Rubber warmer by Donic

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too bad this is forbidden according to ITTF rules

"Rule 2.4.7: The covering material should be used as it has been authorised by the ITTF without any physical, chemical or other treatment, changing or modifying playing properties, friction, outlook, colour, structure, surface, etc."

i really think it makes a difference
 
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too bad this is forbidden according to ITTF rules

"Rule 2.4.7: The covering material should be used as it has been authorised by the ITTF without any physical, chemical or other treatment, changing or modifying playing properties, friction, outlook, colour, structure, surface, etc."

i really think it makes a difference

I know, but this is just another meaningless rule that's IMPOSSIBLE to enforce properly PLUS people in warm countries would have an advantage towards those coming from colder areas of our beautiful planet, 'cause their rubbers last longer.
Some players even put their racket or the whole racket case close to the heating to warm up their rubbers or even leave their racket in the sun for a moment. How do you wanna control that?
[EMOJI6]
So this rule is IMHO just bollocks and needs to be eradicated ASAP!
 
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Tried it the other day and it does make huge difference. Almost felt like the rubber was boosted. Probably more so because it was 3 degrees outside and my rubber was as hard as a brick. Difference is not as noticeable when it was used for the rubber which was left in warm room temperature.

One of the advantage it has is that you'll be using a rubber with consistent bounce every time.

It's pretty expensive as I said earlier. Almost $100 per sheet. I only play couple times a month so I'm still not sure if I'll buy one in the end.
 
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too bad this is forbidden according to ITTF rules

"Rule 2.4.7: The covering material should be used as it has been authorised by the ITTF without any physical, chemical or other treatment, changing or modifying playing properties, friction, outlook, colour, structure, surface, etc."

i really think it makes a difference

Donic Sales person said that they already consulted top umpires in Japan and said it won't be considered as modification of the covering material. Warming it up to 40 degrees is not outside of the norm they said.
 
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too bad this is forbidden according to ITTF rules

"Rule 2.4.7: The covering material should be used as it has been authorised by the ITTF without any physical, chemical or other treatment, changing or modifying playing properties, friction, outlook, colour, structure, surface, etc."

i really think it makes a difference

This rule makes it illegal to clean your rubber by any method, even a damp cloth. With any of those procedures, you are using water (or a cleaner) to solubilize materials that have landed on your rubber surface (a chemical procedure) and you are using the mechanical force (a physical treatment) of a cloth or sponge to facilitate removal of things that are on the surface of the rubber. And a clean rubber makes a difference. Some cleaners probably have other effects on the topsheet.

Obviously that is not something anyone really intends. After all you are just restoring your rubber and sponge to it's initial condition, aren't you? Ok, let's see where that leads us.

Restoring the initial condition is actually what people would be doing if they added booster to an old sheet of, say, MX-P; or by rapidly bringing a rubber up to a reasonable temperature (perhaps that of the factory) on a cold day in, say, Sweden. This is because as a rubber ages, it moves farther and farther away from the condition the samples authorized by ITTF were in. Would not a player actually have an obligation to boost some older rubbers so as to maintain them in the same condition (physical or chemical state) that was authorized by ITTF?

Also, we hear a lot about different pro players getting their own slightly different sponge hardness custom made for them. Isn't that illegal, since the ITTF does not separately review every subtle difference? On the ITTF LARC you can find the approval for Hurricane Whatever, which maybe ITTF checked out with a 47 degree sponge. But maybe Ma Long gets his Hurricane Whatever made for him with a 48 degree sponge (because he is Ma Long and DHS makes rubbers specifically for the CNT). Clearly illegal.

So we see where the ITTF has brought us with their absurd rules. I am just showing where an extremely literal interpretation of those rules would get you.
 
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Donic Sales person said that they already consulted top umpires in Japan and said it won't be considered as modification of the covering material. Warming it up to 40 degrees is not outside of the norm they said.

I think this is the only sane decision but of course one so inclined could argue that this is only true if the playing hall is 40 degrees (some days it feels like that here in Houston), or maybe the place where ITTF authorizes racket coverings is 40 degrees.
 
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This rule makes it illegal to clean your rubber by any method, even a damp cloth. With any of those procedures, you are using water (or a cleaner) to solubilize materials that have landed on your rubber surface (a chemical procedure) and you are using the mechanical force (a physical treatment) of a cloth or sponge to facilitate removal of things that are on the surface of the rubber. And a clean rubber makes a difference. Some cleaners probably have other effects on the topsheet.

Obviously that is not something anyone really intends. After all you are just restoring your rubber and sponge to it's initial condition, aren't you? Ok, let's see where that leads us.

Restoring the initial condition is actually what people would be doing if they added booster to an old sheet of, say, MX-P; or by rapidly bringing a rubber up to a reasonable temperature (perhaps that of the factory) on a cold day in, say, Sweden. This is because as a rubber ages, it moves farther and farther away from the condition the samples authorized by ITTF were in. Would not a player actually have an obligation to boost some older rubbers so as to maintain them in the same condition (physical or chemical state) that was authorized by ITTF?

Also, we hear a lot about different pro players getting their own slightly different sponge hardness custom made for them. Isn't that illegal, since the ITTF does not separately review every subtle difference? On the ITTF LARC you can find the approval for Hurricane Whatever, which maybe ITTF checked out with a 47 degree sponge. But maybe Ma Long gets his Hurricane Whatever made for him with a 48 degree sponge (because he is Ma Long and DHS makes rubbers specifically for the CNT). Clearly illegal.

So we see where the ITTF has brought us with their absurd rules. I am just showing where an extremely literal interpretation of those rules would get you.

