Gluing Rubber Sheets
The rubber sheets on a table tennis racket don’t last forever. Periodically we need to replace them. There are instructions all over YouTube showing you how to do it. It looks simple and yet I’ve had nothing but trouble. The rubber just won’t hold onto the blade lifting up on one side or the other. I’ve purchased new paddles just to avoid gluing rubber. But this last time everything worked just fine. Over a month later the rubber is still firmly attached.
Here is how I did it.
Preparing the Blade
First you need to remove the old rubber, all the old glue and the little rubber bits. You can make this step much easier by adding blade sealing service when you buy a new racket or blade.
Here is how I did it.
Preparing the Blade
First you need to remove the old rubber, all the old glue and the little rubber bits. You can make this step much easier by adding blade sealing service when you buy a new racket or blade.
If you didn’t have the foresight to do this you need to remove the rubber the hard way. Pull off the rubber on the blade as best you can. Use a piece of rubber you just removed to clean off the old glue and little bits by rubbing the foam side on the blade. Be patient, you need to remove all the little bits.
Follow with sandpaper until the blade is smooth. Be careful, you don’t want to round off the edges. Wrapping the sandpaper around a block will work best. Clean off all the sanding dust.
Now is the time to seal the blade. You can buy special table tennis blade sealing varnish but MINWAX Wipe-On Poly that you can buy at the home center will work fine and is much cheaper. The only other thing you need is paper towels.
Follow with sandpaper until the blade is smooth. Be careful, you don’t want to round off the edges. Wrapping the sandpaper around a block will work best. Clean off all the sanding dust.
Now is the time to seal the blade. You can buy special table tennis blade sealing varnish but MINWAX Wipe-On Poly that you can buy at the home center will work fine and is much cheaper. The only other thing you need is paper towels.
Equipment and Supplies
Here is what you need to glue on the new rubber.
Here is what you need to glue on the new rubber.
- Glue — I used REvolution No. 3 odorless glue but there are lots of choices. One website rated this one very highly.
- Foam Pads — Most glue will be sold with some type of foam pad for spreading the glue.
- Roller — You can buy a roller specifically for gluing rubber but I am cheap. For less than half the price I went to the home center and bought PVC pipe. After cutting it to size, sanding the ends and using acetone to remove the printing I still have 5 feet of pipe left over. If anyone wants a piece let me know.
- Edge Tape — Not necessary but I think it is good idea. You can buy table tennis edge tape but any 1/2 inch tape will work, I splurged.
- Scissors
- Racket Press — You can buy a racket press but I am cheap, I used a big pile of books instead.
- Newspapers, paper towels
Gluing the Rubber
There are lots of videos out there to show you how to glue the rubber, here is one.
Here are a few important points that make the difference between success and failure that some videos gloss over.
- Don’t rush — After applying the glue you need to wait until the glue dries completely. I think this is where my prior attempts went wrong. This time I waited at least 20 minutes.
- Glue layers — Most videos show one layer of glue on the rubber and one layer on the blade but you can use more. I used one layer on the blade but two layers on the rubber.
- Attach the rubber evenly on the blade — This is where the roller comes in. Be gentle, you don’t need a lot of force.
- Put the finished racket in a racket press or under a big pile of books. Leave it overnight.
John Borjeson