CAP Grommets- Prove I'm an Idiot

meowmix

Hall of Fame
I'm probably going to get some stuff about being an idiot, but here goes:

Grommets are grommets right? If you cut up a CAP Grommet set into individual grommets, you'd get little grommets that could fit into virtually any racket, right? So could you, hypothetically, CAP a PS 85?
 

abenguyen

Hall of Fame
well it depends on how you cut up the grommets. if you cut it it up single ones by single grommet holes it will be a pain to string as in the grommets may come out when tensioning. hypothetically sounds like you could cap a PS 85 but it would take a long time to do
 
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PrestigeClassic

Guest
Grommets are not grommets when the PS has a wider cross-section necessitating longer grommets, especially around PWS. At the very least, you'll need more than one set of CAP.
 

Greg Raven

Semi-Pro
Why not get a RAB grommet kit, install the grommets, and then tape over the outside of the frame? It would have to look better than a hacked up CAP system.
 

meowmix

Hall of Fame
Grommets are not grommets when the PS has a wider cross-section necessitating longer grommets, especially around PWS. At the very least, you'll need more than one set of CAP.

So basically you're saying that the problem would arise if the grommets are not long enough?
 
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PrestigeClassic

Guest
...not to mention, CAP's are meant to completely encase a 19mm frame so they might work for a slightly thicker frame but not thinner.
 

meowmix

Hall of Fame
Why not get a RAB grommet kit, install the grommets, and then tape over the outside of the frame? It would have to look better than a hacked up CAP system.

What's a RAB grommet kit?

I'm not actually going to CAP a PS 85. It's just that everybody's talking about CAPing LM Radicals and whatnot that I just started wondering about CAPing other stuff.
 

kinsella

Semi-Pro
I haven't seen anyone address the cross-section issue for grommets that were not designed for a particular stick. I presume you would want the CAP part of the CAP grommets, not just the grommet tube. The 6.0 85 is one of the thinnest beamed racquets ever and almost any set of CAP grommets would stick out on both sides. Cutting up CAPS to put on the PS 6.0 is just a really bad idea, but not a bad question.

To get a CAP effect without the caps, just put lead all the way around the head, as opposed to locating it at certain clock positions. I have posted the weight of a typical set of CAPS, but don't have it handy. I think it adds a LOT of weight compared to a normal grommet set
 
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PrestigeClassic

Guest
I haven't seen anyone address the cross-section issue for grommets that were not designed for a particular stick. I presume you would want the CAP part of the CAP grommets, not just the grommet tube. The 6.0 85 is one of the thinnest beamed racquets ever and almost any set of CAP grommets would stick out on both sides. Cutting up CAPS to put on the PS 6.0 is just a really bad idea, but not a bad question.

To get a CAP effect without the caps, just put lead all the way around the head, as opposed to locating it at certain clock positions. I have posted the weight of a typical set of CAPS, but don't have it handy. I think it adds a LOT of weight compared to a normal grommet set

I'm also surprised it seems nobody mentioned cross-section. It seems it would be an important detail when cross-fitting bumpers. As for lead making up for lack of CAP, I would think most bumpers are almost as heavy as CAP inch for inch. Therefore, I would keep the compensatory lead mostly all at 3/9. Newer CAP grommets (Liquidmetal) aren't as dense or as heavy as the older materials from the Prestige Classic and Pro Tour days, which I think has the sole benefit of getting rid of some of the dead weight around the lower shoulders.
 

Pleepers

Professional
Are you concerned with protecting the frame from scratches? Just use racquet tape. Besides there's the issue of the diameter of the hole for the grommet --not all are created equal.
 

SFrazeur

Legend
Head tape would accomplish nearly the same effect, although not as cool looking. Here is a picture of my old RDS 001 mid, with what I called "a poor man's CAP grommets:" Electrical tape.

DSC_0022.jpg


-SF
 

meowmix

Hall of Fame
Are you concerned with protecting the frame from scratches? Just use racquet tape. Besides there's the issue of the diameter of the hole for the grommet --not all are created equal.

No, no, no. I'm not going to cap anything (all I've got are a Gamma Ipex 7.0, a cracked n5, and some aluminums). I'm just interested in the possibility of being able to switch grommets from racket to racket.
 

abenguyen

Hall of Fame
Head tape would accomplish nearly the same effect, although not as cool looking. Here is a picture of my old RDS 001 mid, with what I called "a poor man's CAP grommets:" Electrical tape.

DSC_0022.jpg


-SF

looks the same but one scrape makes the coolness go away
 

Pleepers

Professional
No, no, no. I'm not going to cap anything (all I've got are a Gamma Ipex 7.0, a cracked n5, and some aluminums). I'm just interested in the possibility of being able to switch grommets from racket to racket.

Wow...you're cheap.
 

meowmix

Hall of Fame
Wow...you're cheap.

