Is it worth it to learn how to replace rubber yourself?

[JadeBridge]

I've seen videos on how to replace the rubbers on your blades, and of course they make it look SO easy, but for those of you that can do this.....is it harder than it looks? I'm an intermediate player that has switched from the pre-assembled paddles to a blade with rubbers I've chosen. I just recently got a second racket that was made the same way. They were assembled by the company at no extra cost. I play a decent amount of table tennis....about 10/12 hours a week, recreationally. The first blade I got is slowly showing wear on the rubber, so I know sooner or later I want to replace it. Not sure if it's worth the aggravation of me doing it as opposed to have one of the company's "mail in" program do it. What are your thoughts? Thank you!

 

[lodro]

everything is difficult in the beginning. Remember when you learned how to tie your shoelaces ?
😁
I assume the "send-in service" involves you buying the rubbers of them and send them your blade to have them fit the new rubbers. At what cost ?
What if you can buy some good rubbers at a bargain price, will they still do the glue-job ?
But in the end it becomes a question about how intimate you want to get involved with your equipment.

 

[TensorBackhand]

I've seen videos on how to replace the rubbers on your blades, and of course they make it look SO easy, but for those of you that can do this.....is it harder than it looks? I'm an intermediate player that has switched from the pre-assembled paddles to a blade with rubbers I've chosen. I just recently got a second racket that was made the same way. They were assembled by the company at no extra cost. I play a decent amount of table tennis....about 10/12 hours a week, recreationally. The first blade I got is slowly showing wear on the rubber, so I know sooner or later I want to replace it. Not sure if it's worth the aggravation of me doing it as opposed to have one of the company's "mail in" program do it. What are your thoughts? Thank you!

its not harder than it looks! it really is very easy.

Definitely you can and should learn to do it yourself. It's so easy and cheap. I even skip a lot of the things that the tutorials tell you to do, a lot of it isn't even totally necessary.

 

[NextLevel]

I think most people who get rubber glued by others think it is a very scientific exercise requiring precision. Thia is far from true. Table tennis glues are easy to remove with the fingers so the whole gluing process tends to tolerate errors and learning. You can do it wrong and fix it later. And even cutting the rubbers imperfectly doesn't affect much either as long as you don't cut them way too small to cover the blade (which is unlikely if you glue first and cut after). I am one of those people who doesn't really obsess over my blade and rubber looking perfect and building my own setups helped me realize that some aspects of how my equipment felt were within my control (you can use more or less glue as long as you learn how to layer glue and stay within thickness limits, though if you exceed limits as a hobby player, no one will ever know) and that having a good glue vs a great glue job didn't contribute as much to my game as the hours of practice I put into honing my technique. You can have a bad glue job but those are easy to fix over time and learning what to do to avoid those bad jobs gives you a better idea of how your equipment works.

Outsourcing the process to someone else is reasonable to do but I am grateful I learned to glue my own stuff. I am still fairly puzzled by the people who act like it is a science that requires someone else to perform it for them at all times. But I guess it depends partly on whether you play at a full time club where you see players gluing things with abandon.

 

[Gozo Aruna]

I've seen videos on how to replace the rubbers on your blades, and of course they make it look SO easy, but for those of you that can do this.....is it harder than it looks? I'm an intermediate player that has switched from the pre-assembled paddles to a blade with rubbers I've chosen. I just recently got a second racket that was made the same way. They were assembled by the company at no extra cost. I play a decent amount of table tennis....about 10/12 hours a week, recreationally. The first blade I got is slowly showing wear on the rubber, so I know sooner or later I want to replace it. Not sure if it's worth the aggravation of me doing it as opposed to have one of the company's "mail in" program do it. What are your thoughts? Thank you!

hell yeah! It is a crucial pre-game routine all paddlers must learn if they want to remain in this sport fer'real.

