OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Hi all fellow ping pongers!

I just got a brand new Joola 2500 Drive tennis table:

https://gamingtables.ca/products/joola- ... nnis-table

And there is something bugging me. The surface on the table is uneven in texture (not in height). On one of the tables, the center is quite rough while the exterior is smooth as expected from a good quality table finish.

Here is a video I took that best represents the issue (hear the sounds of my nail as I go through the center of the table, they are picking on the rough surface while gliding on the smooth surface):



It's like if the center of the table was not sanded correctly, it just feels really rough to the touch and I assume this will affect the bounce of the ball when it has spin.

Joola says this is normal, that all tables have a texture. I've played on quite a few tables, and I never noticed anything but a smooth playing surface. What do you guys thing, is this truly normal for a table of this quality?

Thanks for any advise!
Daniel Shane

It's hard to see from the video, but from the sound it does sound quite rough. I can't say I've every noticed a table that's not consistent in roughness, but most table I see are used, and time tends to smooth things out.

I guess you could try bouncing a ball on the rough areas, see if you get any angled bounces from the rough bits. If you do, I'd say it's unacceptable. The bounce should be consistent on all parts of the table, which I'd certainly expect at that price!

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Thanks for the reply!

The bounce is straight, however, I'm more concerned with spin. Clearly a surface that has friction when I pass my hand will have extra grip on a ball with spin and I think this will have an effect on serves etc... except I can't prove it as I can't spin the ball multiple times with equal spin to show that the rough area would produce extra spin effect.

ITTF T1 'The Table' wrote:

The CoF should be essentially the same all over playing surface

That is all that T1 Technical Leaflet is mentioning about friction uniformity
In my scientific view, there is an obvious omission in this present wording of T1 document . We certaiinly need exact numbers to determine a friction uniformity.
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/Be happy/

That's certainly needs to be the case for ITTF approved tables, but there is nothing in the description of this table indicating that it's ITTF approved. Seems kind of expensive if it's not ITTF approved.

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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

Yes, you're right, indeed. It is all induced by an quality checker's oversight on JOOLA factory rather than a flaw in ITTF paper.
Anyway, the issue is fairly negligible, it should not affect playabiliy of the table adversely.

ITTF recommends to measure the CoF by using 3 ping pong balls in a triangle fashion, distanced by about 2cm each and glue that on the bottom of a wood plank weighting 100gr. I will do this today and post the results here.

I'm pretty sure that the CoF of my table in the middle is about double of any other part of the surface. Even if it's not ITTF approved, I'm sure it does not mean manufacturers can do as they please and give us anything on the premise that "We never said that the table should pass ITTF standards, therefore anything we ship out is now deemed acceptable". If something is clearly out of line and can affect the trajectory of a ball significantly, well I would tend to consider this a defect.

In the case of this table, a very simply check at the factory and just a bit more sanding would of created an even playing surface. Is it complicated to refinish the paint on a ping pong table? Instead of trying to force Joola to exchange this half, I could just re-sand it myself and re-paint it.

I would not recommend it, unless you have experience with this type if job....you could make it worse. You also have to make sure you get the right paint, I believe you need something quite specific for table tennis tables. Then there's the tricky bit about redrawing the lines.
You might also void any future warrantee, should you have other types of problems (e.g. warping).

_________________
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

Kind of unusual for a table of this quality to have a (actually four) ball holder. Ball and bat holders are a mark of rec-room quality tables.

Iskandar