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Tear in Tenergy from looping
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benfb View Drop Down
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    Posted: 09/05/2010 at 2:26am

I have an almost new sheet of Tenergy and it developed a small tear (1/4 inch) in the sweetspot from looping.  I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced this?

I know that rubbers will sometimes develop bubbles, but that usually occurs due to speed glue or a modern booster.  I don't use either since the ban.  So that's not a factor here.  And, anyway, this is a tear or cut, not a bubble.
 
I also know from hard experience that Tenergy will cut if you hit on something like the table.  I've done that before a few times, althogh it's always out near the edge of the rubber.  In this case, however, I am 100% sure that I never hit the table with the rubber, and especially not the sweet spot.  So I didn't cut the rubber from a hit.
 
What appeared to happen was that I was done a lot of forehand looping (we're running our Stellan training camp) and sometime during that, the tear develop.  So as far as I can tell, the tear was caused by looping.  I've had a lot of sheets of Tenergy before and this has never happened to me, and I've never hear of it.  So I thought I'd ask if anyone else has experienced this?
 
I wonder if Butterfly warrants their rubbers from defects?
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High_Arc View Drop Down
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A friend of my also got tears in the middle of his T05 and he also didn't hit the table. His rubber however is rather old. I myself have never experienced that within 2 years of using T05. Perhaps you played with a broken ball, which can initiate a tear (cause a very small almost invisible tear). Once there, the tear grow under stress (such as looping).
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rui pedro81 View Drop Down
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Points: 1175 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote rui pedro81 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09/05/2010 at 10:36am
maybe a ball you hit had a crack on it and it hit exactly there and damaged the rubber. its a bit of an overstretch... but who knows Tongue
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benfb View Drop Down
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Points: 2709 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote benfb Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09/06/2010 at 1:41am
I asked Stellan Bengtsson his opinion, since we're running his camp right now.  He said he'd seen tears like that among pros and it had nothing to do with cracked balls.  I liked the cracked ball idea (although I'm pretty sure I haven't hit any cracked balls this week), but I trust Stellan's advice.
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Anton Chigurh View Drop Down
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Originally posted by benfb benfb wrote:

I asked Stellan Bengtsson his opinion, since we're running his camp right now.  He said he'd seen tears like that among pros and it had nothing to do with cracked balls.  I liked the cracked ball idea (although I'm pretty sure I haven't hit any cracked balls this week), but I trust Stellan's advice.


I have no idea if this has anything to do with it Ben, but I saw your glue job on your new Tenergy and it looked... "unconventional" LOL. (If it gives me "street cred" at all, I will add that Stellan mentioned it looked funny, too. Wink) I'm utterly speculating based on almost zero valid data, but is it possible that an odd gluing job could give rise to "aberrant" behavior of Tenergy?


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benfb View Drop Down
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Nope.  That's the other rubber.  My backhand side (black this time, although I usually prefer red on the BH) looks weird.  It happens when I get too thick of glue on the wood when gluing.  In this particular case, I think I was already messed up on that side because I was regluing that rubber (having removed it once after two weeks of play).  But that's all the BH side.
 
The forehand side is the one with the tear and it's a perfectly smooth glue job -- no odd stuff there.
 
By the way, Jason said you were selling off all your TT stuff?  Is this to pay your speeding ticket?
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benfb View Drop Down
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Points: 2709 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote benfb Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09/06/2010 at 4:47pm
By the way, I should add that the "uneven" glue job is mostly an optical effect.  If you take a straight metal edge and run it over the rubber, there are no gaps or valleys -- it's all smooth according to the straight edge.  But when you look at it, it doesn't look flat.
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Thaidog View Drop Down
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What happened was the shear spin that Tenergy applied to the ball caused so much friction that a small explosion happened... similar to the small black holes the LHC creates when smashing subatomic particles. Consider yourself lucky you didn't get sucked in!!!!