Excellent! Very well spoken!
[Emoji106]
That's a very interesting point you raise and I totally agree.
Actually it would be interesting to see a player getting in trouble for that by some stubborn umpire and it all ends up in front of a law court.
I tend to believe with this argumentation that a good lawyer will be able to fight this through and win in the end.

Couldn't have said it any better! [EDIT: 'cause i had to use the edited version]
 
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regarding your sponge argument: only the topsheep has to be approved by ITTF, not the sponge itself.
 
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Fabian, I used to think that (and I believe it was true for many years but has changed recently). I was surprised when somebody here corrected me on that point not too long ago. They were right and I was wrong.

It turns out that the ITTF Technical Bulletin T4 from 2015 states this:

B. Quantitative Criteria
1.The racket covering

It should be noted in particular that:
Authorisation is given to the top sheet plus the top sheet / sponge combination. [emphasis added] Red and black top
sheets with the same ITTF number or supplier and brand name must have the same geometry, properties, and branding area(wording and numbering). The surface colours must be uniform. Red and black top sheets of the same brand do not require separate authorisation fees.


Around this time they also specified that packaging has to note the country of origin, starting this year.

Later the bulletin specifies a procedure for testing.


The supplier should submit the following to the address given under “Contact Person” on the ITTF

web site:

One top sheet sample of each colour without sponge.
One red racket covering with the thickest available sponge, in plastic retail packaging.
One black racket covering with the thickest available sponge in any colour, in plastic retail
packaging.

So if a player is using a rubber with a sponge that is not the same as the one submitted for testing ((i.e it is a different hardness) it is not the same as the one on LARC and is technically illegal. Of course, if it had been submitted, ITTF would approve it because they don't have specifications on sponge hardness or composition. They are presumably only concerned about max thickness being under the limit they specify. But nevertheless the fact remains that the rubber with a custom sponge would not be the one that was submitted for approval. Clearly they don't care, because they care about some things and not about others.

Still I give this as another example of where the inability of ITTF to write any sort of regulation without miles and miles of gray areas and ambiguities, not to mention things that can't be enforced. It really has hurt the sport.

The other thing I wonder, there may be some people who still buy topsheets and sponges separately. According to this bulletin, such a rubber would no longer be legal. This whole thing flew kind of underneath the radar, not many people have talked about it.
 
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I did read somewhere that the racket covering modification rule was introduced back in the days of anti long pimples. When it was banned people were trying to create anti long pimples by modifing the coverings. So if my memory's correct, the rule was to stop extreme modification of the surface (eg. baking sliver in the sun for a week to make it anti rubber).

Having said that, ITTF could turn around and say warming up the rubber intentionaly is illegal based on what is literaly written on the rule. But I don't think that's the intention.

As for the rubber/sponge testing, I guess that's for ITTF's convenience than anything else as testing for everly thickness of the sponge would make the process significantly longer. Besides, sponge manufacturing process is a lot like baking a cookie and it's very hard to make them in exact thickness/hardness(hence the thickness control in rubber manufacturing is done by baking sponge first, then choose the thickness of the top sheet so that the max thickness doesn't exceed 4.0mm) so there'll be a lot of rubber that cannot pass the ITTF test during the tournament.

I do hope ITTF tests for every type of sponges though as factory boosting is done there.
 
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I dont think banning rubber heaters is their intention. Either is banning people from cleaning their rubber with wzter and a sponge. They do want fo ban boosting. But they have writen the rule in a way that does not descriminate and taken literally bans all three. So some umpire in Japan says heating to 40 degrees is ok. I suppose that is reasonable but in fact there is nothing ITTF has ever written to suggest this (for example in the Guide for Match Officials). And it's all unenforceable. Maybe JTTA has their own rule.

So heat if you want to.
 
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Tried it the other day and it does make huge difference. Almost felt like the rubber was boosted. Probably more so because it was 3 degrees outside and my rubber was as hard as a brick. Difference is not as noticeable when it was used for the rubber which was left in warm room temperature.

One of the advantage it has is that you'll be using a rubber with consistent bounce every time.

It's pretty expensive as I said earlier. Almost $100 per sheet. I only play couple times a month so I'm still not sure if I'll buy one in the end.

I have a $25 solution (bought from Amazon a year ago) & works great in colder weather (just like boosting & the effect is pretty large): a USB heated shawl / blanket. It has 2 USB wires that you attach to a mobile charger. Wrap the racket (not handle) with the shawl, that’s it.
 
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go to the supermarket and buy a couple of packets of yellow split peas.
Heat the split peas in the micro wave . Check the temperature with a thermometer the first time so you will know
how long to heat to reach about 40C.
Fit the heated packs into your blade/ racket bag or wrap everything in a nice old shawl.

cost : about 3 bucks

Yes, you can also cook the peas, add a smoked bacon hock and get yourself a tasty soup........😁

Re. legality or illegality of things : Somebody tell ITTF to shut their faces and lodge a worldwide campaign to promote
LEGAL SERVING all the way down to provincial small club level. 😂
 
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go to the supermarket and buy a couple of packets of yellow split peas.
Heat the split peas in the micro wave . Check the temperature with a thermometer the first time so you will know
how long to heat to reach about 40C.
Fit the heated packs into your blade/ racket bag or wrap everything in a nice old shawl.

cost : about 3 bucks

Yes, you can also cook the peas, add a smoked bacon hock and get yourself a tasty soup........😁

Re. legality or illegality of things : Somebody tell ITTF to shut their faces and lodge a worldwide campaign to promote
LEGAL SERVING all the way down to provincial small club level. 😂
You can use the good old heat pad to achieve the same purpose.
 
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