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The perfect rubber test |
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t_retsila 
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Joined: 12/06/2010 Location: UK Status: Offline Points: 25 |
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 Topic: The perfect rubber testPosted: 03/28/2011 at 8:53am |
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This is a completely hypothetical one, but i've been thinking for a while how to perfrom the perfect test on rubbers for speed, spin & durability. Given the variation in playing styles & blades, I find the individual reviews difficult to take on board, or at least to commit my hard earned cash to. Sadly I'm stuck using butterfly products, and would love some more conclusive test results to base future purchases on.
I though I'd get some ideas from you guys on how to perform the ideal test. Here's what is in my head so far:
Required equipment:
High speed video camera
decent robot - One that can generate very consistent ball speed & spin
1000+ decent balls, all marked with coloured dots @ each quadrant
single piece large block of wood (Ash/oak or similar)
about £10000 to spend on rubbers ;-) need about 4 sheets of each rubber.
The process:
Without going into too much detail here's what I'm thinking.
Stick a sheet of rubber to the block of wood and place facing upward on solid floor.
@ approx 45 degree angle fire balls at the sheet of ruber. This would probably need to be done on about 4 different settings 1) slow & dead, 2) slow and spinny, 3) fast and dead, 4) fast and spinny.
by firing approx 10,000 balls on each setting you could compare the average rebound height of about 10 balls every 500, and and using the coloured dots, count the average revolutions per second using the same averaging process.
You'd then need to find a way of mapping the 4 sets of results together. by mapping out the drop off in rebound & spin you'd be able to accurately guage the rubber characteristics over its lifespan
I'm sure once you started the process you'd find required tweaks & problems, but I just figure there's no independant bodies performing these sort of tests, that would be mighty useful.
Anyone got any further suggestions? or better still about £30k worth of filming equipment & a £10k rubber budget we can start working on?
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BTY Photino + Tenergy 05fh & 05fx BH
TB ALC + Tenergy 05 both sides |
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TTboy07
Beginner 
Joined: 02/15/2011 Location: Philippines Status: Offline Points: 61 |
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Posted: 03/28/2011 at 9:02am |
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you mean a test something similar here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Mi8bDK83K0 Edited by TTboy07 - 03/28/2011 at 9:04am |
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t_retsila
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Joined: 12/06/2010 Location: UK Status: Offline Points: 25 |
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Posted: 03/28/2011 at 9:15am |
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Hadn't seen that but kinda. although take the blade out of the equation too.
What this doesn't address is the durability factor, which is fairly important now days, given the recent cost increases in some brands. I think if you took this video 1 step further and applied measurements at intervalls or 500 ish balls you'd definately get good evidence for speed & durability, but it still wouldn't address the spin element.
Obviously any test of this sort would take a lot of man hours to compile.
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BTY Photino + Tenergy 05fh & 05fx BH
TB ALC + Tenergy 05 both sides |
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pnachtwey
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Joined: 03/09/2010 Location: Vancouver, WA Status: Offline Points: 2035 |
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Posted: 03/28/2011 at 11:15am |
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I haven't found a good high speed camera that doesn't cost $30,000 yet. You need to buy good lighting too. I don't think you need 1000+ balls. One box should do. I bought a cutting board like what one would chop meat or cut vegetables on. It is very hard and relatively heavy so it will look like an infinite mass relative to the TT ball. I would ask for donations.
You don't need to shoot that many balls to be statisically significant but you appears to be wanting to wear out the rubber too.
PathfinderPro on you YouTube is doing similar tests.
I put a small laser to mount on the robot throwing head. I also mounted a small mirror on the cutting board. This makes it easier to align the cutting board with respect to the throwing head. It is very precise but still inexpensive. I haven't done any test since late last summer. I tested my T05, Gambler Aces Pro, Four Kings Pro and Mark V 1.5mm and Scramble 1.5mm. There differences but they aren't as big as you may think unless you consider that a rubber that can make the ball drop 1 cm sooner than another effectively makes the table bigger on the other guy's side and could be worth a point per game. Preston Table Tennis has a video comparing H3 and H3 Neo. I bought a vise similar to what was used in the video. I didn't like it because the blade flexed too much. It was also hard to align. I need to find a way to edit video like what was done so I could overlay ball flight paths so comparisons are visual.
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t_retsila wrote: