Heat Shrink Wrap?

[jonolau]

Originally Posted by ibemadskillzz

Don't even go up a grip size, it's bad for your game, increasing grip size is ridiculous, you will regrett it. trust me don't. Look at federer with a 4 3/8 grip, he has bigger hands than you. you should not try to get big.

Having a grip that is of the wrong size would be detrimental to the game. A grip too big or too small will take away power.

You can test it out by holding the grip, and if you can fit a forefinger just nicely in the gap between your finger tips and the palm pad below the thumb, you've got the correct size.

[Amone]

Originally Posted by ibemadskillzz

Don't even go up a grip size, it's bad for your game, increasing grip size is ridiculous, you will regrett it. trust me don't. Look at federer with a 4 3/8 grip, he has bigger hands than you. you should not try to get big.

I'm a serious headcase when it comes to my game, and I find that one of the keys to my effectiveness on court is comfort on my hands. I really enjoy the feel of an L5 gripsize, and my mental game is more important than a silly Federer comparison to me, so I will respectfully disregard your advice. Thank you, though, for your contribution.

[ibemadskillzz]

disregard my advice? that's rude. How can someone that is a serious headcase about his game buy a wrong grip size in the first place.

[Ripper]

Originally Posted by ibemadskillzz

disregard my advice? that's rude. How can someone that is a serious headcase about his game buy a wrong grip size in the first place.

It happens. Maybe it was a used racquet. Or the shop didn't have his size and he wanted it badly. Or he likes that size and, now, changed his mind. Etc.

Btw, I don't think he was rude; some people here are just too sensitive

[Amone]

Originally Posted by ibemadskillzz

disregard my advice? that's rude. How can someone that is a serious headcase about his game buy a wrong grip size in the first place.

Well, I measured my hand at the time and it was an L4 hand. So I bought an L4 frame. Now it's not, and after playing with an L5 frame recently, I decided that I preferred that size. I bought the frame, after all, over a year ago. Being a teenager, I grow!

[jlambertou]

Resurrecting this thread...

I ordered a couple heat-shrink sleeves from TW, and they are huge, about six inches in diameter. Is that normal? (before they shrink)

I am thinking of using the stove method since I don't even have a hair dryer, let alone a heat gun. If I want it to end up about 7 inches from the butt, should I slide it up to around 7 and 7/8? Then hold the top while I start rotating the butt end over the stove? How far off should I hold it, like an inch? Then once it start shrinking, can I let go of the top part? hehe

Those of you that have done this, have the sleeves stayed firmly in place for a long time?

I had also purchased some balsa wood strops, and cut some to size, but that looks like it is going to be a bigger headache than i thought, with trimming them for the smaller bevels, and gluing to the frame. Also the wood is so light, I think I may actually lose more feel than with a sleeve. Heat shrink sleeve is nicely reversible. [I guess I will just have to make an airplane or something with that wood.]

[jlambertou]

Just some updates on this topic... I customized a grip today, and had lots of fun. Took forever long to do it, cause I can't do anything the easy way. But anyway:

1) Put on a heat shrink sleeve using an electric burner on my stove. It came out crooked on top, so I trimmed it, protecting the paint job by sticking a scrap piece of tubing under the top as I cut it... but that stretched out the top. So I took it back to the burner, trying to get the top to shrink. But I forgot to rotate... and promptly burned a hole in the side of the tube. Oops...

2) Used the *other* heat shrink sleeve (which I had been saving for my other racquet) and did a better job. By the way, you need to put it more than 3/8 in. above where you want the top... more like 3/4 in. It shrinks a lot. I trimmed the bottom to where there is only a very small ring around the butt. [This brought it up one size]

3) Put vinyl tape over the top of the sleeve, then a few layers above it, since it hadn't gone as high as I wanted.

4) I had cut strips of 1/32" bass wood (harder and heavier than balsa) to the length I wanted (about 6 5/8 from butt cap to where I wanted the handle to stop) - 1/2 in. for the short sides and the diagonal bevels, and three times 1/4" for the long sides. Using medium CA glue (moving quickly), I started by gluing on the 1/2 in strips to the short sides. Then I had to trim the strips for the bevels down to about 7/16" with a box knife and scissors, plus sand them here and there, and glued them next. Then I put two 1/4" strips on each long side up against the bevels. This left an irregular gap on each long side, due to the size of those sides, imperfections in my technique, the shape of the top of the handle, etc. So I cut and sanded some tiny strips (about 3/8") to fit as best I could.

