Original rubber setup

I was looking at some rubber cut outs I have lying around and wondering if anyone has thought about making a "racket covering" from parallel strips of rubber(s) of the same thickness glued side by side. They could be the same brand or different.

One potential advantage would be different and unpredictable trajectories of the ball from the same face depending which area you hit with [emoji48] There's nothing that specifically forbids it in the ITTF rules that I can see.
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As I know, it's kinda normal (in Russia at least) to make rubbers for children in small table tennis clubs from rubber cuts leftovers, thouse clubs mostly free of charge for children, and they just don't have money to buy even chepest rubbers... Of course it's mostly for little children when they only starting to learn table tennis...

Something like this:
Фото0003.jpg
 
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As I know, it's kinda normal (in Russia at least) to make rubbers for children in small table tennis clubs from rubber cuts leftovers, thouse clubs mostly free of charge for children, and they just don't have money to buy even chepest rubbers... Of course it's mostly for little children when they only starting to learn table tennis...

Something like this:
View attachment 19136

Wow, that's some precision engineering :) and I fully understand why it is done.. Still one question -if the ball hits the cut line, how the ball bounces back? ~normally or in some unpredictable way?
 
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JST

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Forgive me for missing the obvious part. What makes it illegal?
covering must be continuous, see ITTF handbook (Table Tennis rules) chapter 2.4.5:

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.

Also how you would prove your rubber is certified and listed in LARC?

https://www.ittf.com/handbook/
 

JST

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Back to the topic: I've seen it in 90s in very low leagues in my country to "pro-long" the live of the rubber (meaning ability to spin the ball) by cutting the oval shape in the center of the rubber and gluing it up side down while leaving the rest on the bat (so the area with most hits were little bit outside the sweet spot and you could play better spin again). Still seen rarely nowadays... I personally don't care much, unless the ball comes back from opponents bat unpredictably I can play my game;)
 
covering must be continuous, see ITTF handbook (Table Tennis rules) chapter 2.4.5:

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.

Also how you would prove your rubber is certified and listed in LARC?

https://www.ittf.com/handbook/
Thanks for pointing it out, I am familiar with it and I could argue that "continuous" is an ambiguous term. In that respect the surface of a pimples out rubber is also not continuous.
 
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JST

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Thanks for pointing it out, I am familiar with it and I could argue that "continuous" is an ambiguous term. In that respect the surface of a pimples out rubber is also not continuous.

I'm afraid there is nothing to argue: even inverted rubber isn't continuous layer if you would call pimples out, they are just on inner side;) If you read the rule carefully it calls out all the layers, not just the top one although if I understand LARC correctly certification applies only to the top layer). Simply accept that continuous in the language of ITTF rules and Material Committee means one sheet of some rubber without any cut. You can (and must) cut it on the edge of your blade but that's it, not in the middle. Sorry but this isn't something you can decide by the argument on the internet forum, this is simply rule accepted by all associations even before the era of black/red color rule, speed glue bands etc.;) Try to ask any certified referee in your club or at tournament near you.
 
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Back to the topic: I've seen it in 90s in very low leagues in my country to "pro-long" the live of the rubber (meaning ability to spin the ball) by cutting the oval shape in the center of the rubber and gluing it up side down while leaving the rest on the bat (so the area with most hits were little bit outside the sweet spot and you could play better spin again). Still seen rarely nowadays... I personally don't care much, unless the ball comes back from opponents bat unpredictably I can play my game;)

what? :confused: :D
 
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