Hello everyone! My friend from work asked me if I could do something about his favorite racket that got a crack. The crack is close to the end of the shaft where the shaft is inserted to the head. Looking closely to the crack, I can see that there seems only the gel-coat (epoxy finish) has been cracked and the carbon/kevlar shaft seems to be okay... at least it feels strong when I try to flex it a little. I'm sure you guys have seen such cracks and as I'm not into badminton I have no idea how this kind of damage should look when professional repair is made. I have some 24h epoxy resin and a lot of unidirectional carbon fiber... probably I have even some kevlar cloth (i have to find it first though) in the drawer. If someone is ready to point to some pictures of repaired racket with similar damage I will be really happy... just to see how much fiber bandage a professional repair shop puts on this kind of damage. thanks, Icoman
As for repair I was thinking to go like this: 1. Protect all but a crack (5cm) with some PVC bags. 2. Sand off the gel coat around the wound with dremel tool. 3. Prepare strips of unidirectional carbon fiber 4. Masking both ends of repair area (lift the borders up approximately 1mm) 5. mix resin 6. heat resin in the oven on 80°C 7. soak the fibers into resin 8. apply the fibers so they will be align along with the shaft 9. wrap the joint with peel off fabric 10. heat up with hair dryer for about 30 min. 11. Let it cure for a day 12. Sand and polish. 13. varnish with a coat of resin. That would be my way to go... If you have some suggestions please don't hesitate to correct me.
Obviously talking to myself again... I was really hoping for some advice. I couldn't wait any longer as I have other things to... like building airplanes for instance. For now... epoxy is curing under stream of hot air from hair dryer. As I said before... about 20 cm of unidirectional carbon fiber was aplyed along with the shaft and wrapped with kevlar string from and used parachute wire. There will be a big bulge for sure.
I think we are more interested to see your results as this process is not common at all. "Normal" is cut your losses and get a new one ... Depending on how powerfull your friend is, it might still be perfectly useable as is. Though I have seen "professional racket repair" services offered in UK, but don't recall anyone posting results here or even having had it done. Here is one shop that offers the service I recall seeing: http://www.badmintoncentral.com/for...roke-your-Racquet-Dont-Worry-they-can-fix-it-! (see they have completely renewed their website so can now be found here: http://www.thebadmintoncompany.co.uk/products.php?ProductTypeID=162)
Oh, thanks for reply. I had no idea this kind of repair is not normal. This situation reminds me when Serbians shot down F-117 stealth fighter in 1999. Later they said: Sorry we didn't know it is invisible So far I'm content with the repair. Resin is completely cured, the bulge is about 3 cm long, it doesn't look preety though. The racket gained 2,3 g in weight so far. When I was flexing it before repair, there was a cracking noise coming from the crack and now it is gone. Next step will be to spackle the bulge with spackle made of short (1-2mm) carbon fibres mixed with resin and some microbaloons so I can sand it down to a nice rounded shape. The joint is stiff but as kevlar is on the top I can't sand it well. (kevlar is something that can't be sanded as well as carbon or fiberglass) That's for now. I'm out to a petrol station for some free PVC gloves and than will try to finish this thing.
Hi pipol If there is some interest in how-the-repair-was-done, I can post some pictures. The owner is content with the repair and as he said racket feels preety much the same as it was. Now I'm searching for a badminton racket with more damage to see if I can fix it.
okay than, so this will be my last visit to this forum. Moderators can delete my account with my permission.
