Pickleball Paddle Project

I am fascinated with Pickleball paddle manufacturing techniques and I am always looking for new technology that pushes the boundary. Pickleball paddles are typically constructed with a polypropylene (PP) honeycomb core sandwiched between sheets of carbon fiber.  Grit is added to the paddle surfaces via a spray or resin peel ply texture.  The polymer cores eventually break down and compress. This phenomenon is known as "core crushing".  Core crushed paddles behave unpredictably and often times can increase the paddles power to an unsafe level.

In 2025, paddles constructed with  an all foam core starting popping up. These paddles are referred to as Generation 4 paddles. These paddles generally use expanded polypropylene as the core material. EPP is much more durable than polypropylene honeycomb and resists core crushing.

I began working on the prototypes below in early 2024. My goal was to see if it's possible to create a functional and modular paddle with interchangeable grip sizes (figure 2).  Due to the limitations of 3D printing,  I needed to work out how to make the surface gritty and how to compensate for the weakness of 3D printed layers.  FDM 3D printers melt plastic and extrudes it layer by layer whereas PP cores are made in one piece with injection molding. Force applied in the direction the layers were printed can cause the 3D printed layers to separate. (Figure 1)

I experimented with a variety of polymers and eventually settled on using  Polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG) for the main body and PETG or Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU) for the core.  These two polymers are cost effective and known for their durability and flexibility.

The idea was to use PETG for the outer shell due to its rigid but flexible nature and TPU for the core since it can rebound after deformation. 

After rigorously testing more than 15 prototypes I came to the conclusion that while it is possible to create a functional 3D printed pickleball, weight and longevity were the biggest limiting factors.  Thicker line and layer widths were required to prevent the paddle faces from cracking or the core from delaminating. 

Experiments with paddles that featured PETG shells and TPU cores resulted in the paddle face cracking. I believe the TPU core was too soft to provide enough support when the face compressed during impact. To remedy this, I propose a TPU with a higher shore hardness would provide a more rigid core structure. 

Experiments with paddles that featured PETG shells and  PETG cores resulted in the parts of the core layers separating after repeated impact.  To remedy this, I tried increasing the density of the core and the width of the core walls. It improved durability but also increased the weight. I needed to make the paddles thinner otherwise the weight was pushing near 300 grams. 

All in all, it was a fun project but i'll stick to commercially produced Pickleball paddles. 

As of late, I've been testing a variety of Gen 4 paddles from different manufacturers. Gen 4 paddles are an entirely different beast than the Gen 3 paddles i'm accustomed to. There's a learning curve to get past but after dialing in the paddles I discovered how much the improved control Gen 4 provide elevated my game. 

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