Automatic Re-Gripping Machine: Is there a need?

BathStudent · Feb 10, 2018

I'm in my final year of a Mechanical Engineering degree at the University of Bath, and I've been tasked with designing a machine which can automatically apply a new grip to a tennis racquet. Part of the task is to assess the market for such a machine and to do that, I need the help of tennis players!

My main question is how interested the tennis community would be in a machine capable of consitently re-gripping a racquet, and how much would you be prepared to pay to use the machine?

If you are interested in helping me and my group further, I would really appreciate some responses to this survey: https://goo.gl/forms/ltQwfMJZ1xkkgcLi2

Whilst I know that re-gripping a tennis racquet is fairly straigtforward to do by hand, any opinions surrounding who might benefit most from a machine like this would be great.

Thank you for your time!

movdqa · Feb 10, 2018

I don't think that there would be a market for this. Most people don't change their grips often as most use overgrips.

ATP Pros are often shown on television putting on their own overgrips when they could just have someone on their staff do it so it seems like something that most people are comfortable with doing manually.

Sambuccashake · Feb 10, 2018

If you hurry up you can sell it to Gasquet so that he can spend his change over drinking and resting instead of constantly regripping his racquet.

But unfortunately he's the only one.

Edit:
Are you talking about the undergrip?
In that case manufacturing plants may want it.

movdqa · Feb 10, 2018

BTW, congrats on graduating with an ME - that's a major accomplishment.

haqq777 · Feb 10, 2018

BathStudent said:
I'm in my final year of a Mechanical Engineering degree at the University of Bath, and I've been tasked with designing a machine which can automatically apply a new grip to a tennis racquet. Part of the task is to assess the market for such a machine and to do that, I need the help of tennis players!

My main question is how interested the tennis community would be in a machine capable of consitently re-gripping a racquet, and how much would you be prepared to pay to use the machine?

If you are interested in helping me and my group further, I would really appreciate some responses to this survey: https://goo.gl/forms/ltQwfMJZ1xkkgcLi2

Whilst I know that re-gripping a tennis racquet is fairly straigtforward to do by hand, any opinions surrounding who might benefit most from a machine like this would be great.

Thank you for your time!

Happy to help a fellow engineer out. Just filled the survey. Best of luck with your course.

IowaGuy · Feb 10, 2018

Gasquet - 17 seconds to re-grip

Racketdesign · Feb 10, 2018

IowaGuy said:
Gasquet - 17 seconds to re-grip

Just over half the handle..

IowaGuy · Feb 10, 2018

Racketdesign said:
Just over half the handle..

Yeah, for whatever reason, Gasquet likes his overgrips short!

haqq777 · Feb 10, 2018

He started short overgrips on half handle from 2012. Before that they were much longer. Longest when he was s junior IIRC. Its been a gradual event.

Sambuccashake · Feb 10, 2018

In todays match I noticed he didn't even wrap half.
Index finger is on the leather.

DanS · Feb 10, 2018

IowaGuy said:
Yeah, for whatever reason, Gasquet likes his overgrips short!

....and his butt caps big! lol

kimguroo · Feb 10, 2018

Unless anyone needs to regrip rackets over 100 rackets per a day, the machine is useless.
Some people do not know how to re-grip but most of your team mates or even opponents are willing to regrip.

DanS · Feb 10, 2018

Sambuccashake said:
Are you talking about the undergrip?
In that case manufacturing plants may want it.

I agree with this, but I have to wonder if something like this already exists on the retail end of manufacturing?

Attila_the_gorilla · Feb 10, 2018

I use two overgrips on thr bare handle, the first overgrip without overlap. These are very easy to install by hand.

I agree that such machines should be marketed to racket manufacturers.

scotus · Feb 10, 2018

BathStudent said:
I'm in my final year of a Mechanical Engineering degree at the University of Bath, and I've been tasked with designing a machine which can automatically apply a new grip to a tennis racquet. Part of the task is to assess the market for such a machine and to do that, I need the help of tennis players!

My main question is how interested the tennis community would be in a machine capable of consitently re-gripping a racquet, and how much would you be prepared to pay to use the machine?

If you are interested in helping me and my group further, I would really appreciate some responses to this survey: https://goo.gl/forms/ltQwfMJZ1xkkgcLi2

Whilst I know that re-gripping a tennis racquet is fairly straigtforward to do by hand, any opinions surrounding who might benefit most from a machine like this would be great.

Thank you for your time!

I'm not sure if there's much demand for such a machine for personal use. For racquet manufacturing factories, they already have machines that perform that task.

DanS · Feb 10, 2018

scotus said:
I'm not sure if there's much demand for such a machine for personal use. For racquet manufacturing factories, they already have machines that perform that task.

I thought as much.

Faris · Feb 10, 2018

Attila_the_gorilla said:
I use two overgrips on thr bare handle, the first overgrip without overlap. These are very easy to install by hand.

So when your overgrip gets dirty or worn... do you change both grips everytime or just the one on top? I would guess both since top one is bound to rub against bottom one and OG being so thin, would wear off... Looks like a good idea for those wanting extreme bevel feel though..

Topspin Shot · Feb 10, 2018

Sorry OP I don't see a market for it. It takes me about 30 seconds to grip my racket. If you're doing this for course credit, have fun with it. If you're doing it to make money, I recommend you do something else.

