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Hello fellow TTD'ers,
I would like to share my experiences so far with Copydex glue.
A short time ago I bought a Yasaka Sweden Extra blade with Yasaka Rakza 7 soft rubbers. That's gonna be my second blade ever, I started to play table tennis not that long ago. Since I expect to be playing many more years, building my own racket is something I'd like to learn. I ordered a bottle of Copydex, a nice amount of glue that leaves some room for experimenting. Since I don't have any experience with gluing rubbers yet, it seemed convenient to me to be able to easily remove the rubbers and peel off the glue in case of a failed glue job.
When it comes to Copydex - and gluing in general - there's a lot of different opinions. I gathered some information but realized I really had to do some experiments myself. The glue itself isn't too thick, but it seems to dry quite a bit faster than the dedicated table tennis glues. Diluting the glue would increase the drying time, so at first I diluted a little bit of glue in a 4 (glue) :1 (distilled water) ratio. The glue became pretty watery and after shaking the jar where I've diluted the glue in, pretty large bubbles appeared. I tried the glue on some pieces of plywood and the bond was pretty strong. Also, the increased drying time because of diluting the glue would give you enough time to apply an even layer of glue on the blade and rubbers. Anyway, I think in this ratio the glue is just too watery.
After that I made a small batch of the glue in a 10:1 ratio. Of course the glue became less runny than before, but after shaking again some (small) bubbles were formed on the surface. Again tested the glue on some plywood, strong bond again but it was a bit easier to peel off the glue after seperating the two pieces of plywood I've glued together. I found out some other waterbased glues also showed some bubbles after shaking the bottle. In this ratio I liked the glue more, so I decided to use it to glue the rubbers. Afterwards I also made a bit of glue in an 8:1 ratio, but that didn't seem to differ that much.
Then the gluing itself. I decided to apply 3 layers on the rubber and 2 layers on the blade. I used a small teaspoon to measure the amount of glue I applied each time. The first layer on the sponge took 3 teaspoons. In a 10:1 ratio you have plenty of time to apply the glue, no need to hurry because of drying too fast. The second and third layer took 2 teaspoons, I guess that's because on the first layer more glue got absorbed by the sponge. It was easy to spread the glue to get a nice, even layer.
Then the blade, that caused some troubles at the beginning. The first layer on the blade wasn't a problem, but the second layer caused some issues. I have a Yasaka Sweden Extra blade and on the side with the print on it, the glue started to clump at the letters 'EXTRA', despite the glue looking to be dried. I had to start over several times, but the last time I just waited longer to be sure. I ended up waiting like an hour before I applied the second layer, and that did the trick. I'm not entirely sure what exactly caused this, since only at 'EXTRA' it started to clump. At the last attempt, I also spreaded the glue in another direction (vertical), I'm not sure if that had anything to do with it. For your information, my blade is sealed with a very thin layer of Polyurethane. I don't expect the same issue with the other side since there's no print on it.
Because it took a while before I got the second layer applied to the blade, the rubber was resting for a while which caused the rubber to curl a bit. Not sure if this happens with other glues as well. Eventually I glued the rubber to the blade and it looked ok (I think). Unfortunately it isn't perfect. I haven't cut the rubber yet because I'm still considering to redo it. When it comes to things like this, minor flaws can annoy me. I used a roller for the rubber. On several video's I see people first completely laying down the rubber on the blade and then start to use the roller. I applied some pressure with the roller while laying down the rubber, I'm not sure which method has your preferences.
I think if the rubber could be put on the blade before it started to curl, it would have been better. Now I put some books on it, hopefully it can fix things a bit. I'll add a picture because I'm curious to your opinions.
I have noticed that it's better to put a little but too much glue on the blade/rubber than just not enough glue. If the layer is too thin and you keep continuing to spread the glue with a sponge, the glue starts to clump. If enough or a little bit too much glue, then you have time enough to spread it. If there's a bit too much glue on it, just use the other side of the sponge you use to apply the glue and the residue will be absorbed by it.
As you could read, I had to start over again several times. Removing the old glue is really easy. It can be peeled off in one piece. So in a 10:1 ratio, the glue isn't too watery to peel off at once.
Here's a picture of the glue job. I wonder if you would redo it if this was your result.
I know this is a long read, but hopefully some information is useful to you. Any tips whatsoever are more than welcome.
