Broken T-Grip

[Sir Adam]

Broken T-Grip
by Warren
My t-grip cracked and I've got no clue as to how to get the base of it out of the shaft. (There's some pretty sturdy glue holding it in there.) Does anyone have any suggestions. Also, any suggestions on a new t-grip would be great.

Warren
Posted on Jun 13, 2002, 8:56 AM

Broken T-grip fix
by Daniel Holzman
If you have a wooden T-grip you can saw most of the grip off, then shave the grip down to the shaft using sandpaper, a spokeshave, or a rasp, whichever you have and are comfortable using. Then you glue a new T-grip on. You can make your own T-grip out of wood if you are handy, or you can buy them ready made from a few paddle makers (check with your local shop for T-grips, they may have a supplier in mind).

If the T-grip is plastic, you can still saw most of it off, but removing the remainder is going to take a little more work. I have used a very sharp chisel successfully in the past.

The best glue to put a new T-grip on is probably a high quality epoxy, it sticks to wood or fiberglass, and it is flexible in cold, plus it is completely waterproof.
Posted on Jun 13, 2002, 9:17 AM

T-Grip
by Brettal
Sounds like the problems we have at the rental stand... when we have to take the grips off our paddles, we use a heat gun to melt the glue (Okay, so melting the plastic is easier), then hit the grip with a hammer (Well, a mallet). Of course, we have the basic economy-type paddle from carlisle; aluminum shaft, plastic grip, etc.

I'm actually not sure what I used to put the grip back on, the first season I was fixing them, but I've switched to contact cement because that's what was still around. Seems to work pretty well.
Posted on Jun 13, 2002, 6:21 PM

Warren,
by Ric Taylor
Warren,
don't heat it unless the shaft is some sort of metal, because you'll be melting the resin that's holding the grip in, but also the resin that's holding the shaft together because any other shaft type is made of any combination of cloth (graphite fiberglass Kevlar) AND resin.
It the shaft is metal, I always try to get a friend to help me with the actual "pulling out" process. That way with one person heating and rotating, the other person can be pulling and twisting the handle out (wearing gloves to avoid the heat, of course). The two best ways I've found to do it by myself are to vise the handle so that the part that you're going to heat is sticking far enough off the table to make heating it easy, then when it's hot enough you grab the handle and twist and pull yourself. This is the best way, because if you're not careful about pulling the handle straight out of the shaft when the shaft is hot, you can bend the shaft very slightly. The other way is to lock the shaft in the vise as noted previously. Then I take about a foot long length of 2X4 and at one end I cut a little 3 to 4 inch long notch that is the width of the shaft so that you can lay the 2X4 almost parallel to the shaft and then lift the board slightly so that you have both sides of the notch pressed against the bottom of the handle (and the notch itself surrounds the shaft). Then , after the preliminary heating of the shaft, you give the other end of the 2X4 a good swift smack with a hammer to loosen the handle initially. Mohawk paddles have no glue whatsoever and are just pounded in, and this is the best way to get their handle out.

If the shaft is any sort of resin/cloth composite then you've got a lot more work in store, unfortunately. Whether the handle is wood, plastic, foam/cloth or solid resin, the process is pretty much the same: I cut the handle off at the top of the shaft, then vise the shaft and drill a small hole down through the middle of the handle and into the open interior of the shaft. Then I just substitute larger and larger drill bits, making that hole as big as I can. I have a little router bit, about 1 half-inch in diameter, that I use to ream out that hole almost to the edge of the shaft. You have to be VERY CAREFUL DURING ALL OF THIS THAT THE DRILLING AND ROUTING IS DONE WITH THE BIT ABSOLUTELY PARALLEL TO THE SHAFT. If you're not careful, you'll be tempted to angle the bit so that it cuts up the handle material more quickly. But in doing that, the portion of the bit that's underneath the handle and sticking down into the shaft will angle over and ream the inside of the shaft, making it weak. I've actually had the best luck with angling the shaft up off the ground at about a 45 degree angle and anchoring it positively, then sitting on a chair at the end of the shaft and drilling in with the bit. Sort of like you're holding the shaft between your legs, except you have the shaft anchored more firmly. Going straight down gets sort of tiring because it's hard to get far enough above the shaft to make it comfortable. With a hand drill and the router bit, and going very carefully, you can get very close to the edge of the shaft. Then I take a dowel that is basically as close to the size of the hole that you've drilled in the handle material as possible, and wrap a piece of sandpaper around it, then I stick it in that hole and start sanding the rest of the handle material off of the shaft by rotating the dowel (by hand-ugh, yuk!) against the material. If you sand the tip of the dowel so that the edges are soft, you then CAN angle the dowel so that it leans against the interior of the shaft below where you are sanding the handle material. This isn't going to hurt the interior of the shaft that all, and you get a lot more pressure to sand the rest of the handle material off. Just be sure that the sandpaper doesn't go clear down to the tip of the dowel. See that the sandpaper sticks up about an inch or so above the dowel tip, so the sandpaper isn't sanding the inside of the shaft where the tip of the dowel is being pressed to get that extra pressure. At the very end I just take a small piece of sandpaper and wrap it around my finger and sand the last pieces of handle material out of the shaft. Also, I think it's very important to wear a little mask while you're doing all this drilling, because tiny pieces of fiberglass and graphite can get into your lungs and cause internal bleeding and damage that you won't realize until years later. It's really worth the dollar or so to buy a cheap breather mask
As to new T grips, I won't start, but I have a whole rant (complete with pictures) that I'll e-mail you if you are curious. Suffice it to say, that having taught tennis for quite a while, it's my humble opinion that no production handle in existence is nearly large enough to prevent your having to exert far too much pressure in your forearm to grip it. I build my own, and it is basically the size of a small potato. So my advice would be to get the largest grip you can find.
Anyway, sorry for rambling on so long, hope this helps, and let me know if there is any other way I can help.
Good luck;
Ric Taylor

Posted on Jun 14, 2002, 7:12 PM

Removing T-Grips
by Joel
I am a little late in to this conversation but hope I can help for the future.
Removing a T-Grip always depends what it is stuck in with. In the UK we use a fast drying expoxy resin called Araldite. This is very srong and your grip will not fall out. Araldite breaks down at a lower temperature than slow set epoxies what the shaft will be made from. SO by being very careful you can heat the shaft (over boiling water is good)and then tease the grip out. Voila. So far I have managed every time but I believe it is very easy to heat the shaft too much and ruin it.
Posted on Jun 21, 2002, 7:27 AM