Advice to prevent ESN rubber shrinkage?

[thomas.pong]

My advice: don’t use ESN rubbers! At least the ones from the German brands, all factory-boosted which is bound to create a lot of shrinkage on a porous cake sponge

On a more serious note: use a mild glue like Revolution 3, and more importantly, leave a 2mm overhang around the blade like a lot of pros do, this also helps to protect your blade more than any old edge tape.

 

[burakins]

My advice: don’t use ESN rubbers! At least the ones from the German brands, all factory-boosted which is bound to create a lot of shrinkage on a porous cake sponge

On a more serious note: use a mild glue like Revolution 3, and more importantly, leave a 2mm overhang around the blade like a lot of pros do, this also helps to protect your blade more than any old edge tape.

Totally agreed.

 

[Wakkibatty]

I noticed old generation rubbers tend to last longer, new rubbers today wear out too quickly, I don't know if that's just marketing tricks or compensation for the higher performance ? In my experience, most of my latest rubbers now either lost grippyness or catapult effect by half after 2 months of heavy use

Plus one on the surprising longevity of some older classic rubbers. Recently took an old sheet of Mark V out of retirement and chucked it on a one-ply, purely out of curiosity to see how it would go.

It was no speed demon but even in it's worn-out state it still had surprising levels of spin to it, which I can only put down to the mix of synthetic and natural latex in the topsheet. It has me wondering about just how much (or how little) natural latex is used in many modern top flight rubbers.

 

[longle]

Plus one on the surprising longevity of some older classic rubbers. Recently took an old sheet of Mark V out of retirement and chucked it on a one-ply, purely out of curiosity to see how it would go.

It was no speed demon but even in it's worn-out state it still had surprising levels of spin to it, which I can only put down to the mix of synthetic and natural latex in the topsheet. It has me wondering about just how much (or how little) natural latex is used in many modern top flight rubbers.

I guess today they use more synthetic rubber to increase the speed and to withstand the boosting effect and also the impact of the ball. In my knowledge, only Yasaka Rakza 7 claimed to have mostly natural latex and that rubber live long as hell

 

[Lazer]

My advice: don’t use ESN rubbers! At least the ones from the German brands, all factory-boosted which is bound to create a lot of shrinkage on a porous cake sponge

On a more serious note: use a mild glue like Revolution 3, and more importantly, leave a 2mm overhang around the blade like a lot of pros do, this also helps to protect your blade more than any old edge tape.

Leaving an overhang with no edge tape actually help chipping mine. When pushing the overhang caught the table and the top layer gave way before the glue

Cheers
L-zr

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

leave a 2mm overhang around the blade like a lot of pros do, this also helps to protect your blade more than any old edge tape.

Hm...
Pros don't leave it for overhang as you describe.

You can't really control how far the rubber expands after boosting.
Most are lazy to cut it, or will only cut it if it is really a problem.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Leaving an overhang with no edge tape actually help chipping mine. When pushing the overhang caught the table and the top layer gave way before the glue

Cheers
L-zr

Yes, this is possible if your glue bond is very strong
I had the same before haha

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

It has me wondering about just how much (or how little) natural latex is used in many modern top flight rubbers.

I don' think I can get this answer, but my feeling is, very little to none.

 

[thomas.pong]

I guess today they use more synthetic rubber to increase the speed and to withstand the boosting effect and also the impact of the ball. In my knowledge, only Yasaka Rakza 7 claimed to have mostly natural latex and that rubber live long as hell

Fastarcs do too I believe.

 

[thomas.pong]

Hm...
Pros don't leave it for overhang as you describe.

You can't really control how far the rubber expands after boosting.
Most are lazy to cut it, or will only cut it if it is really a problem.

Several pros do if you pay attention.

Look at Timo Boll's video gluing his rackets.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Several pros do if you pay attention.

Look at Timo Boll's video gluing his rackets.

Okay, maybe you right, some do cut with overhang, like half a mm as Timo would normally do.
not 2mm.

But from my own eyes in the player halls, many mostly reglue, and when the rubbers expand, it is not trim to blade border again.
Some do trim a bit, but would still leave overhang that is way smaller than your 2mm (which is said for the sake of shrinkage - which is not a pros problem/solution)

 

[burakins]

In additon, when you install a new sheet of rubber just put it onto blade with care., Do not push/press/strech with roller. Roller must be used just after bonding to avoid air bubbles. You can leave a small overhang when you cut the rubber first time, around 1-1,5 mm.