Chronicles of teachingpro tx hydrodip

[teachingprotx]

I’m gonna take you step by step of what I did . There are of course different ways . But he mine
1. Locate the racket
2 start sanding ! I use a hand held electric sander and I wouldn’t go either other way
For folks wanting to just skuff so they the next all you need is some sand paper and scuff up a bit so the paint will adhere .
3 . Give your racket to the artist
Discuss what what film and what base color you want . This is very important .For instance I am on my next project candy apple red carbon fiber look is what I’m after . So the artist will spray gun a base coat of red and then let it dry a bit and then will dip it in a Vat. Add the chemicals and the
Dip begins .
Next step is pulling out the racket and it wil be what it looks like for the remainder of its life .
Next is the tough part .
The protective spray !’
So my girl uses automotive industrial clear coat And she uses a spray gun for maximum coverage and the top dollar clear coat!
Heed my warning! Make sure who ever is doing your project uses a clear coat with hardener.
And then wait 3-5 weeks for dry time ! I know that seems like forever but if your gonna shell out all this money and then you dig out a low scraping volley you will die if it rips off the dip !
The last time I did this I waited an extra 3 weeks just in case and the material was rock solid ! You would really dig into the court for any damage . It’s pretty darn durable on its on even with out the clear coat that will protect it wonderfully .
Great example I dig out a low scraping volley more than once . So low that in any other racket it would have deeply gauged the paint . But not on my dipped frame ! I don’t even use a bumper gaurd and it still was tough to scratch up I’m any way . Plus even if you did happen to scratch too deep don’t forget that whatever color your wanting to achive say it’s grey carbon fibre . Well the artist will paint it up in all grey anyway so if by chance you did gauge the dip will just show thru to the color it was underneath which in this example “ grey”
All you would still see is grey and so it will all bleed into together hiding any blemishes that you will
Acquire .
So anyway I’ve just sanded my head racket all the way down as I normally do anyway .. even shaved off 2 strategically places where I know they lay the extra carbon layers . The pic I’m provided will showcase a head club pro mid . Pic coming soon!

Here is the skeleton !

https://imgur.com/jnR3eG8

 

[teachingprotx]

At first this rackets first layer was all black carbon fiber once you sand deeper you will still be able to see where the fiberglass was laid and where the carbon was laid . So in the Above pic the lighter colors are where it’s Fiberglas and the darker is where they concentrated more carbon . Now I sanded Almost all the graphite off cause I won’t more flex out of this particular frame my sanding on this project alone has dropped 9pts from my sanding deep within the almost prepreg and some ARE INTO the prepreg! On purpose so this is as far down as I can go without prematurely cracking her while stringing .so
To recap if you want to save time and money do this yourself cause it’s a 45 dollR charge for the artist to sand IT. For me it kills too birds w/ one stone ..
It gets it lower in weight . More flexible . And the artist ( that I personally wouldn’t sand my racket )
so at this Point she is mainly Fiberglas with a bit of carbon stil left at 4 o clock all the way around to 8 o’clock all the rest is that sweet sweet fiberglass that I love so much

 

[teachingprotx]

I’ll be taking this skeleton to my artist to dip this Sunday !
She at that point spray a water based paint using an airbrush .
Then she’ll dip it then pull it out and let dry and cure . Then she willl clear cost using an air gun with auto clear coat . 3 -4 weeks later after she is good and cured hard as a rock she will contact me for pick up. Then I’ll anxiusly await till I feel totally confident thst it’s dry ! Then i will string it up .

 

[teachingprotx]

Oh yeah one more thing you have to pull the grommets too they won’t do it for you either FYI

 

[teachingprotx]

Oh and weight ! Now some of you may want to keep the weight down or just very similar to what it was then don’t sand it down .. just a quick stuffing of the paint is all they will need to paint the first layer of paint before they dip also pull all grommets out before so you can put them back in later ! Otherwise they will dip your grommets too and that job makes the racket look more cheapo

 

[Zoolander]

So what racquets hiding under there?

And did you notice the racquet actually plays a little stiffer with the hard clearcoat? I swear after I did a racquet with a couple of coats of clearcoat it felt a bit stiffer..... which would make sense, right?

 

[teachingprotx]

So what racquets hiding under there?

And did you notice the racquet actually plays a little stiffer with the hard clearcoat? I swear after I did a racquet with a couple of coats of clearcoat it felt a bit stiffer..... which would make sense, right?

Good god son you sound like me now !!!
I totally understand what you mean totally !!
But in this case of “ dipping “ I didn’t feel it was more crisp or stiffer after clear coating

 

[vsbabolat]

Club Pro!