OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Got this from a chinese forum... they are the steps in producing a blade by Galaxy / Yinhe.

Translation added, thanks to forum member jixiaolan! Great job!

1. Raw material : This is the most significant in the making of a good blade. The wood element contributes directly to the final capability of the blade.


2. InYin He, raw wood collectors of more than 10 years experiance, are able to identify the good and the bad quality wood, simply by judging from the bark of the trees. No fine detail such as age-rings, density and other quality elements can escape their professional eyes.


3. Selecting some portions, and processing them into the squarish shaped pieces for steaming.


4. Some raw woods are cut into 5-10cm pieces, and hang dry in an open environment for more than a year.(see picture)


5. In order to shorten the drying time, the wood pieces might be placed in "incubator". This is the so called "heat baking" technique of the Japenese DARKER.(picture shows the incubator used by Yin He, imported from Germany.)


6. Measuaring the dryness of the wood material by using appropriate tool.


7. Slicing the wood pieces.


8. After 1990, the slicing techniqe was upgraded. The blades processed through such technique are of finner and better uniformity.


9. The slices are then speed steam-dried, so as to eleviate the wood expansion/contraction, ensuaring the uniform moisture content, and finally achieving the stability of the blade.


10. Pieces of wood thicker than 0.8mm require large incubating machine to dry. "Solar dried" may be energy-saving and environmental friendly, but is not capable of achieving the uniformity derived by the machine.


11. Secondary material: Quite a sophisticated process that follows the drying step.(picture shows wood slices after the incubating process)


12. The thin slices that were cut from larger pieces.


13. The dried slices are then cut into appropriate core blades(see picture : slices to be cut into core blades)


14. Core blades combining This process may be machine operated or by hand. The hand operation weakness lies in the paper used in the process: the paper will split after certain period of time, giving rise to odd hitting sound. In some cases, leading to cracked blade.


15. Yin He adopts a more advanced technology: by means of machine, the heat-melted rubber threads were combined on to the core blades, then allowed to cool and harden immediately.


16. Picture shows the s shaped white-coloured rubber thread on the wood.
This is a better technique: the melted rubber threads are of smaller surface area, and they " dissolve" in the glue used in combining process. This resulted in the supper binding of the core woods. Recently, combining machines that require no rubber threads have surfaced in the technology advancement!


17. Rolling : After the secondary materials are prepared according to the specifications, they are roller-spread on the individual core blades. In this process, the glue used is of utmost critical as it affects springiness of the blade, and the transmission of the "feeling"(as we understand).


18. Heat press: An automatic machine press the blades into combined blades.


19. machine-cut: A computeried cutting process where the combined blades are now cut into the designed shape.


20. Handle cutting


21. Trimming


22. A process to make the surface shine(may be varnishing!?)


23. Make holes at inner portion of blade.


24. Drilling the slot for brand logo.


25. Combining the handle and blades.


26. Final packing to meet up with the ping pong enthusiasts.

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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

Neat!

But I've always thought even the final shaping of the throat and sanding was done by machine, not by hand. (final photo)

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Viscaria. H2 Neo 2.15. Tenergy 05 1.9.

Translation you say? Where's the Chinese Spy?

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BTY Joo Se Hyuk | BTY Tenergy 64 2.1mm | TSP P1R 1mm

Chop til you drop baby!

Raw lumber,
Stacked for drying,
Meter checks moisture content.
Cutting veneers.
Big machine is probably combo, chemical treatment, iron, sander. Veneer can be ironed like clothes with heated rollers. Chemical can be used to make the veneer plyable in seconds so it does not split when ironed.
Veneer tape.
Large sewing machine. (look close, (with eye loupe) and you will see many blades that have veneers that have been joined.
Not sure, roller applying glue?
Pneumatic press. (Maybe heated?)
CNC cuts blade shape.
Duplicator making two handle sets at once.
Sanding edge of blade.
CNC hollows handles three at a time.
CNC cuts handle for plastic logo.
Hand sanding.
Figured out how they hold the blade down for some of the operations? There are holes under the blade with vacuum holding it while the CNC does it's thing.