5) Then I sanded all the rough edges, trying to make it a smooth octagon.

6) Almost applied a coat of clear enamel, but thought better of it when I saw that it would need to dry for a few hours. Decided the wood was hard enough (it is bass, not balsa).

7) Wrapped the whole thing in packing tape (clear, thin tape) nice and tight, about 2 or 3 layers in several rows.

Built up the butt capp with vinyl tape, about five layers in two rows.

9) Reapplied the original grip and one overgrip.

Now it measures a little over 5 7/8 around. I still can't fit my whole index finger between my finger and my hand, but I like this size. I am wondering if grip sizes don't exactly correspond to 8ths of an inch, because the heat shrink, thin wood, and overgrip should have only added about 3 sizes, but they aded more than 4 (started out with a size 3).

And all the plastic, wood, and glue weighed so much that my Hyper Hammer 6.3 OS is now 1 point head-*light* (started out about 5 pts head heavy). We'll see how it plays... it feels good in my hands anyway.

Well, that got kind of off-topic for this forum. So to summarize what is relevant for heat shrink tubing:

1) It really will burn (and evaporate apparently). So be careful. Keep it moving.

2) But stoves do work, if you're careful.

3) Leave about 3/4 above where you want the top of it to be (for the stuff TW is currently selling anyway). It will shrink a lot. You should hold on to it when you start heating the bottom, but soon you will have to let go, and it will pull down.

[jonolau]

Sounds like you had a tough time in the kitchen ...

A hairdryer would more than suffice which is what I've been using for all my heat shrink sleeves.

[pgtennisconnect]

Originally Posted by jlambertou

Resurrecting this thread...

I ordered a couple heat-shrink sleeves from TW, and they are huge, about six inches in diameter. Is that normal? (before they shrink)

I am thinking of using the stove method since I don't even have a hair dryer, let alone a heat gun. If I want it to end up about 7 inches from the butt, should I slide it up to around 7 and 7/8? Then hold the top while I start rotating the butt end over the stove? How far off should I hold it, like an inch? Then once it start shrinking, can I let go of the top part? hehe

Those of you that have done this, have the sleeves stayed firmly in place for a long time?

I had also purchased some balsa wood strops, and cut some to size, but that looks like it is going to be a bigger headache than i thought, with trimming them for the smaller bevels, and gluing to the frame. Also the wood is so light, I think I may actually lose more feel than with a sleeve. Heat shrink sleeve is nicely reversible. [I guess I will just have to make an airplane or something with that wood.]

Hi Jlambert,

6 inches in diamater for those sleeves??? Is there a typo here? Do you mean 6cm instead?

A typical racket grip diameter (L1-L5) would be around 30-40mm range only. How would a 6inch sleeve be heated to wrap around the bevels nicely without bumps, overlays & creases?

I came across a range of heat shrink tube at a local electronics specialty store, with prices increasing exponentially (per m) as diameter goes up. 150mm diameter is the largest they have. That's about the 6" you mentioned above. Can't even imagine how much the shopkeeper will charge for it!

If it's really 6", then makes all sense in the world to order from TW. It's only $2 per piece. No amount of bulk buying from outside hardware/specialty stores can match this price

Regards,
Lai
Penang island, Malaysia

[TheLambsheadrep]

How much would the bays items 181011923575 or 251009331932 increase grip size, closer to a half or full size?

[pgtennisconnect]

Originally Posted by pgtennisconnect

Hi Jlambert,

6 inches in diamater for those sleeves??? Is there a typo here? Do you mean 6cm instead?

A typical racket grip diameter (L1-L5) would be around 30-40mm range only. How would a 6inch sleeve be heated to wrap around the bevels nicely without bumps, overlays & creases?

I came across a range of heat shrink tube at a local electronics specialty store, with prices increasing exponentially (per m) as diameter goes up. 150mm diameter is the largest they have. That's about the 6" you mentioned above. Can't even imagine how much the shopkeeper will charge for it!

