Panda Power: A Racket That Can Take 40lbs. String Tension!

Discussion in 'Badminton Rackets / Equipment' started by DinkAlot, Apr 22, 2009.

  1. alana07

    alana07 Regular Member

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    my previous stick was 85.5gram / bp 286mm, it felt even balanced. so this time round i'll be looking at 85-86grams / bp 288-290mm....hope derrick has such a stick in his coming shipment.
     
  2. Sen_jie

    Sen_jie Regular Member

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    haha same here, i was asking for 86g with a bp of 287-288 range

    jus want something just a tini wini bit heavier on the head for more power haha
     
  3. visor

    visor Regular Member

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    You fellas do know that you can fine tune the bp by adding a few inches of athletic or trainers tape on the frame at 1 and 11 o'clock positions to make it a few mm head heavier exactly to your specs and liking, right?
     
  4. Blitzzards

    Blitzzards Regular Member

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    Yes, but whatever amount of weight of tape you add onto the frame will contribute to the overall weight of the racquet. So lets say if you add 5g of lead or athletic tape to the frame of a 86g 3U slightly head heavy racquet, you'll end up with a 91g 2U very head heavy racquet.

    So the main point is can you handle all that weight and shifted balance point?
     
  5. visor

    visor Regular Member

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    We're talking about only a few inches of thin athletic tape, probably weighing less than 1 g. The racket doesn't feel any heavier at all. We're not needing as much tape as Lin Dan's racket.:p;)

    However, the very slight increase in head mass (ie. shift in bp by 2-5 mm) noticeably and significantly affects the power of the shot and the swing speed. This is how one can easily tune the racket to balance between defence and attack.

    Try it! You might like it! What have you got to lose?:D
     
    #1885 visor, Apr 6, 2010
    Last edited: Apr 6, 2010
  6. Blitzzards

    Blitzzards Regular Member

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    Lets apply some simple physics, shall we:

    Force = Mass x Acceleration

    Momentum = Mass x Velocity


    From here we can apparently understand that the amount of weight of tape that you add on to the frame will largely affect the amount of resulting power that you can generate. If the amount of overall athletic tape you add on is less than 1g, then you won't get much force and momentum increase at all in the same racquet unless you also generate much more racquet acceleration, which if you are able to do so then the 1g of weight becomes negligible.

    I don't see the point of not having to add at least about maybe 4g of tape to the frame if you want to consider the physics of force and momentum generation to apply sufficient "power generation properties" onto your racquet.
     
  7. visor

    visor Regular Member

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    I'm not going to get into the math and physics.

    You only need a few inches (less than 1 g, I would think) of tape in order to shift the bp by a a mere 5 mm, which would end up being very noticeable in terms of more power and reduced swing speed.

    After all, the shuttle is only 5 g. You don't need 5 g of tape at all! If you do add 5 g, you'll shift the bp probably like 30 mm, a la Lin Dan, to somewhere around 330 mm (especially with Lin Dan's grip removed and shortened towel grip)!

    I've tried it and do use some tape to adjust my rackets to my preference of attack and defence.
     
    #1887 visor, Apr 6, 2010
    Last edited: Apr 6, 2010
  8. Sen_jie

    Sen_jie Regular Member

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    wow thank bro visor! i didn;t know that. now i can try that on my old racket

    i got a question. when people talk abt weight and BP, do they weight it when the grip and strings are in? or without?

    and how do they accurately measure the BP?

    do you have a picture of how the tape looks like?
     
  9. BrioCloud

    BrioCloud Regular Member

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    Is there a website where I can find Dinkalot's rackets? Or do I have to scroll through 112 pages of this thread to understand all these rackets?! =[
     
  10. maa2003

    maa2003 Regular Member

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    http://dcbadminton.blogspot.com

    e-mail the nearest agent or direct to Dink ...
     
  11. visor

    visor Regular Member

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    1. I believe Sir Dink measures it "dry", ie. without strings and overgrip.

    2. However, when strings and a light overgrip (eg. Yonex 102EX) is included, I find that the bp is maintained quite similarly to "dry", as the overgrip balances with the strings quite evenly. I've gotten a few T2's from Dink and find that to be quite true.

    3. BP is measured with a sharp edge (I use a ruler's edge) and the ruler can be used to measure the distance from the butt cap to the bp. Accuracy is probably around +/- 1mm.

    4. Tape. Any thin light fabric tape will do, eg. athletic tape, trainer's tape, physio tape, hockey tape, etc.
     
  12. alana07

    alana07 Regular Member

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    just a fyi....1 inch of the lead tape is = 1 gram, this is according to the Head lead tape's packaging which i purchased previously.
     
  13. singnflip4life

    singnflip4life Regular Member

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    True true alana07. I use the Gamma half-inch tape, which weighs .5g per inch. The tape however is too wide for any of my rackets, so I cut it in half, which makes every inch I use effectively .25g instead.

    It also fits perfectly in the grooves at the top of my T2 racket, so that's how I modify my racket's sweetspot, at the 10.5 o'clock and the 1.5 o'clock positions, without it being blatantly obvious. The Gamma tape also sticks really well, but doesn't leave behind a residue after removal.
     
  14. illusionistpro

    illusionistpro Regular Member

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    regarding the lead tape, it also matters the width of the tape, i think it comes in different widths
     
  15. visor

    visor Regular Member

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    That may be too much... I just googled.

    Lead tape is mostly used in tennis (not badminton because it is too heavy and dense to allow finer adjustment) in 1/2 and 1/4 inch width strips, weighing 1/2 g and 1/4 g per inch length respectively.

    So, in comparison to the light athletic tape, I'm sure that the 6 inches x 0.25 inches that I use may come close to 0.5 g at most.
     
  16. DinkAlot

    DinkAlot dcbadminton
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    With all this talk about altering rackets:

    DC Badminton does NOT condone the use of lead, athletic tape or any other substance to alter the balance point or weight of the racket.

    Panda Power rackets are specifically designed to perform a certain way. By altering the racket, you are altering the dynamics.

    Of course since it's your racket, you can do what you want with it but we strongly advise against it.

    :)
     
  17. huangxl

    huangxl Regular Member

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    If you were to alter the bp using tape or something. What is the whole point of having ea individual racket weigh and bp measure. Might as well as dink sent it out from china factory straight away so we can alter.
     
  18. visor

    visor Regular Member

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    Of course, I can understand Panda's position on modifying racket characteristics. It would change how it feels and swings. .......................But that is the whole point of tweaking the bp with tape. We're not like hollowing out or sanding the handle down or anything destructive or irreversible................For professional players (and me), it's done to match rackets so that they feel and swing the same. I also fine tune it because I haven't exactly settled on the best bp for me in terms of balance between attack and defence. And I can't afford to buy several rackets with varying bp's to try out. Plus I can always change the bp on the fly depending on my mood that day.
     
  19. ormy4

    ormy4 Regular Member

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    Agree with visor a good way to find out what you like. When you do determine what suits you just order that in the future. That or just sell it and keep ordering more like me :D. Then again I have never really been known as the sharpest knife in the drawer. Just ask Dan when I write him letters explaining
    what I want sometimes.
     
  20. singnflip4life

    singnflip4life Regular Member

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    I have to agree with Visor. But there are other characteristics that cannot be adjusted just by asking Sir Dink, like the position or size of the sweetspot. In total, I used a 1/4 of a gram to tweak the sweetspot to the position ideal for me. Of course, this is circumventing my consistantly off depth perception, but it helps me play better while I fix my footwork.

    The 1/4 gram I used only seemed to minutely change the bp and weight of the racket.
     

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