I would like to share my experiences so far with Copydex glue.
A short time ago I bought a Yasaka Sweden Extra blade with Yasaka Rakza 7 soft rubbers. That's gonna be my second blade ever, I started to play table tennis not that long ago. Since I expect to be playing many more years, building my own racket is something I'd like to learn. I ordered a bottle of Copydex, a nice amount of glue that leaves some room for experimenting. Since I don't have any experience with gluing rubbers yet, it seemed convenient to me to be able to easily remove the rubbers and peel off the glue in case of a failed glue job.
When it comes to Copydex - and gluing in general - there's a lot of different opinions. I gathered some information but realized I really had to do some experiments myself. The glue itself isn't too thick, but it seems to dry quite a bit faster than the dedicated table tennis glues. Diluting the glue would increase the drying time, so at first I diluted a little bit of glue in a 4 (glue) :1 (distilled water) ratio. The glue became pretty watery and after shaking the jar where I've diluted the glue in, pretty large bubbles appeared. I tried the glue on some pieces of plywood and the bond was pretty strong. Also, the increased drying time because of diluting the glue would give you enough time to apply an even layer of glue on the blade and rubbers. Anyway, I think in this ratio the glue is just too watery.
After that I made a small batch of the glue in a 10:1 ratio. Of course the glue became less runny than before, but after shaking again some (small) bubbles were formed on the surface. Again tested the glue on some plywood, strong bond again but it was a bit easier to peel off the glue after seperating the two pieces of plywood I've glued together. I found out some other waterbased glues also showed some bubbles after shaking the bottle. In this ratio I liked the glue more, so I decided to use it to glue the rubbers. Afterwards I also made a bit of glue in an 8:1 ratio, but that didn't seem to differ that much.
Then the gluing itself. I decided to apply 3 layers on the rubber and 2 layers on the blade. I used a small teaspoon to measure the amount of glue I applied each time. The first layer on the sponge took 3 teaspoons. In a 10:1 ratio you have plenty of time to apply the glue, no need to hurry because of drying too fast. The second and third layer took 2 teaspoons, I guess that's because on the first layer more glue got absorbed by the sponge. It was easy to spread the glue to get a nice, even layer.
Then the blade, that caused some troubles at the beginning. The first layer on the blade wasn't a problem, but the second layer caused some issues. I have a Yasaka Sweden Extra blade and on the side with the print on it, the glue started to clump at the letters 'EXTRA', despite the glue looking to be dried. I had to start over several times, but the last time I just waited longer to be sure. I ended up waiting like an hour before I applied the second layer, and that did the trick. I'm not entirely sure what exactly caused this, since only at 'EXTRA' it started to clump. At the last attempt, I also spreaded the glue in another direction (vertical), I'm not sure if that had anything to do with it. For your information, my blade is sealed with a very thin layer of Polyurethane. I don't expect the same issue with the other side since there's no print on it.
Because it took a while before I got the second layer applied to the blade, the rubber was resting for a while which caused the rubber to curl a bit. Not sure if this happens with other glues as well. Eventually I glued the rubber to the blade and it looked ok (I think). Unfortunately it isn't perfect. I haven't cut the rubber yet because I'm still considering to redo it. When it comes to things like this, minor flaws can annoy me. I used a roller for the rubber. On several video's I see people first completely laying down the rubber on the blade and then start to use the roller. I applied some pressure with the roller while laying down the rubber, I'm not sure which method has your preferences.
I think if the rubber could be put on the blade before it started to curl, it would have been better. Now I put some books on it, hopefully it can fix things a bit. I'll add a picture because I'm curious to your opinions.
I have noticed that it's better to put a little but too much glue on the blade/rubber than just not enough glue. If the layer is too thin and you keep continuing to spread the glue with a sponge, the glue starts to clump. If enough or a little bit too much glue, then you have time enough to spread it. If there's a bit too much glue on it, just use the other side of the sponge you use to apply the glue and the residue will be absorbed by it.
As you could read, I had to start over again several times. Removing the old glue is really easy. It can be peeled off in one piece. So in a 10:1 ratio, the glue isn't too watery to peel off at once.
Here's a picture of the glue job. I wonder if you would redo it if this was your result.
I know this is a long read, but hopefully some information is useful to you. Any tips whatsoever are more than welcome.