Table tennis (ping pong) racket, model Butterfly Viscaria FL

thingiverse

This is a fully 3D printable table tennis racket design similar to Butterfly Viscaria FL. I used two different approaches to make a racket: 1. Model consisting of mid frame and 2 hand pieces glued on both side 2. Model that creates a single piece consisting of mid frame and hand pieces all printed together (no glue) 1st approach is straightforward and easy to do. The second approach is more demanding. It requires printing first the mid frame and then changing the filament during the print to make the first half of the handle. Then remove the part and print special alignment fixture on your table. Insert your mid frame part to the jig upside down and print the other half of the handle. See the images to get the idea of how I made it. The yellow racket is the result of first approach and the gray racket is of 2nd approach. In both approaches the rubber parts are printed separately from Ninja Flex material on bare glass surface for best surface finish. I used standard racket glue to stick the printed rubbers to the frame. I printed the hand pieces from Wood PLA which makes a unique realistic wooden look for the racket handle. I used PLA also for the midframe. I tried ABS also but the problem is warping after frame has been removed from the bed. I ended up full racket which was 168 g, original racket is 161 g. The only notable difference in weight is that printed racket has more weight on the rubber which makes it feel little bit heavy in hand. You might want to try print the rubber thinner or with least possible material to overcome this issue or try use more material for the handle to make it balanced. Regarding the two different print approaches I didn't see much difference between 1st and 2nd method. I hoped the 2nd method would make the handle more seamless but due to wood PLA and mid-frame PLA behaving slightly differently the result was not fully seamless. One might get better results using more similar materials on mid frame and handle pieces or taking the difference into account.