White Weapon Rebuild (Wilson PS Ceramic 85) Thanks @Irvin

[sp1derman]

Hi Guys,

Wanted to share some before and afters from a recent project. I have two Wilson PS ceramic 85's. Actually, one is a friend's and the 4 3/8 is mine. We bought these because we always play at least one set of a classic stick battle. They are very flexible, hefty, headlight racquets. It feels like you're shooting a bow and arrow when playing with these. It feels like the ball stays on your racquet for about 30 seconds with this stick. Anyway, they were both REALLY beat up and the bumpers and grommets were in terrible shape. I mentioned this in a post and @Irvin to the rescue! He sent me quite a few sets of OEM bumper/grommet kits.

Here is a quick rundown of what I did.

1. Took off old bumpers and grommets
2. Took off old leather grips. The 4 1/2 ceramic still had the original blue leather grip
3. Used white touch up paint to fix major scratches.
4. Annealed the OEM plastic bumper kits
5. Installed new bumpers & grommets and TW leather grips
6. I will give my buddy his restored racquet back for Christmas and I'll keep mine for future classic stick battles!

Thanks Again @Irvin. Here are some pictures.





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https%3A//i.imgur.com/UwmVQ8q.png[/img]']https%3A//i.imgur.com/z0XIb6e.jpg[/img]']
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https%3A//i.imgur.com/UwmVQ8q.png[/img]']https%3A//i.imgur.com/pu9WpM5.jpg[/img]']

 

[Trinity110]

That is such a wonderful story, and what an incredible job you did on them. I would be reluctant to try the paint part of the process, but they just look stellar. Full marks to you! And how kind of @Irvin to do what he did.

 

[sp1derman]

If you find car touch up paint that has a fine point pen style dispenser you simply depress the tip in the chip and it basically fills in by itself. I do the same thing for some of my black racquets. ^Thanks!

 

[Irvin]

@sp1derman they look very nice. I see you took my advice on annealing those old grommets, how did that work out for you? Only thing that I would have done different is to set up SWand MgR/I on the 2 rackets before stringing if you are into that. Great job I’m glad someone found a use for those old grommets.

 

[sp1derman]

I can take some spec measurements. But, they are not both mine so no need to try and match them for my purposes. I always play with leather grip but I'll get some unstrung specs with the leather grip.

 

[BounceHitBounceHit]

I had one of these in 1988 [emoji41]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[max]

I knew an old friend who was desperate to find more of these.

 

[legrandLeconte]

I have three Wilson PS ceramic 85 , but with the black top grommet like the one on the PS85.
Great raquets .

 

[Irvin]

I have three Wilson PS ceramic 85 , but with the black top grommet like the one on the PS85.
Great raquets .

The Ceramic and PS85 grommets were the same grommets just a different color. I used to play with the PS85s and my son had the Ceramic 85s. He went through grommets much faster than I did so from time to time I would replace his Blue and White grommets with my black grommets if I did not have any of his in stock.

I can take some spec measurements. But, they are not both mine so no need to try and match them for my purposes. I always play with leather grip but I'll get some unstrung specs with the leather grip.

I was not talking about matching them up I was talking about applying any mass under the grommets and grip before you installed the grips and string to hide any mass you do add. I used to hate his rackets because they were to light for me and he hated mine because they were too heavy.

 

[sp1derman]

I see Irv. I generally play with my classic sticks in stock form. I do plan to spray paint one set of the blue and white grommets black to use with my ps85 that is currently naked. Even my match racquets, blade v7 16x19 are stock other than the leather grip.

 

[sp1derman]

I knew an old friend who was desperate to find more of these.

How desperate?lol

 

[sp1derman]

@Irvin, I spray painted one set of the ceramic grommets matte black to use on my ps85 ( that doesn't have grommets) thinking they would be an exact match. However, the bumper guard doesn't seem to be matching up. Looks like it will be short. I counted 22 holes in frame and bumper but it seems spacing is the issue. Busted my awl in the process so I have to wait until a new one comes in to try and finish. It was really fighting me because I think spacing, especially near the top of the hoop is a little different. Thoughts?

Spidy

 

[teachingprotx]

Never knew these soft flex?

 

[sp1derman]

Never knew these soft flex?

Yes! I don't have a way to measure RA..

 

[Irvin]

@Irvin, I spray painted one set of the ceramic grommets matte black to use on my ps85 ( that doesn't have grommets) thinking they would be an exact match. However, the bumper guard doesn't seem to be matching up. Looks like it will be short. I counted 22 holes in frame and bumper but it seems spacing is the issue. Busted my awl in the process so I have to wait until a new one comes in to try and finish. It was really fighting me because I think spacing, especially near the top of the hoop is a little different. Thoughts?

Spidy

The grommets fit my St Vincent rackets. I tried putting PS85 St Vincent’s on the Chicago PS85 and they didn’t fit well either. I wanted them for the bumper guard which the Chicago version did not have. Maybe the newer PSs are a little different too.

 

[sp1derman]

The grommets fit my St Vincent rackets. I tried putting PS85 St Vincent’s on the Chicago PS85 and they didn’t fit well either. I wanted them for the bumper guard which the Chicago version did not have. Maybe the newer PSs are a little different too.

Ahh, mine is not a St. Vincent..i thought I figured out what mine was but now I forget. I think with one cut across the bumper around 1 o'clock I can make it work. Thanks again!