yes you can. some shops source parts from broken racquets. others just know how and where to buy new handles. of course it depends on the shops resourcefulness and subsequent willingness to provide such a service. foresight to carry stock of replacement handles another criteria. a really good hardcore badminton proshop would normally have these handles from at least either one of the above mentioned sources. 8man
Yonex Ti Isometric SP A problem with cone and handle After playing with my Yonex Ti Isometric SP A for about a year and a half, I started hearing clicking noises at the cone. At first I thought it was a simple case of the glue bonding between the plastic cone and the wooden handle breaking off (this appears to be a common problem with Yonex racquets). But after a while, the shaft started to come loose. I removed the original grip, hoping that by tightening the screw that fasten the shaft to the handle, I may yet play with the racquet again (this is one of my favorites). The following photographs show what I discovered instead...
Yonex Ti Isometric SP A (cone) Upon careful inspection, I found that the plastic cone does not appear to be pre-cut, and then glued on to the handle. Rather, it appears that an uncut cone was first glued on to the handle, and then later cut down to the correct length.
As a result of this, the wooden handle has a deep cut just beneath the cone. This caused the wooden handle to break after repeated swings.
In fact, I suspect the original grip was also trimmed after it was taped onto the handle. There are many shallow cuts on the handle, arranged in a helical fashion, with the same pitch as the original grip.
surely you can send this back as a manufacturer fault.. interestingly though about the pin - i had a racquet come away from the handle, and couldn't find any evidence of a pin holding the shaft to the handle.. - there was no hole in the shaft - and the wooden cone was mangles where the shaft had finally escpaped.. i'll attach the photo's when i get home.. given that i think my racquet is a copy of a similar yonex design - do you think there are any yonex racquets without a pin? and what do you think the advantages / disadvantages are of building a racquet without one? Neil
about the screw. from the look of it, the screw isn't there to secure the shaft in place. if you look at the pic of the shaft end i have, the drilled hole at the shaft end is larger than the screw so the screw being there won't have much effect. instead i think the screw is there to prevent the shaft from separating with the handle. that is certainly the case with my friend's racket, the shaft was loose and the only reason it didn't fly off is due to the screw. in other words, for safety reason.
interesting observation.. can you measure if they are evenly separated? i suspect the grip is machine wrapped and trimmed. if so, then the separation will be exactly the same between each revolution of the helix.
do you mean that for your racket, the plastic cone is still securely glued to the handle, while the handle cracked along the saw lines? (probably turned in a lathe)
Some of the cuts on the handle are crooked, so I think they might be inflicted by a human. I attach a photograph showing two mismatching cuts which should have connected if the cuts are machined. On the photograph, the two cuts are highlighted between red lines.
As far as I can tell, the plastic cone is still securely glued to the handle. The cone might not have been cut. The purpose of the cut might be to trim off excess grip tape at the top of the handle, though.
plausible. but i see two possible observation that can disprove it. if you look at the Ti-10 pics i posted, there is no sign of any cutting process near the cone - but then, they are different models, maybe different model have different process. given that the force may not be too high, but trimming the cone after the cone is glued may loosen the glue and lead to pre-mature ungluing of the cone. maybe this contributes to your theory than disproving it considering the number of cone dis-glue we see...
like outlah says. i ended up using epoxy. epoxy are good for most surfaces and they are very tough after it sets. also they flow pretty well when wet so it is easy to apply them inside the hole and they naturally filled into the crack of the cone. superglue/CA glue is the obvious choice, but i doubt it will work well unless one pics the longsetting type. i am also unsure about the strength of CA glue, if the wrong type is used, they can be quite brittle.
i found the pattern to the "cuts" on the handle. the angled cuts goes around the circumference of the handle in a ring. i looked at janet's TiSP and i saw 5 rings of these angled cuts. (maybe 6 but it would be under the handle cap) perhaps they are marks made by machine when gripping on the bare wood? certainly a good way to identify fakes. i bet fake maker won't go *that* distance to make the same cuts on the wood......
Shaft noise I am experiencing a problem with both of my Ti10s. Whenever I swing the racquet using a frying pan grip, it makes a noise at the part where the shaft enters into the cone. I suspect the glue holding the shaft and handle together has been compromised. I can't take the handle off (after removing the screw of course), so do you think I should keep playing with the racquet until the entire handle comes off of the shaft and then use epoxy to glue it back? OR is there another method of removing the handle from the shaft without breaking the handle?
common problems for Yonex racquets...I have had my share. Is there any reason why they cannot produce a one piece racquet without any wood? They have not advanced their manufacturing process regarding the handle.
