The inside view, design, and construction of factory blades that come to us for repair

[Egon]

Hello everyone! Since we receive many blades of various designs for repair, I'd like to share with you their photos and factual technical specifications. We also sometimes have questions about why the manufacturer designed something the way it did. Perhaps you guys have some insights. Well, let's go!
This is what ALC looks like

 

[kapahoo]

Great!

 

[Egon]

We received a W968 blade for repair with a crack in the handle. We repaired it, but during the repair process, we discovered a 0.4 mm misalignment in the blade thickness! That's a lot. Near the handle, the blade is 5.5 mm thick (measured outside the repair area), and near the edge, it's 5.9 mm. We reported this discovery to the owner of the blade, and he suggested that this was intentional by the manufacturer to increase flexibility and improve striking power.
What do you think?
Blade Parameters:.
Head Size - 149х159 mm
Weight - 89 grams
Thickness - 5.5/5.9 mm
Chord - 86 mm
Handle - Fl 101 mm in length, there are no cavities in the handle
Frequency - 1312 Hz

 

[Julzig]

Amazing insights, would welcome more of this!

I guess the explanation of it beeing more flexible this way would make sense I guess, but would create a weak point. First time I heard of this though.

 

[Lando]

That's pretty cool!

 

[Wakkibatty]

We received a W968 blade for repair with a crack in the handle. We repaired it, but during the repair process, we discovered a 0.4 mm misalignment in the blade thickness! That's a lot. Near the handle, the blade is 5.5 mm thick (measured outside the repair area), and near the edge, it's 5.9 mm. We reported this discovery to the owner of the blade, and he suggested that this was intentional by the manufacturer to increase flexibility and improve striking power.
What do you think?
Blade Parameters:.
Head Size - 149х159 mm
Weight - 89 grams
Thickness - 5.5/5.9 mm
Chord - 86 mm
Handle - Fl 101 mm in length, there are no cavities in the handle
Frequency - 1312 Hz
View attachment 40290

Very much doubt it's a deliberate feature of the blade, as that would put it in breach of ITTF regulations. Under regs, blade panels have to be of one even thickness all the way through. 🤨

A deliberate 0.4mm variance repeated through every mass produced blade would make it both an illegal design and ineligible for international competition. It might however explain the stupid amounts of flex they have.

 

[Julzig]

It just has to be flat and rigid. Both are given

 

[Wakkibatty]

It just has to be flat and rigid. Both are given

I know where you're coming from with that, but I'm sorry to inform you... that's actually a common misconception.
The whole "level and flat" thing comes from Rule 2.4.1 and a lot of folks just stop reading there.

When describing the make-up and construction of a blade at Rule 2.4.4 however, the ITTF expands on their definition statement, stating:

"The blade, any layer within the blade and any layer of covering material or adhesive on a side used for striking the ball shall be continuous and of even thickness"

In order to enforce this rule, a few months back the ITTF changed the rules to allow racket inspection officials to disassemble a player's blade immediately after a match if necessary. Apparently a few players were partially sanding the outer layers of their blade near the handle, to ensure their illegally boosted rubbers still passed bat inspection procedures.

Rule 2.4.4 is also part of the reason why Butterfly had to stop making the original Defense Alpha. That blade has a standard symmetrical 5-ply handle, but most of the playing surface itself was three ply with an extra thick willow core.

 

[Julzig]

I know where you're coming from with that, but I'm sorry to inform you... that's actually a common misconception.
The whole "level and flat" thing comes from Rule 2.4.1 and a lot of folks just stop reading there.

When describing the make-up and construction of a blade at Rule 2.4.4 however, the ITTF expands on their definition statement, stating:

"The blade, any layer within the blade and any layer of covering material or adhesive on a side used for striking the ball shall be continuous and of even thickness"

In order to enforce this rule, a few months back the ITTF changed the rules to allow racket inspection officials to disassemble a player's blade immediately after a match if necessary. Apparently a few players were partially sanding the outer layers of their blade near the handle, to ensure their illegally boosted rubbers still passed bat inspection procedures.

Rule 2.4.4 is also part of the reason why Butterfly had to stop making the original Defense Alpha. That blade has a standard symmetrical 5-ply handle, but most of the playing surface itself was three ply with an extra thick willow core.