Hey, what can I say? :)

No, I'm NOT going to be switching grommets from one racket to another. I have backup grommet sets I ordered off of TW. The point of this thread was simply to explore the possibilities of doing something like Capping a PS 85.
 

Bud

Bionic Poster
I haven't seen anyone address the cross-section issue for grommets that were not designed for a particular stick. I presume you would want the CAP part of the CAP grommets, not just the grommet tube. The 6.0 85 is one of the thinnest beamed racquets ever and almost any set of CAP grommets would stick out on both sides. Cutting up CAPS to put on the PS 6.0 is just a really bad idea, but not a bad question.

To get a CAP effect without the caps, just put lead all the way around the head, as opposed to locating it at certain clock positions. I have posted the weight of a typical set of CAPS, but don't have it handy. I think it adds a LOT of weight compared to a normal grommet set

The CAP grommets add about 15g of additional weight to the head of a PT280.
 

retrowagen

Hall of Fame
Sometimes it's fun to think about these kind of things.

However, with these C.A.P. ("Computer Assisted Protection" according to Head's 1986 catalogue schtick; the cheezy name - er, acronym - stuck and is still sticking tenaciously to tennis nerds everywhere today) grommet systems, the idea was to protect the strings and edges of the frames from court rash. When they first came out (in 1986, on the TXP), I thought they were a heavy-handed solution (what player is really going to scrape anything between the 3 and 9 o'clock positions on the frame?), and bloody annoying (they make a "tweet" sound as the racket is swung). And not all stringers like them, or can pull fatter strings (16 or 15L) through the slots as they finish and the strip "clams down."

Modern tennis nerds love them because they add weight to rackets that probably start out lighter than they ought to be for anyone under age 55 / over USTA rating 3.0. OK, fine, but Head designed them sized to wrap around the contours of a fairly thin-width beam: 18mm, in the case of the PC600 and its variants. I suppose one could chop one up to fit into a PS85, but it's a bit thinner in beam, isnt it, and the plastic would stick out. Wider beamed rackets (just about everything else available in the world) would cause problems, as the string pulls would cause the clam action and the fluted outer edges flattening against the beam would compound this phenomenon. And who knows how deep the channel on the subject frame is, compared to the clearance on the Head grommet? And no matter how you it pans out functionally, it'd look positively ghetto.

If ya gotta, install the generic individual hole grommets and some head protection tape. But, to address the question you posed in the title of this thread, the proof is in the pudding. Find the grommet, chop it up, and test your hypothesis. You'll be the first with definitive proof as to whether you are that guy Dostoevsky was writing about or not.
 
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Bud

Bionic Poster
Sometimes it's fun to think about these kind of things.

However, with these C.A.P. ("Computer Assisted Protection" according to Head's 1986 catalogue schtick; the cheezy name - er, acronym - stuck and is still sticking tenaciously to tennis nerds everywhere today) grommet systems, the idea was to protect the strings and edges of the frames from court rash. When they first came out (in 1986, on the TXP), I thought they were a heavy-handed solution (what player is really going to scrape anything between the 3 and 9 o'clock positions on the frame?), and bloody annoying (they make a "tweet" sound as the racket is swung). And not all stringers like them, or can pull fatter strings (16 or 15L) through the slots as they finish and the strip "clams down."

Modern tennis nerds love them because they add weight to rackets that probably start out lighter than they ought to be for anyone under age 55 / over USTA rating 3.0. OK, fine, but Head designed them sized to wrap around the contours of a fairly thin-width beam: 18mm, in the case of the PC600 and its variants. I suppose one could chop one up to fit into a PS85, but it's a bit thinner in beam, isnt it, and the plastic would stick out. Wider beamed rackets (just about everything else available in the world) would cause problems, as the string pulls would cause the clam action and the fluted outer edges flattening against the beam would compound this phenomenon. And who knows how deep the channel on the subject frame is, compared to the clearance on the Head grommet? And no matter how you it pans out functionally, it'd look positively ghetto.

If ya gotta, install the generic individual hole grommets and some head protection tape. But, to address the question you posed in the title of this thread, the proof is in the pudding. Find the grommet, chop it up, and test your hypothesis. You'll be the first with definitive proof as to whether you are that guy Dostoevsky was writing about or not.

Ok... now I'm curious... which character from which novel do you refer? :)
 

retrowagen

Hall of Fame
Ok... now I'm curious... which character from which novel do you refer? :)
Prince Lyov Nikolayevich Myshkin; for our practical purposes, the title character of... The Idiot.

Thus concludes this week's Over Everyone's Head Literary Allusion. Tune in next week for another obscure reference from classic world literature...
 

Bud

Bionic Poster
Prince Lyov Nikolayevich Myshkin; for our practical purposes, the title character of... The Idiot.

Thus concludes this week's Over Everyone's Head Literary Allusion. Tune in next week for another obscure reference from classic world literature...

Never read that one :oops:
 
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