Structural strength is from the graphite itself & paint hold no strength integrity toward the shaft. The issue is how perfect you sand the shaft? I will just ignore the unbalance sanding that ruin the racket stability but just little bit wrong you would scratch the graphite. It might be minor but it might also become unseen crack that become weak point & just a matter of time it breaking & you stab your friend with your half split racket flying. Nowadays we had thousand choice of racket from so many brand. Im pretty sure you can find one that suit you rather than doing harmfull thing.
The 3 racquets i sanded are still in use. No fatalities and no noticeable effect on shaft stiffness. If anything they'd feel stiffer from losing the weight mainly from the hoop. Sent from my SM-J510FN using Tapatalk
True I could just sell on my 8XP and call it a day but I'd always be curious about 'what if'. Besides I do not plan on sanding it so extreme that I'm eating into the carbon, As soon as I reach near the graphite at all I plan to stop sanding that area or just beforehand ideally. It's a good candidate racket because it has what seems to be a very thick glossy coat of paint on it, which in my opinion is adding a fair amount of weight to the racket that otherwise might play closer to a 4U spec without the extra bulk.
From my experience, I scrape off the paint with the blade/knife inside nail cutter. It never bites to the graphite. Then I sand the edges (box frame) to make it aerodynamic.
Couple of things: Carbon, and probably paint dust, not pleasant. Please wear a mask. Spin test after sanding to check the hoop has even weight balance! Sent from my SM-J510FN using Tapatalk
I'm definitely only doing this outside my house/in a shed and with a mask thanks. Also the more I think about it the less I'm inclined to remove mass from the head of an already even balance racket. I will start with sanding the shaft and see how it plays. The goal is to get it closer to the z strike aerodynamics and balance, so taking weight from the head probably won't help in that regard. Both my z strike and 8xp are 91g with identical string and grip setup yet the Z strike is 1-1.5g heavier in the head using a rudimentary head weight test. So I believe the 8xp has extra weight in the shaft. Being thicker and with a thicker paint and gloss coat.
Necro-thread time! Bought my TPKs back off the guy I sold them to. Decided to add a layer of clearcoat. Pictures to follow as they're on my phone. I did a very quick and rough job with 80 grit to remove the wax, it was the only paper i could find. The finish looked solid but a bit rough, so I dug around in the garage and found the 1200 grit. Re-keyed with that and now to add a few more layers. Hoping to add about half a gram to the lighter racquet as well. If you zoom in you should be able to see the scratch marks, and the finish feels kind of fuzzy. The epoxy on the other racquet is smoother and weighs more, but also blocked the holes. The epoxy racquet now rattles a bit since cleaning the holes out with the drill.
All done. For now. The epoxy one needs a tidy up, but I think I'll leave that to someone else who has more spares than me. I accidentally got these 2 within 0.1g of each other with same headweight and balance. Bonus. So that should sort out my racquet consistency issues, assuming I like these being slightly lighter (1g ish) than the current favourite. The spray booth. Close up of the "snake skin" Close up of the speckled finish. Shot of the slick epoxy behind vs the speckled clear lacquer up front. I don't hate combining it with red now.
