Homemade Ping Pang Racket

As a super table tennis fan, well once was, I always enjoyed playing and viewing or sometimes simply standing by ping-pong table. Unfortunately I was so careless forgetting to bring it with me when I come to US. As a result, I have not playing ping-pong for, um.. nearly 2 years! Last week, I was totally inspired by a poster of UMTTC (Umich Table Tennis Club) by accident. To be honest, it’s not a good design at all but it did rekindle my passion of table tennis. I suddenly decide to pick it up after two years. The only question now is: I don’t have a racket.

So, like everyone will do, I browsed Butterfly’s website(I guess it’s the best ping-pong equipment manufacturer over the globe), and tried to find a high-performance racket with everything. I said “with-everything” here because usually we buy the racket with the robber sheets attached already. However, the preset combination is not necessarily to be the best. Plus it’s expensive. So screw it, who will need a well-prepared racket. I could DIY my own. I found a video instruction on Youtube, and it turns out to be not so challenging. So here is the list of what you need: a wooden racket * 1 robber sheet *2 cutting knife *1 carving plate *1 glue *1 + sponge * 4~5 Alright, Here we go…

I bought Butterfly VISCARVIA. But be careful to the panel because it has two types: shake-hands & pen-hold, which is totally depends on your holding grip.

Squeeze some liquid glue on one side of your panel and inner side of robber(it’s usually orange or blue) ; carefully brush the surface until every corner is covered with glue. Then waiting 15mins. You may want you use rolling pin to press firmly and prevent air remaining(I use a lint roller instead, basically you can use any cylinder item to press. One thing you should probably keep in your mind is be careful don’t attach the robber upside down as the robber sheet is a square. Since the glue is so powerful that if you did it wrongly, it takes tons of hours to peel it off(I made this mistake myself, and it took 1.5 hours to clean and restart). The edge with logo and characters should be on the bottom.

Alright, now you have one rubber sheet attached and it’s time to cut it. I strongly suggest you cut the rubber on a carving plate otherwise you probably need a new table. Cutting along the wooden panel slowly to ensure a smooth cutting edge. The man cut his sheet with a knife all the time while my strategy is having a general frame with carving knife and then tinkering with a sharp scissors.

After you finish this step, go through step2&3 again for the other side.

The last step is to attach the side tape since you may have a crude side. You could simply wind along the panel side. Be sure the tape is located on the center.

Congratulations! Now you have your own PINGPONG RACKET!