Attila_the_gorilla · Feb 10, 2018

Faris said:
So when your overgrip gets dirty or worn... do you change both grips everytime or just the one on top? I would guess both since top one is bound to rub against bottom one and OG being so thin, would wear off... Looks like a good idea for those wanting extreme bevel feel though..

Just the top one. The bottom shows no sgns of wear, though I do change it after a while.
I use this setup to reduce the grip size. Used to use Skin Feel + overgrip, but decided I preferred a smaller grip. The extra feel is an added bonus, I enjoy it.

Automatix · Feb 11, 2018

BathStudent said:
My main question is how interested the tennis community would be in a machine capable of consitently re-gripping a racquet, and how much would you be prepared to pay to use the machine? ... Whilst I know that re-gripping a tennis racquet is fairly straigtforward to do by hand, any opinions surrounding who might benefit most from a machine like this would be great.

Due to the straight forwardness of thetask and the fact it's not done that often (by the consumer/user) the only target audience would be the factories where racquets are finished... However it is already done in about 5 seconds using a simple rotation device - look at the video below (from 2:09).

BathStudent · Feb 11, 2018

Thanks for all your opinons and the entertaining Gasquet video!

Unfortunately I don't have a say in what we have to design, the lecturers decide that. Personally I feel there would be more money in a decent restringing machine but we've got to work with what we've been told to do.

Yes the machine is for undergrips, so we're considering the manufacturing market but some of our other research is indicating that factory labour is cheaper than automating the process. The team have come up with the idea that we could market it at the juniors as more of a novelty experience, any thoughts on that?

Automatix · Feb 11, 2018

BathStudent said:
Unfortunately I don't have a say in what we have to design, the lecturers decide that. Personally I feel there would be more money in a decent restringing machine but we've got to work with what we've been told to do.

You'll get used to it - you do what your supervisor wants, be it the goverment or an advisor. PhD Eng. here and the research projects we had to design just because they were likely to be funded... blah!

BathStudent said:
...but some of our other research is indicating that factory labour is cheaper than automating the process.

From my experience, being small talks with people who outsource production to China (not tennis related though), they are right.

When we talk about implementing certain techs, it often comes down to the time something has to start making a profit - that is, after what time the savings equal more than the initial cost of the investment and its maintenance.
The problem of applying the above in your case is you save time, and not that much of it.

SpinToWin · Feb 11, 2018

BathStudent said:
I'm in my final year of a Mechanical Engineering degree at the University of Bath, and I've been tasked with designing a machine which can automatically apply a new grip to a tennis racquet. Part of the task is to assess the market for such a machine and to do that, I need the help of tennis players!

My main question is how interested the tennis community would be in a machine capable of consitently re-gripping a racquet, and how much would you be prepared to pay to use the machine?

If you are interested in helping me and my group further, I would really appreciate some responses to this survey: https://goo.gl/forms/ltQwfMJZ1xkkgcLi2

Whilst I know that re-gripping a tennis racquet is fairly straigtforward to do by hand, any opinions surrounding who might benefit most from a machine like this would be great.

Thank you for your time!

I think the tennis racquet production sites already have such machines, though they only help people regrip faster rather than gripping the racquet autonomously.

As to the demand among rec players: Considering how rarely we need to regrip (base grips) and how fast it really is, I don't think anybody would invest money into such a machine.

I'm sure Wilson and co would bite if you invent a machine which automates racquet production, however.

Imago · Feb 11, 2018

Attila_the_gorilla said:
I use two overgrips on thr bare handle, the first overgrip without overlap.

Gasquet uses one overgrip for two handles.

WYK · Feb 11, 2018

Imago said:
Gasquet uses one overgrip for two handles.

I buildup the base of my grips to swell a bit like a baseball bat. Like the model 243 I used back in HS stateside. They would appear to only have half grips.
I think there's a lot of pros and amateurs that shape their grips how they like them, too. Which is to say, I doubt such a thing as the OP's original line is worth pursuing.

Fxanimator1 · Feb 11, 2018

Maybe not a "machine", but perhaps some sort of packaging that acts as a better disenser. Like a scotch tape dispenser.

MarinaHighTennis · Feb 11, 2018

if you make a machine that automatically strings racquets, I would pay a lot for that!

alidisperanza · Feb 15, 2018

Some people have very specific quirks with their gripping-- spacing, thickness, even how they're tied off at the top. I once had a customer berate me for not cutting the excess over grip and wrapping to the throat of the frame... pffft that was the last time I gave him a free grip.

Anton · Feb 16, 2018

BathStudent said:
I'm in my final year of a Mechanical Engineering degree at the University of Bath, and I've been tasked with designing a machine which can automatically apply a new grip to a tennis racquet. Part of the task is to assess the market for such a machine and to do that, I need the help of tennis players!

My main question is how interested the tennis community would be in a machine capable of consitently re-gripping a racquet, and how much would you be prepared to pay to use the machine?

If you are interested in helping me and my group further, I would really appreciate some responses to this survey: https://goo.gl/forms/ltQwfMJZ1xkkgcLi2

Whilst I know that re-gripping a tennis racquet is fairly straigtforward to do by hand, any opinions surrounding who might benefit most from a machine like this would be great.

Thank you for your time!

Well that one is easy - there is zero consumer market for that.

The only places that would want to use it is mass gripping/re-gripping operations like tennis racket production factories or high traffic tennis pro-shops.

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