OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Greetings,
I searched the forums to see if any special precautions have to be taken while glueing Tensors and Tenergy rubbers and couldn't find any threads related to this. I'm considering buying my first Tensor and I normally use Elmer's rubber cement to glue my rubbers to the paddle. I have seen threads where people complain that using rubber cement ruined their Tensor/Tenergy and I have seen threads where people claim just the opposite.

My questions are which of these assertions is true and can I use Elmer's rubber cement or will I risk damaging the Tensor?

Thanks!

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Thanks!
LTT

Paddles
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Primary: Sanwei Fextra, Sanwei Target National on FH, Palio AK47 red on BH
Backup: Sanwei Fextra, Palio HK1997 Gold on FH, Sanwei T88-Taiji on BH
Motto: Always Learnin'

Elmer's Rubber Cement works fine. I've not ruined any Tensors by using it. No real need to use water based glues unless your racket is going to go through VOC testing (and the great majority of us probably don't have to worry about that for a LONG, LONG TIME.. )

Iskandar

Been using Elmers on Tenergy for years and has been ok,
Only problem I've had is after a build up of layers due to testing on different blades I wanted to peel it off ,it peels alright but there is some pitting of the sponge.I suspect it is the nature of the sponge which is quite porous.

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Tsp Black Balsa 3.0 Tenergy 05 1.9 388d ox black

Iskandar/dazzler,
Thank you for your responses.

While looking up which glues were safe to use for Tensors/Tenergy, I came across a thread on another forum where one commenter stated that his Tenergy went dead within a month due to use of rubber cement. I know that correlation != causation but I remembered another thread where Iskandar had mentioned that his MX-P went dead in about a month. Although he didn't say it was due to use of rubber cement, I wondered if that may have caused it which is why I asked the question.

Good to know I don't have to change the easy way of gluing for Tensors/Tenergy rubbers.

Thanks!

_________________
Thanks!
LTT

Paddles
---------
Primary: Sanwei Fextra, Sanwei Target National on FH, Palio AK47 red on BH
Backup: Sanwei Fextra, Palio HK1997 Gold on FH, Sanwei T88-Taiji on BH
Motto: Always Learnin'

It's not like it just quits working after a month, but it gets noticeably slower. And if you take it off the blade you'll see it's shrunk. No, it's got nothing to do with the glue, it's the factory-applied "booster" wearing off. One wonders how long these things keep in the package before they "expire" on the shelf.

Iskandar

Hmm... I thought Tensors/ Tenergy rubbers were mechanically stretched in the factory and put on top of bouncy sponges (I know that's a simplification since the rubbers/sponges should have the correct properties to be able to retain this "stretch") which led to their unique bouncy nature. I was also under the impression that they were not factory tuned/boosted. If the "booster" wears off, that would imply a chemical treatment and not a mechanical treatment as the reason for their bouncy properties.

Say it isn't so!

Thanks!

_________________
Thanks!
LTT

Paddles
---------
Primary: Sanwei Fextra, Sanwei Target National on FH, Palio AK47 red on BH
Backup: Sanwei Fextra, Palio HK1997 Gold on FH, Sanwei T88-Taiji on BH
Motto: Always Learnin'

If you think about it, if you stretch a topsheet and apply it to a sponge, it would curl towards the topsheet. So this sort of construction is impossible if the sheet comes flat out of the package. What they probably do is treat both the topsheet and sponge with something that makes both expand to the same size. This is what happens if you use booster - initially the sponge expands more and you get a taco (or burrito, to be exact). Eventually the booster makes its way to the topsheet and that expands, allowing the whole thing to flatten out. The entire sheet has now expanded (which means you have to trim the sheet after applying it to the blade, assuming it was the same size as the blade before boosting). So what happens with a sheet of Tenergy 05/Evolution MX-P/Andro Rasant after it's been mounted on a blade for a couple months? It kinda feels dead so you remove it.. and you've found it's shrunk 2-3mm all around the edge. Hmmm... Exactly what happens when you remove the boosted-and-trimmed sheet after a couple months - it will have shrunk. The fact that it's shrunk AND is still glued to the blade means it's under the exact opposite sort of tension you want for creating power, this makes it feel dead.

Iskandar

I think to be in the safe side, only put a thin layer on sponge so that not much will soak in nor stretch, and just put a thick layer on the blade to make sure it sticks.

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

Rubber cement is designed to be weak, because it was originally used for print layups. You'd have separate bits of text and graphics on paper, these would be stuck onto a master sheet (which usually had a pale blue grid on it which wouldn't be seen by the film used in the process), and you had to be able to easily peel these pieces off and move them around on the sheet (which would eventually be photographed to make printing plates for offset printing). I think anyone who worked on a school yearbook before computers took over in the 1990s would know what I mean. Glue problems (mainly glues that stuck too tenaciously, mainly ruining blades) began with the water-based glues introduced due to VOC testing. Before that I never did hear of any problems of this sort. I suppose, to be fair, this was exactly the time Tensors and other similar rubbers were introduced.

Most of us will NEVER ever have our bats subjected to VOC testing, so there's absolutely no reason to use water based glues (unless you're gluing, for instance, OX pips, or very thin sponged rubbers).

Iskandar

The trouble with VOC glue is that it soaks deep into the sponge, and swells the sponge, which can interfere with the performance of the rubber, and also weakens the bond between sponge & topsheet. That's why I suggest to only use a thin layer, so it won't penetrate far, and will not have much effect.

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

Again, one's mileage may vary, but I can't say I've ever seen either of these things happen. And we used this stuff for years and years before VOC-free glues came out. Yes, there's a slight swelling effect but you only see it happen with thin sponge and OX topsheets (it wrinkles the topsheets). But it was nothing compared to what you got with speed glue. Topsheet/sponge bonds can be weak with some Chinese rubbers but ESN and Japanese rubbers have really strong topsheet/sponge bonds, I've never seen one delaminate.

Iskandar