Does anyone ever take off any racket's buttcap and see what's inside of it? Not always, but chances are pretty high you would find the magical pieces (either plastic or rubber bullet-alike) that are commonly being used by every racket manufacture to change the BP and weight of the racket. These pieces (range from 1cm ~ 7cm in lenght, depending on the series of your racket) are tightly screwed onto the wooden handle, thus you'll need to drill it to take it off without damaging the wood. Caution: taking if off could change the total weight of your racket (e.g 3U → 4U, 4U → 5U) and BP of the racket as well.
i've heard of it before but never tried. Mark A has done it with his TK9000. Is it easy to take out the buttcap? any special way? Just curious about it, not wanna drill out the "magical" piece but wanan remove the buttcap
arh... i see, seen that all the time but didnt know thats the only thing holds it together. always remove original grip since G4 in the US is always a tad big for my small hands
well, how do you know he uses victor rackets. He might be using Yonex or Li ning or maybe other brands
lolz, thanks, yeah, Yonex users for years. Always see G4 in the US, havent seen G5, at least where i live. I even have to sand down the G4 a bit for my small hands.
It's held in with some staples; easy to take out. The rule of thumb is that removing one gram from the handle will add 5 mm to the balance point, but the advantage of doing it this way - as opposed to adding lead tape to the head - is that it doesn't screw around with the shaft mechanics nearly as much. I've done it to all my JS10's, and it turned them pretty much into 5U Thrusters with small heads.
[MENTION=11783]Mark A[/MENTION] So you just remove the plug? Wouldn't that weaken the hollow area by removing a supporting area? So now there's a higher risk of the handle end being crushed if you grip it very tight eg. in a smash.
The handle is hollow up to about the halfway point, and no plug I've ever seen was more than about 3/4 inches long, so I doubt there'd be any danger in taking it out. But you can fill the gap with that expanding builder's foam if you like - it'd rigid, but very light. Best of luck getting it out again if you need to, though.
[MENTION=11783]Mark A[/MENTION]: Mark. is there anything inside the TK9000 to take out or they are already hollow for their high BP?
IME plugs are added to make weight rather than BP; you might very well find one in there if you have a look (and if there is, taking it out gives you free height-weight without affecting the frame structure or racket dynamics).
I thought the plugs were to add back structural integrity after partially hollowing out the handle to reduce weight.
When I shake my Wilson racket, I can feel something shaking in the handle. I think it's the little "magical" piece that you guys are talking about. But it's not that magical for me...it's just plain annoying when playing with the racket. (Thank god that's my backup racket) Should I remove it from the handle?
some racquets has nothing in it (hollow) since as Mark said, its there if the racquet is not right within the weight range, they add it in to make consistency to racquets [MENTION=113761]orangenetic[/MENTION] : the small bit inside the handle is held by stapler, so most likely its been loose by usage, which is rare, perhaps the quality is not that good. But also beware, some racquet has some sort of ball inside (i have no idea whats the purpose). Like my friend has a li-ning racquet that has some sort of ball and its so annoying to play with, its different from what we talking about here