Custom Bats Cricket Forum
Equipment => Bats => Bat Care => Topic started by: Komdotkom on June 09, 2019, 07:20:57 AM
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I purchased a TK laminate from CBF's own Kulli a few months back, but due to operator error I've damaged the toe. I like the bat despite the fact that the noises it makes don't seem to correspond with how far the ball travels. It doesn't have the normal 'crack' or 'ping' sound, but the ball just flies off it so I'm very happy. Before we get any further, yes it's illegal and I'm committing hate crimes against cricket. I feel the need to cheat because I'm a terrible person.
Now onto how this can be fixed.
It's got a pretty narrow toe and there was an existing crack in the face at the point where it has broken this time, which I suspect is why the Lamitoe has been done. The insert looks to be timber of some sort, maybe Oak? The face seems to be intact still, but the insert and back of the bat are toast. My thoughts are: remove existing insert, re-rout the slot for the laminate and use marine ply and 6mm width, heaps of glue and pressure and hope it works. Am I correct in thinking that the back of this bat is softer than the face which is why it's broken so easily?
Any input would be appreciated as I'd like to keep this bat going and further enrage the gods of cricket.
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Open the cracks up, good glue (I use Gorilla grip 3 hour cure) probably to straighten it back up in a vice or try to pull the wood back to normal and then clamp. Should be fine.
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As above but finish with fibreglass tape as tight as possible.
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Loving this repair. Well done.
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Great job!
Interested as someone who has not indulged in repairs myself how best to open up cracks and good glue choices as I have a TK lam which has been out of use for a while due to the laminate face starting to come away from the back.
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A butter knife is good for opening up cracks as they are thin and have no points or sharp edges. I use evostick PVA, but any decent quality PVA will do. You need to be careful of glues that are too rigid when cured as this can actually accelerate the cracking process and lead to a more dramatic breakage.
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After some probing, it seems the old toe insert wasn't glued in any meaningful way and it started to fall apart.
So I removed the intact section with the router and then very carefully chiselled out the remaining section around the damage. 7.5mm marine ply insert installed, just waiting for it to dry before I clean it up.
(https://i.imgur.com/A8MM5ac.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/eYxyxks.jpg)
What kind of wood should be used for inserts like this ????
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I would use willow from an old bat. In my personal opinion a harder timber could decrease the natural flexibility of the willow in that area and increase the risk of further cracking.
That is only my opinion though.
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I would use willow from an old bat. In my personal opinion a harder timber could decrease the natural flexibility of the willow in that area and increase the risk of further cracking.
That is only my opinion though.
That is what GN use on their bat repairs.
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Instead of using a soft wood like willow I went for the complete opposite, the most rigid timber I could find. My thinking is that the insert is used to provide additional strength across the grain where willow has very little strength, in this case to stop the bottom edge snapping off. In my opinion (and with very limited experience) I don't think adding more willow, even if the grains are running perpendicular to the blade, will add much strength.
I think the opposing grain structure of marine ply would be ideal and help support the weak corner(s) but should be sufficiently flexible to not break upon impact.
I use Titebond type 3 PVA glue, it's flexible and extremely strong on well prepared joints.
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That’s the benefit of the forum. Try something out, see how it goes and report back. We all learn. Good job and let us know how it goes.
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Nice work mate.
Nice feeling fixing a bat like this.
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Be interested on how it goes after that,,,lovely repair
Still on my to do list is a laminate
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I used this on Sunday and with my usual amazing skills managed to get a few drives and cuts off the toe, seems as good as new with no sign of movement.
Any tips on how to re-apply the stickers? I want to take the stickers off the back (nice Redback Paradox ones) and repolish the bat so the colour is consistent, but I find that once polished I can't use PVA to re-adhere the stickers.
I did some googling and it seems that 3m 77 is the preferred glue for people who do craft but I worry that it may be too permanent?
Suggestions welcomed.
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She still going strong?
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I haven't used it for a while, mostly bowling machine work in the winter here so I've got a few Indian made bats for that.
I loaned it to a team mate a few weeks ago for a friendly net session and he was very impressed, but it has the weirdest sound to it. I think it may be close to impossible to spot a laminate on the field visually, but I reckon the noise is a give away.
