OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Hello fellow ping pongers!

I've built a return board, but I'm unsure if it's good enough to use in training. The question is how good you have to be to start training with a return board, because I have played table tennis for quite a while as a hobby, but lack consistency in my "simple" strokes.

I use a pretty thin plank which is half a table wide, covered with 4x2 pieces of Yinhe Mercury II rubbers (cheap). It almost felt like the rubbers didn't do any difference in speed. I feel like I have to use so much power to return the ball all the way back to me, and some times the ball just flies away in a random direction.

To conclude I guess I'm unsure whether the problem lies in my lack of skills, or the return board itself, because right now I can't even get more than 4 successful strokes in a row.

Thanks!

I have no idea about return boards and haven't used anything like a return board.

Is the wood very hard and heavy ? Also did you use MAX thickness rubbers or 1.8mm ones ?

Maybe some kind of HARD spring is needed to give the "punch" back to get the ball travelling faster ? Or maybe the locking mechanism is having too much "give" due to flexing or moving when impacting the ball.

I dunno Would love to hear about some solution for building a reliable return board

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Backup C-pen blades:

• TSP Black Balsa 7.0 :
  1. FH/BH-729OEM/729SuperFX
  2. FH/BH-STN
• 729 Bomb : FH/BH-YRD/T5QS
• DHS PowerG-9 : FH/BH-729SuperFX
• Stag Balsa Koto : FH/BH-YRD/YR9

Fun blades:

• Yasaka Battle Balsa(ST) : FH/BH-YSD

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To me it looks like it isn't mounted securely enough. It's just sitting there on the table and can rock back when the ball hits it. You're losing a lot of the ball's energy if this happens.

You should have used Reactor Corbor - as little as $3.50 a sheet!

Iskandar

Your return board is too close to the table and too low.

I'm not surprised to hear your shots are rebounding well beyond the table. It would be like if you are trying to block your mate's loop and your held your paddler right at the base of the table trying to angle block it back. No way. You'd need time & space to take some of the pace off.

That's why if you look around at other return boards, they're a little higher up and sometimes placed further away from the table.

Can you place the return board you made on a tall chair or stool? Something a little higher than the table height and place it maybe another foot or two back off the table? Your first hit when you start you'll need decent speed & spin to get it going but after that first one you should be good. Also on a side note, your return board's surface area looks somewhat small. You'll need good accuracy.

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Stiga Clipper Classic
FH - TSP Spectol Red 2.0
BH - Dawei 388D-a 1.5

I agree with the comments above. Maybe try mount to a speaker stand or tripod. That way you can move forward and back, up and down.

Return boards are hard to use though.

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Donic Appelgren Allplay Senso V1,FH Regalis Red 2.0mm ,BH Donic Baracuda Big Slam 2.0mm
Yasaka Extra, Haifu Whale, Haifu Shark
Sunflex Hurricane, Milky Way 955 LP OX , 729 802-40 2.0

Would camera Tripods help create a adjustable return-board ? If I buy like 4 camera tripods can I start building the base/mount for the return-board ? Would gorilla pods be useful as well ? Is normal Plywood good or should the return-board be made from Chipboard ? or MDF board ? or Particle board ? or different layer Plywood ? Sorry I am asking too many questions.

And another question, what would it take to build a return board that works with only half the table ? I have almost no space @ home, and if I put a TT table the entire hall will get filled up. But half a table means there is another half-table length for player to move

_________________
__________________________________________________________
Backup C-pen blades:

• TSP Black Balsa 7.0 :
  1. FH/BH-729OEM/729SuperFX
  2. FH/BH-STN
• 729 Bomb : FH/BH-YRD/T5QS
• DHS PowerG-9 : FH/BH-729SuperFX
• Stag Balsa Koto : FH/BH-YRD/YR9

Fun blades:

• Yasaka Battle Balsa(ST) : FH/BH-YSD

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Tripods or music stands would work. If you search Youtube, or even the TT forums, you should find some information.

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Other setups:
DHS H301 Blade/DHS Hurricane 3 Nat/DHS Hurricane 3 P
DHS H301 Blade/DHS Hurricane 3 P/Tibhar Evolution MX-S

Agreed with others.

I recently purchased a heavy duty music stand.

I'm looking to build something similar to this.



So all you have to do here is attach the board face with rubbers. Now I know the music stand will only lean forward so far. That's why as part of my brace or support connecting the stand to the board, I'll have to have something that projects out or angles down a little to make it easier.

I've ordered a stand and should get it soon. I will let you all know how it goes.

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Stiga Clipper Classic
FH - TSP Spectol Red 2.0
BH - Dawei 388D-a 1.5

Are you putting topspin on the ball? I just bought a wally rebounder return board and it's very easy to use. But you have to loop at it. If you hit flat the ball just dies. That's probably because of the inexpensive chinese rubber. If they put baracude big slam or t05fx on it flat balls would probably come back, but the board would cost a lot more.