Edited by Thaidog - 09/06/2010 at 4:58pm
Timo ALC FL

Tibhar Grip S MAx

Tenergy 64 FX National 2.1mm

He never boosts... of course he never had to...
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spin weezy View Drop Down
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  Now thats a powerful loop
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fh sriver el
bh sriver el
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Thaidog View Drop Down
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Originally posted by spin weezy spin weezy wrote:

  Now thats a powerful loop


No... that's the power of Tenery... Cool
Timo ALC FL

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Tenergy 64 FX National 2.1mm

He never boosts... of course he never had to...
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nathanso View Drop Down
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Points: 431 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote nathanso Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09/06/2010 at 7:29pm
My loops induced such cracks around the edge of a near-new sheet of Tenergy 05 1.9mm black. Gambler Outlaw cracks even easier (edge tape helps). A more recent sheet of Tenergy 64 2.1mm black has, thus far, not cracked.
BBC, SP, LP
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Best99 View Drop Down
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Points: 399 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Best99 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09/06/2010 at 9:05pm
My black 2.1 Tenergy 05 got a tear after 1 year of playing (4 times a week, 2.5 hours a day).
Blade: Timo Boll ALC 92 g.
Forehand: Tenergy 05 2.1 mm. (black)
Backhand: Tenergy 05 2.1 mm. (red).
Perfect loops
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benfb View Drop Down
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Originally posted by nathanso nathanso wrote:

My loops induced such cracks around the edge of a near-new sheet of Tenergy 05 1.9mm black. Gambler Outlaw cracks even easier (edge tape helps). A more recent sheet of Tenergy 64 2.1mm black has, thus far, not cracked.
 
I don't understand how looping would develop cracks on the edges of the rubber.  My crack or tear is in the center of the sweetspot, the center of what you aim for in a loop.  The only thing that hits the rubber there is the ball.  However, I don't expect balls to hit the edges of the rubber.
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chances are that one of your balls was slightly scratched somehow. that's why you got a tear in your tenergy. tenergy 05 doesn't tear in the middle. maybe cracks/chips on the edges but i've never had that.

tenergy 64 on the other hand will chip and crack after a few weeks of intensive play.
www.youtube.com/gsutabletennis
Timo Boll Spirit FL
H3 Blue Sponge Black FH
Tenergy 64 Red BH

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nathanso View Drop Down
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Originally posted by benfb benfb wrote:

Originally posted by nathanso nathanso wrote:

My loops induced such cracks around the edge of a near-new sheet of Tenergy 05 1.9mm black. Gambler Outlaw cracks even easier (edge tape helps). A more recent sheet of Tenergy 64 2.1mm black has, thus far, not cracked.

 

I don't understand how looping would develop cracks on the edges of the rubber.  My crack or tear is in the center of the sweetspot, the center of what you aim for in a loop.  The only thing that hits the rubber there is the ball.  However, I don't expect balls to hit the edges of the rubber.
Edge was a poor description. It was about 1/2" in from the edge, resulting I suppose, when I contacted the ball there as opposed to the center. My theory is that when you brush a ball with great force and the ball contacts the rubber close to the edge, there's less sponge to support the top sheet and it ends up stretching more than it can tolerate and cracks.

I largely solved this problem from happening to the even more fragile Gambler Outlaw by cutting the rubber cleanly with a single-edge razor, exactly following the blade's edge, and then applying Donic edge tape, stretched tightly, with the edge of the tape equal to the hitting surface of the rubber. This seems to provide support for the top sheet even when balls are brushed near the edge.
BBC, SP, LP
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benfb View Drop Down
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Points: 2709 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote benfb Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09/07/2010 at 12:04pm
I cut my sheets smoothly and to the edge of the paddle and I use a wide edge tape that protects them completely, so I don't usually have problems with the edges of the rubber (unless I hit the table). 

I like the theory of a crack in a ball cutting the rubber, except for two problems: first, I don't recall playing with a cracked ball at all.  Second, Stellan nixed this idea, and he's certainly got the knowledge to know one way or the other.

I've gone through lots of sheets of Tenergy and never saw this problem before.  And it doesn't sound like anyone else has this exact experience either.
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