Racket Paint Specs.

Discussion in 'Badminton Rackets / Equipment' started by bluejeff, Sep 24, 2004.

  1. bluejeff

    bluejeff Regular Member

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    I have a series of hard-to-answer questions related to the racket paint jobs.

    Personally, I am not very knowledgeable at this subject, and I am looking for people who have done similar jobs or related experiences on this subject. If you know a lot about Cars (cooler? :) ) , it would help a lot.

    Situation:
    I just watched the discovery channel couple weeks ago and the program was about the long size custom built cars that are running at a huge valley for testing speed. (I am not sure if it's drag racing or things like that. But the task was to max the speed with a limited given distance).

    The driver ran it twice with the arrow-like car, but it was closed to 195, 197 mph (the goal was to get over 200 mph). So, the whole team (for that car, there is a team working on the pit-stop) thought about it, and decided to wax the car really well in order to minimize the air drag.

    Then, they tested the car again, and this time, they were able to perform 214 mph, and thanks for the good wax as they discussed it afterwards.

    Transfer the thoughts above to Badminton:

    Since wax does matter in cars.......
    1. If Badminton racket frame is waxed, would it have less air drag?

    Since we all know paint job is not just put colors on the racket and it's done. We have to put primer, paint, and then clear coat in the process.

    2. How much of weight the primer, paint, and the clear coat would weight in a racquet?
    (For the extreme, a 4U racquet is only 80-84 grams. So, even if those primer+paint+clear coat is 2g, it would be 2.5% of the total weight. If they are 4g, then they are 5% of the total weight :eek: )

    3. (This question is related to #2 above) If paint does weight a lot, would a bad paint affects the racquet balance point? (example:such as using too much of paint at the head causes more head-heavy by moving the point up couple of mms.)

    4. (This question is related to #1 above) Since the surfact smoothness does matter the air drag, would a non-smooth paint create more air drag than a smooth paint one?

    I really don't know a way to test all this, but to get a factory racket without any paint on before. Then, weight it before the paint job, and weight it again after the paint job to see the difference in weight.

    Even 1g is a noticeable weight. If you put it at the top of the frame, upon the swinging, you will feel that 1g. (That's why we have lead tapes).
     
  2. cooler

    cooler Regular Member

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    only 200 mph? current land speed record is 763 -800 mph.
    heard the news that a cop caught and ticketed a motorcyclist clocked at 205 mph?

    1. that speedster car has way more surface area than a badminton racket so reduction in skin friction will have noticable benefit for that vehicle than for a badminton racket.

    2. paint thickness on rackets is dependent on particular model.

    3. the paint coat is very thin for the armortec

    4. the final coat on most badminton racquet is very smooth already. waxing it will be just waste of time.

    5. 2 extra wrist curls in your weight training program will add more racquet swing speed than no paint job or waxed racket.
     
    #2 cooler, Sep 25, 2004
    Last edited: Sep 25, 2004

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