If it's really 6", then makes all sense in the world to order from TW. It's only $2 per piece. No amount of bulk buying from outside hardware/specialty stores can match this price

Regards,
Lai
Penang island, Malaysia

Hi JLambert,

Or did you mean 6" for the sleeve circumference? Divided by "pi" = 3.142xxx, that'll return an actual diameter of 48.38mm. At least this is more like it, no?

Regards,
Lai

[mmk]

Originally Posted by pgtennisconnect

Hi JLambert,

Or did you mean 6" for the sleeve circumference? Divided by "pi" = 3.142xxx, that'll return an actual diameter of 48.38mm. At least this is more like it, no?

Regards,
Lai

You do realize that you are asking about a 5 year old thread, right?

[SystemicAnomaly]

Originally Posted by pgtennisconnect

Hi JLambert,

Or did you mean 6" for the sleeve circumference? Divided by "pi" = 3.142xxx, that'll return an actual diameter of 48.38mm. At least this is more like it, no?

Regards,
Lai

Lai, it is highly doubtful that you are going to see a response from this individual. He/She has not been active on the TW message boards at all since Sept of 2007.

[pgtennisconnect]

Yup, I noticed the old thread started back in 2007..but I believe the questions remain relevant even until today. Let's say I was just hoping it'll pique someone's interest & hopefully there'll be a reply based on recent experiences...

So does anyone on this thread know what's the minimum diameter dimension required of the heat sleeve? (not the circumference). Electronic & hardware stores sell their sleeves based on diameter, not circumference.

Thanks for the lead guys!

Regards,
Lai

[TheLambsheadrep]

I based what I know now on this vid - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-5ds...eature=related . I measured the longest part of my grip and found (based on the 20-30% shrink compensation factor whatever) i need between 45-48mm diameter, or an easy 50mm.

my question from above - How much would the bays items 181011923575 or 251009331932 increase grip size, closer to a half or full size?

[pgtennisconnect]

Originally Posted by TheLambsheadrep

I based what I know now on this vid - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-5ds...eature=related . I measured the longest part of my grip and found (based on the 20-30% shrink compensation factor whatever) i need between 45-48mm diameter, or an easy 50mm.

my question from above - How much would the bays items 181011923575 or 251009331932 increase grip size, closer to a half or full size?

Thx bro! That is a very helpful video indeed. Hopefully 20-30% extra width would adequately compensate for the 7-sided bevel edge "angling" on our racket grips.

Also, i'm not too sure how to distinguish btw 1/2 & full sized sleeves, so why not use an O/G if just bumping up 1/2? There's a youtube video which says half/white sleeves are quite messy to use, as it's thinness easily causes folds, creases, etc

Good day!
Lai

[pgtennisconnect]

Originally Posted by pgtennisconnect

Thx bro! That is a very helpful video indeed. Hopefully 20-30% extra width would adequately compensate for the 7-sided bevel edge "angling" on our racket grips.

Also, i'm not too sure how to distinguish btw 1/2 & full sized sleeves, so why not use an O/G if just bumping up 1/2? There's a youtube video which says half/white sleeves are quite messy to use, as it's thinness easily causes folds, creases, etc

Good day!
Lai

Eureka! Get a heat sleeve with at least 63-68mm actual/on-spot diameter measurement & presto! With a heat gun at hi settings & 30secs heating, the sleeve wraps around ur grip perfectly. No kinks, folds, bumps or even any need to trim. 2 sleeves over each other doesn't even cause bevel-feel loss. But balance does shift abt 3pts towards butt-cap

[LeeD]

Now that's some bad advice!
Grip size should be personal, and your choice.
Baseliners normally prefer small, with heavier rackets.
Net players can prefer the size they want.
Mi*******s can solve the problem by adding bigger grips or heavier racketweights, or watch the ball more closely.
Small gripsizes, -3/8. are fine for some, poison to other's.
I use 4 5/8th with an overgrip, and nobody ever accused me of hitting to softly, any tennis stroke.

[LeeD]

I'm surprised someone who mishits, the asterisks in post 38, needs to be censored.

[diredesire]

Originally Posted by LeeD

I'm surprised someone who mishits, the asterisks in post 38, needs to be censored.

To be fair, the part that is blanked out is someone who takes vulgar poops.