe H is 43° instead of 45, Battle III 38°A is 50°C instead of 46-48, etc... You should not pretend a rubber is X° if you did not measure it. "Feels" means nothing, your sense can be wronged, and even the hour of the day can change your feel.

I think this is a great point. It would be interesting to see how much variance there is of the same rubber, cheap or not from brand to brand.

But the main thing I agree with is, and I don't know if the OP is doing this or not, but I don't think we can definitively say sponge is "X" soft, medium or hard if we're not using a tool to measure it.

This isn't to say when we hit with a rubber we don't have a general feel of how a rubber feels to us. One might say "this rubber strikes me as medium" for example. But we have to admit this is subjective. Another person could hit with it and say "Nah that's soft actually."

 

[igorponger]

STANDARD TESTING PROCEDURE ON SANDWICH RUBBERS (Shore durometer).

- YouTube

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A certain preliminary works are needed for adequate testings on table tennis rubber. Be sure you get a properly THICK piece of sponge about 6 millimeters by thickness. Otherwise you get resulting aberrance far from the true hardness. Just use some backing rubber sheet underneath.'
______________
Be erudite of everything

Sample Size and Thickness:
Ensure the sample is at least 6 mm thick. If the sample is thinner, it should be backed with a similar rubber material to achieve the necessary thickness. This prevents the base from influencing the hardness measurement.
For thinner materials use Micro Hardness testing such as Shore A Micro or IRHD Micro
The surface area of the sample should be large enough to avoid edge effects. A recommended size is 40mm x 40 mm or ~45mm diameter, although larger samples are preferred to distribute the test points evenly.

For more detailed guidelines and industry standards, consult the specific ASTM or ISO standards relevant to your testing needs.

Rubber Durometer Measurement

Blair Rubber offers insights about rubber hardness and provides a fresh perspective about the term durometer.

blairrubber.com

 

[TensorBackhand]

I think this is a great point. It would be interesting to see how much variance there is of the same rubber, cheap or not from brand to brand.

But the main thing I agree with is, and I don't know if the OP is doing this or not, but I don't think we can definitively say sponge is "X" soft, medium or hard if we're not using a tool to measure it.

View attachment 36717

This isn't to say when we hit with a rubber we don't have a general feel of how a rubber feels to us. One might say "this rubber strikes me as medium" for example. But we have to admit this is subjective. Another person could hit with it and say "Nah that's soft actually."

Yes i do use the durometer to measure.

But im also experienced enough that I can just push the rubber and know if its dramatically off from the expected spec.

Rxton 5 is supposed to be very hard, but it often comes in softer than rxton 1 or 3.