De-painting your badminton racquet

DuckFeet

DuckFeet

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Discuss.

I did this to my panda trinity pro Kevlar. Took an hour with 80 grit. Next one will be 120, finished with 400/600 then I used car wax to seal it.

Balance is slightly off on this one side to.side. I need balance this, finish with higher grit, then more wax where I've missed the bare Kevlar a bit. More cutting string and grommet swapping.

Now faster, usable 83/285 and my new favourite. Dare I say better looking?
 

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Good job!

Just a rehash, yes that's about 4-5g worth of paint and clearcoat removed there. Now what you have left is just the carbon good stuff doing the hitting... no unnecessary frivolous cosmetic stuff.
 
I'm about to try this when I get home.

Do you have any tips to remove paint off in an even manner? [MENTION=57143]visor[/MENTION] how does the spin test work for balance?
 
looks like snake skin.

i have done it to a bike fork before. it is a lot of work.
 
I did it to a few badminton racquets back in the 80's. Took the paint off completely from the frame and shaft.

Never done it since then as I have had better things to do with my time!
 
Hm, is there any special note I should take in this procedure?

My current plan is simply:
1. remove grommets
2. Sand vigorously
3. insert grommets
 
Sand gentely. Spin test. Only 3-4g with 80 grit and 1hr elbow grease.

Then a damp cloth to clean it, then protect it, leave it a week to check Kevlar is not fraying. New grommets, restring, enjoy.

Sell to DuckFeet if you don't like it. Mine was proper heavy so only do top half maybe. Gram at a time, weighing it frequently.

I'm no expert so I posted this to get some better advice to anyone else attempting this. I'm not sure I recommend but I'm the sort to lap a CPU for overclocking so...

Love it!
 
I will report back next time I clash it but I'm not worried about it breaking tbh. In that I don't think it will break. I'll be gutted if it does!.
 
Spin test: cradle in fingers of one hand and spin the handle, mine has a slight wobble to it. When I let it rest (will use corner of a table or something flat) it dips one side so I assume that's the heavier side.

Will report back as I'll even it up, sand the lumps, rewax a LOT, then put the good stuff in there. Has to be yellow ultimax!
 
Just so we're aware, I'm sure we all know that removing the paint and clearcoat will surely weaken the surface structural integrity such that any clash will likely spell the end of its life.

But thinking about it some more, I think this problem can be averted to some degree... by carefully sanding only the *inside* surface of the frame. Sure this would only remove about a third of the amount of paint and clearcoat, but at least you'll still have some semblance of protection against clashes...

(Gets ready a list of wet to dry sanding items to buy, and picking the heaviest XP70...)
 
Last edited:
Nice tip, and warning, thanks visor. I wonder how much weaker? Given Kevlar is very strong and the tpk is rated to 34 I think. I'll see how it holds up to 26lb next. If I've turned it into low tension only then I'm happy with 23lb zm62. I've no idea how thick the Kevlar is.
 
Did you measure the weight of the racket before and after all the paint was sanded off?
 
I read that carbon didn't like chemicals. Wasnt sure on Kevlar. Didn't know where the carbon for T piece started so I went with paper. Is there such thing as delicate shot/sand blasting?

Bare frame, no grommets, grip still on (bad idea! It's so mucky now).
92g. I sanded until it was 90. Still felt heavy so went until it hit 88. Perfect. Balance massively changed so I could have gone all over and lighter sanding to maintain the ratio and still lose the weight. But I wanted all the weight gone from the head, max speed and max visible kevlar! Only based on kitchen scales so there's probably +/- 1g there I think.
 
I can't decide if you're insane, or a genius. I'm going with insane genius. :D

If you wanted less weight in the head, why not...dramatic pause...use a head-light racket?

No wait, I think I know the answer to that. It's all about the tweaking, right?
 
I like modding stuff. It was mostly that the shaft and head felt so right that it was worth the risk.

Thanks. I think? Just a serial modder/tweaker with enough experience with other racquets that I felt there was something special hiding under all that weight.

Ok [MENTION=2233]Gollum[/MENTION]. Find me a 8.0 flex, which recovers as fast as this shaft, full Kevlar head, 84g even/headlight racquet for £60 AND a buyer for a 87/305 non-mainstream racquet! Easier and funner to mod it.

Now Dink, I'd say HE's the genius :)
 
DuckFeet said:
Ok [MENTION=2233]Gollum[/MENTION]. Find me a 8.0 flex, which recovers as fast as this shaft, full Kevlar head, 84g even/headlight racquet for £60 AND a buyer for a 87/305 non-mainstream racquet! Easier and funner to mod it.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't even know what a 8.0 flex was. Or an 87/305. ;)

The trouble I would have with modding a racket is (1) no skill, I'd probably break it and (2) I would then need three of them.

Very impressive work. :)
 
I bet you don't measure string frequency either! I'll explain in a pmail if interested.

Thanks, save it for after some durability testing.
 
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