The unfiltered feeling of pips out rubber (or the trapped air problem)

[andymagata]

Ever since I hit the ball for the first time with short pips rubber, I felt connected to the ball in a more direct way than ever before. It was a feeling of liberation, like removing an unnecessary membrane between your hand and the ball.

I have been thinking about from where that muffled feeling of smooth rubber comes from. This led me to what I call the “trapped air theory.”

Maybe it is more than just a feeling. There may be a physical explanation behind it: when the ball hits smooth rubber, the air beneath the rubber surface has to move somewhere. The air that does not have enough time to escape could act like a small cushion, affecting the way the contact feels.

I wanted to mention this because I might not be the only one who has been looking for a better smooth rubber. My feeling is that the perfect solution may not exist until we find a way to reduce or control this trapped air effect.

In the meantime, I will continue playing with short pips rubber. Apart from generating spin, it makes almost every stroke feel better to me and gives me a more enjoyable connection with the ball.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Maybe others who have played with short pips longer than I have a similar or different experience?

 

[Scarfed Garchomp]

I have some theories

Short pips rubbers have less rubber contacting the ball (per design) to absorb impact and rotational force in comparison to smooth rubber. With smooth rubber, the ball is always interacting with the connected surface of the topsheet first, given that there is spin on the ball, the topsheet always has to be deformed to a degree before the bottom of the topsheet contacts the sponge/the sponge can be "hit into." A short pips topsheet deforms on ball contact but it is always making more direct contact to the sponge through the base of the topsheet on which the pimple structure is formed, than an inverted rubber which is connected to the sponge through its inverted pimple structure.

 

[Tyce]

Most SP and LP also have relatively soft sponge like classic rubbers. These are much better at conveying feeling.

 

[lodro]

Ever since I hit the ball for the first time with short pips rubber, I felt connected to the ball in a more direct way than ever before. It was a feeling of liberation, like removing an unnecessary membrane between your hand and the ball.

I have been thinking about from where that muffled feeling of smooth rubber comes from. This led me to what I call the “trapped air theory.”

Maybe it is more than just a feeling. There may be a physical explanation behind it: when the ball hits smooth rubber, the air beneath the rubber surface has to move somewhere. The air that does not have enough time to escape could act like a small cushion, affecting the way the contact feels.

I wanted to mention this because I might not be the only one who has been looking for a better smooth rubber. My feeling is that the perfect solution may not exist until we find a way to reduce or control this trapped air effect.

In the meantime, I will continue playing with short pips rubber. Apart from generating spin, it makes almost every stroke feel better to me and gives me a more enjoyable connection with the ball.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Maybe others who have played with short pips longer than I have a similar or different experience?

I have long advocated the theory to avoid edge tape because it hinders the air between the pimples to escape.
I do like the feel of pimple out rubbers and it reminds me of some rock hard CJ8000 Palio rubbers
that gave a similar "direct feel"

 

[zeio]

I have some theories

Short pips rubbers have less rubber contacting the ball (per design) to absorb impact and rotational force in comparison to smooth rubber. With smooth rubber, the ball is always interacting with the connected surface of the topsheet first, given that there is spin on the ball, the topsheet always has to be deformed to a degree before the bottom of the topsheet contacts the sponge/the sponge can be "hit into." A short pips topsheet deforms on ball contact but it is always making more direct contact to the sponge through the base of the topsheet on which the pimple structure is formed, than an inverted rubber which is connected to the sponge through its inverted pimple structure.

I tend to lean toward that theory. For the most part, shortpips are by design to facilitate speed rather than spin unlike inverted. This muffled feeling of inverted rubber is likely coming from the pips eating into the sponge, increasing contact area and contact time among ball, topsheet and sponge, leading to less impulse and pressure and softening the impact like a cushion in the process.

Air is compressible, and the air volume displaced by the inverted topsheet upon impact is likely small enough to be negligible, when the velocity is way below the speed of sound.

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