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Well, it happened again.
Chasing a bit of medium porridge outside off I dragged the toe on the pitch (astro) while giving the ball the thrashing it deserved. The good news is the ball went for six over cover, bad news is I've folded the corner back again.
The toe on this is very thin on the edges at around 20mm and with my lusty swings and poor execution I'm starting to think that timber may not be the best solution to this issue, the section of 6mm KD marine ply that I used in the last repair broke along with the toe. Clearly the simplest solution would be to stop smashing the toe on the pitch but that's hardly likely so I am considering a fairly unorthodox solution.
I am considering making a titanium lamitoe from 2 sections of 3mm plate tig welded together (6mm plate just isn't available) and then filling the void with a flexible epoxy and micro balloons.
Given that I'm already committing terrible hate crimes against cricket by using a lam in the lofty grades of club cricket in which I play, I can't see any downsides since I'm going to hell anyway for cheating.
Thoughts?
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I wouldn’t do that. If you make the toe really stiff it will shatter
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Graft a corner in then?
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Add a new photo In and well have a look. But probably
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Never seen the words flexible and epoxy in the same sentence before
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Might be time for the rather unfashionable toe cap.
https://twitter.com/MadeByGrayNics/status/1019568663001739264?s=20
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There's plenty of flexible epoxy's most of them are for marine applications where the sheets need to buckle and spring back. We use a rigid system for carbon fibre parts but our supplier has heaps of different options, waiting for a call back from the technical guy at the moment with a recommendation but I was thinking about West Systems G-Flex 655.
I'll get a picture when I get home tonight, but it's the same as the last one.
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I know its not a forum favourite solution but how about fixing the toe as best as possible and threading it. For this sort of damage I have found it to be pretty effective.
Post threading put extra PVA Glue on top of thread. Once the glue dries the thread becomes TIGHT
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I had thought about binding as a good solution but it's so ugly! I'm a big believer in 'if it's worth doing then it's worth overdoing' so I'll dream up some elaborate and overly complicated solution.
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Cut a couple of cm off the bottom, and if overall length is an issue get a slightly longer handle put in. The bats a cracker, just need to stop hitting things with the toe :D
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Not hugely surprised by that to be honest! Never been convinced by lamitoes and also wouldn't have used ply. Going to try and give it another go?
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Why wouldn't you use ply wood? I reckon it's probably the only thing that held the corner on.
I'm interested to hear what other wood could be used for a lamitoe or anything that can be done to improve the quality of the repair.
My thinking was that if I could spread the impact across the width of the blade with a rigid insert the corner would be less likely to fall off.
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Plywood's too rigid and brittle - you may be increasing the strength of the toe a little but you're making it more likely to crack off somewhere, as has happened in the end. Looks to me the willow has moved a bit, as it often does in that spot, and because the ply can't deform with it you've ended up with a blown out toe behind where the ply has cracked. Have seen lamitoes end this way before, I'd guess it's a common result.
You'd possibly want something that will add some strength but ideally compress a little when hit hard, particularly in this case where there's so little willow behind the repair. More realistically I think I'd just use a piece of willow as it's a nice safe option, with a careful choice of non-brittle adhesive. For this particular repair maybe just remove everything rear of the insert (and a bit above that) and put a decent size new block of willow in to replace it.
Just spotted your post about a titanium insert - would end with a totally destroyed toe I'd say! Sandwiching your 1cm of willow between a hard pitch or cricket ball and a piece of ti is only going to have one loser.
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'if it's worth doing then it's worth overdoing'
Cut a couple of cm off the bottom, and if overall length is an issue get a slightly longer handle put in. The bats a cracker, just need to stop hitting things with the toe :D
In that case this is perfect for you. :D
Only way to fix that toe for good is to get rid of it.
And nothing says overdoing than replacing a perfectly sound handle. ;)
How about experimenting with different threads for binding? Had a guy rock up with a toe wrapped in thin BADMINTON Racquet string the other day. I was doubtful but he seemed chuffed by it.
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It's already a long handle short blade, I don't want a Mongoose!