 

[avi3230]

Dont go that way bro, unless u want to be addicted

 

[Gozo Aruna]

Steps to gluing your rubber DIY:
1. Get into your man-cave and lock the door.
2. Put on some smooth ol'skool jazz music.
3. lay all the equipment neatly and in a specific way, like how a surgeon would lay all his cutting utensils on the tray just before commencing his operation.
4. Perform the gluing process while inhaling an exhaling in a meditative way. Recite a mantra if you want to, for example, " I am one with my rubber, the rubber is one with me ".
5. After completing the gluing process, sit in your sofa and admire your handywork. Pour yourself a drink perhaps.
6. Emerge from your man-cave a happier and very satisfied man.

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

last time i tried to do by myself , result was horrible.

i prefer now to go to the shop. it also helps me have a social life and talk to people

 

[Bruschk0v]

I've seen videos on how to replace the rubbers on your blades, and of course they make it look SO easy, but for those of you that can do this.....is it harder than it looks? I'm an intermediate player that has switched from the pre-assembled paddles to a blade with rubbers I've chosen. I just recently got a second racket that was made the same way. They were assembled by the company at no extra cost. I play a decent amount of table tennis....about 10/12 hours a week, recreationally. The first blade I got is slowly showing wear on the rubber, so I know sooner or later I want to replace it. Not sure if it's worth the aggravation of me doing it as opposed to have one of the company's "mail in" program do it. What are your thoughts? Thank you!

I was at the same point as you. Decided that all the sending back and forth stuff and paying shops to glue your rubber, wait 1 weeks to get it back and so forth was not worth the hassle.

Bought glue and some edge type myself, watched some tutorials online. Didn't get it perfect on first try but decent enough that the glue job will hold a lot longer than the rubbers themselves. After the 2nd or 3rd time my glue jobs are now pretty much up to Table Tennis Store standard (with a few concessions to the cut quality). It's almost as easy as it looks, but do watch some tutorials beforehand.

Additionally, it's a pretty satisying feeling to play with your self-assembled racket.


Here's a good guide by @TheBatGuy : https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/fo...and-glue-rubbers-on-a-table-tennis-bat.32853/

 

[JadeBridge]

last time i tried to do by myself , result was horrible.

i prefer now to go to the shop. it also helps me have a social life and talk to people

I would imagine in Japan there would be many shops close by. I live in California and I don't know of a single place here so I would have to do mail-in. But yes, if there was a physical shop close by I would do the same as you

 

[JadeBridge]

everything is difficult in the beginning. Remember when you learned how to tie your shoelaces ?
😁
I assume the "send-in service" involves you buying the rubbers of them and send them your blade to have them fit the new rubbers. At what cost ?
What if you can buy some good rubbers at a bargain price, will they still do the glue-job ?
But in the end it becomes a question about how intimate you want to get involved with your equipment.

You are correct. I would send them my blade and purchase two rubbers for them to put on. I would like to learn to do it. I'm thinking maybe I should buy a really cheap blade and some cheap rubbers just to practice on before doing it to my good rackets.

 

[JadeBridge]

Dont go that way bro, unless u want to be addicted

Actually you're correct. I could see the OCD part of me changing rubbers every week because I don't like the way "they performed" (completely taking the fact I need more practice/training off the equation) 🤪

 

[kindof99]

It depends on how much time you play every week. If you only play one hour to two hours on weekends, there is really no need to learn how to glue. One good paddle will last one year or two for you.
And a lot of people will consider gluing paddle is the most interesting part of table tennis. Then why not have fun from now on.

 

[kindof99]

You are correct. I would send them my blade and purchase two rubbers for them to put on. I would like to learn to do it. I'm thinking maybe I should buy a really cheap blade and some cheap rubbers just to practice on before doing it to my good rackets.

Gluing rubbers' will not damage your blade, but might damage your rubbers if you need to remove the old glue layers on the rubbers.

 

[NextLevel]

You are correct. I would send them my blade and purchase two rubbers for them to put on. I would like to learn to do it. I'm thinking maybe I should buy a really cheap blade and some cheap rubbers just to practice on before doing it to my good rackets.

You can do it with Elmer Rubber Cement to start off with.

 

[Der_Echte]

If you canopt assemble ur own bats, that will limit the number of rubbers you buy that you do not need... not such a bad thing.