Hello Greg,
Thanks for the excellent How to Glue Your Sponge Rubbers video! I wanted to ask if you had any luck using Butterfly's new Free Chack (the one that turns from white to clear and is very thin). I have a hard time getting my rubbers to stick even though, at first, it looks perfect right after the application. It plays fine for a few hours but then the edges peel off. Just wanted to ask for your advice. Also, my blade is sealed/varnished, could that be the problem?
Regards,
Stan
I haven't tried the new Free Chack myself - I still use ordinary table tennis glue and just let the bat air out for a few days. I did have the same problem of the edges of rubbers tending to peel off blades that I had sealed or varnished. There are a few things you could try to help fix the problem, such as:
- Use a little fine sandpaper to roughen the edges of the playing surface of your racket a little - which should help the glue grip a little better.
- Use a little ordinary table tennis glue around the edges of the rubber - which should help it stick better and the illegal VOCs will evaporate in a day or two
- Use wide edge tape, which will grip the edges of the rubbers and hold them to the blade. I use this with some success on my current defensive blades, and it really helps to keep the edges of the spongeless long pips from coming off, which they were constantly doing before, no matter how much glue I used.
Regards,
Greg Letts