Yes you are right I stopped after 2.4.1 once they started talking about rubbers
Thanks for clearing things up

 

[Egon]

This time, the Butterfly Timo Boll W5 blade with a broken handle came in for repair. Most Butterfly blades I've seen don't have cavities in the handles, but not this time. The cavity is very large and takes up most of the blade, leaving almost no body. The fracture occurred in this weak spot. During the repair, to ensure that everything worked reliably, we had to reinforce this area, so the total weight increased by 1.5 grams.

Blade Parameters:
5-ply - koto/limba/ayous/limba/koto
Head Size - 150х157 mm
Weight - 87 grams
Thickness - 5.65 mm
Chord - 86 mm
Handle - Fl 100 mm, there is huge cavitie in the handle
Frequency - 1230 Hz

 

[Egon]

I've been struggling with a question for a long time. Maybe you guys can help me with it.
We often receive the popular Viscaria blades for repair. I always thought they should all be made to the same standard and have the same geometric dimensions. But that's not actually the case. All the blades we've received for repair have different blade thicknesses!
For example, 5.6mm, 5.74mm, 5.8mm, and so on. Honestly, I've never encountered blades with identical thicknesses.
Blade thickness directly impacts the speed, flexibility, and feel of the blade in play. All these blades are similar, but they perform differently. Moreover, we recently received a Viscaria with a 90 mm chord instead of the standard 86 mm. Can anyone tell me why this is happening?

 

[kapahoo]

This is the best thread!

Sorry, no idea why the Viscarias differ but perhaps slight changes in production over the years? Been around a long time after all.
Whats the chord of the blade?

 

[Egon]

This is the best thread!

Sorry, no idea why the Viscarias differ but perhaps slight changes in production over the years? Been around a long time after all.
Whats the chord of the blade?

The chord is the width of the blade at the end of the handle. The smaller the chord, the more the blade bends, and conversely, the larger the chord, the less the blade can bend. Changing this parameter by a few millimeters can greatly affect the playing properties of the blade.

 

[Egon]

This is the best thread!

Sorry, no idea why the Viscarias differ but perhaps slight changes in production over the years? Been around a long time after all.
Whats the chord of the blade?

By the way, I once got my hands on a Mishima Viscaria clone. That blade was incredibly stiff and extremely difficult to spin, but the blocks were like reinforced concrete . So we reduced the chord from 92 to 89 mm, and it became much more enjoyable to spin.

 

[Lazer]

By the way, I once got my hands on a Mishima Viscaria clone. That blade was incredibly stiff and extremely difficult to spin, but the blocks were like reinforced concrete . So we reduced the chord from 92 to 89 mm, and it became much more enjoyable to spin.

Interesting, hmm, it makes sense maybe something to try on super stiff blades…

Cheers
L-zr

 

[kapahoo]

The chord is the width of the blade at the end of the handle. The smaller the chord, the more the blade bends, and conversely, the larger the chord, the less the blade can bend. Changing this parameter by a few millimeters can greatly affect the playing properties of the blade.
View attachment 40602

Thanks!
I suppose this can be changed by cutting a piece of the handles as well as sanding a bit on the blade?

 

[lodro]

Interesting, hmm, it makes sense maybe something to try on super stiff blades…

Cheers
L-zr

Exactly my thought . I played a brand new 9 layer hinoki blade from Kokutaku last week and if feels like it has been cast from concrete. Out commet the Dremel tool

 

[piligrim]

Exactly my thought . I played a brand new 9 layer hinoki blade from Kokutaku last week and if feels like it has been cast from concrete. Out commet the Dremel tool

Now you know what to do ))

 

[belllfador]

By the way, I once got my hands on a Mishima Viscaria clone. That blade was incredibly stiff and extremely difficult to spin, but the blocks were like reinforced concrete . So we reduced the chord from 92 to 89 mm, and it became much more enjoyable to spin.

From my experience, just removing the edges below the chord makes the blade 20Hz slower and a little more flexible. Other solutions are change of the handle, like Victas Award Offensive or cutting channels above the handle, like Yasaka Gatien Extra 3D. Award Offensive handle change one of my blades from 1200Hz to 1050Hz, was too much flex, but fun to play.

 

[ShakehandJpenCpenEnjoyer]

Oh wow... I need to be careful when sanding cpen blades...