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Shakehand, left handed.
Blade, Yinhe, W-1
Forhand, H-3 National
Backhand, Sriver FX Max

I have a feeling they've embellished on the pics just a little because there seems to be a bit much manual requirements in some of it. Perhaps they are hiding some trade secrets? Or perhaps its harder to tell the story well with some of the auto processes involved so its simpler to indicate what would happen if it were done manually.

Anyway, great find Haggisv, its quite interesting to see still.

Hookshot, does your setup look like that?

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I'm always in the dark, but the Dark sheds lights upon everything!! Beauty is only pimple deep! Beauty is in the eye of the pipholder!
S/U 1: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Andro Rasant 2.1 . BH Red Tibhar Grass Dtecs
S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red GD Talon
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . No rubbers...thinking of adding Red Dtecs and Black Rasant
Aussie Table Tennis Shop / Aussie Table Tennis Facebook Page / Equipment Review Index / Read my Reb Report Blog: click here.

Not yet, but I am designing production equipment. Duplicator, press, shapers, iron, etc. Much smaller scale though.

_________________
Shakehand, left handed.
Blade, Yinhe, W-1
Forhand, H-3 National
Backhand, Sriver FX Max

Will be great to see pics of yours when you set it up.. in a year or so I guess?

_________________
I'm always in the dark, but the Dark sheds lights upon everything!! Beauty is only pimple deep! Beauty is in the eye of the pipholder!
S/U 1: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Andro Rasant 2.1 . BH Red Tibhar Grass Dtecs
S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red GD Talon
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . No rubbers...thinking of adding Red Dtecs and Black Rasant
Aussie Table Tennis Shop / Aussie Table Tennis Facebook Page / Equipment Review Index / Read my Reb Report Blog: click here.

Wery nice thanks,

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Blade:
F/H:
B/H:

Well, you did a lot better than me

What's the veneer tape for?

Would be sewing machine be used only for temporary attachment? I've never seen that...

_________________
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

There are many types of veneer tape. Most common use is; put the tape on, fold the seam open, add glue, fold flat untill dry.
The sewing machine can be used to join two peices and just glue right over the thread. The tape might leave a bulge but the thread will not when the ply is glued to another. Press pressure will force glue into the joint.
One pic I am still wondering about is the one of the bandsaw and the square block of wood. I am wondering if they are cutting peices off the block to be glued togather for a center ply with end grain going blade surface to blade surface. The block is made from many pieces if you look close.
I suspect the big press (maybe heated?) is for long term curing (days?) to make sure the blade is FLAT after initial glueing in a different press. Probably a heated press.
It cannot be for initial glueing as the veneers start to curl and warp instantly when you put glue on. (Water based glue) Epoxy does not do this but I doubt they use epoxy. Too heavy. Maybe a poly glue. Any glue that does not harden by evaporation will add more weight. Interesting pics!

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Shakehand, left handed.
Blade, Yinhe, W-1
Forhand, H-3 National
Backhand, Sriver FX Max

Haggisv,
You have seen the table tops that have star patterns or other different complex designs? They held all the peices togather with tape before laminating it to a base ply. When dry, they peel the tape off and sand.

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Shakehand, left handed.
Blade, Yinhe, W-1
Forhand, H-3 National
Backhand, Sriver FX Max

Ahh, very clever... Don't think I'll every get into making blade.... the more I learn, the more I realise I don' know

_________________
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

By the way, thanks very much for the pictures Haggis. They make me appreciate my W6 even more.

_________________
BTY Joo Se Hyuk | BTY Tenergy 64 2.1mm | TSP P1R 1mm

Chop til you drop baby!

Translation added, thanks to forum member jixiaolan! Great job!

_________________
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