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FALCO TEMPO BOOSTER 150 ml Table tennis
booster.
Falco Tempo Booster offers a safer and VOC-free alternative to speed glue. As
the VOC speed glue ban comes into the effect in 2008, Berenger International has
come up with great new alternative, which is completely VOC free and is compliant
with the new ITTF regulations on glue
The Booster is not actually a glue, but a sponge treatment liquid, which
offer a speed glue effect for around 3 weeks. After this period another smaller
application will reactive the booster and offer another 3 weeks, and so on...
The original Booster (WSL II) contained fat and was very oily, but this new
version (WSL III, very likely the final version) is hardly oily and is therefore
much easier to stick on with glue.
The Falco Tempo Booster come in a 150ml tin with a brush attached to the lid,
making the application very easy.
Warning: This booster (and all other speed glues and
alternatives) stretch the rubber, increasing the tension on the topsheet. Some
high tension rubbers or Tensors are not designed to be used with speed glue or
alternatives as it put too much tension on the topsheet. Some rubber are glued
together better than others, so using speed glue or alternatives, there is
always a risk of damage to the rubber.
Instructions:
1. Put the rubber with the sponge up onto a flat surface. If the rubber has a
plastic protection sheet on the topsheet, remove this first. This allows the
topsheet to stretch with the sponge as it expands, reducing the strain on the
topsheet and the bond to the sponge.
2. Apply a layer of Falco Tempo Booster onto the sponge covering the complete
surface evenly. Try not to get any on the edges as this may leak onto the
topsheet.
3. Wait for it to soak in and for the sponge surface to feel dry. The picture
below shows a rubber about 2 hours after application of the booster. As the
sponge has expanded by a huge amount already (but the topsheet has not) you can
see the huge 'dome', this is normal.
4. At this point you may add another layer for greater effect, and repeat for
a 3rd layer for even greater effect. As the doming becomes greater, you may have
to push down the rubber sheet to stop it from 'scrolling up', as this may get
some of the liquid onto the topsheet.
WARNING: The 'doming' effect as the sponge is expanding puts
strain on the topsheet and the bond between the topsheet and sponge. There is a
limit on how much strain a rubber can handle, depending on the type and quality
of the rubber. The majority of rubbers should be able to handle 2-3 layers, but
more is not recommended.
5. After the final layer, leave the rubber to dry until the dome starts
coming down. Pictured below is the dome after 2 layers.
It is highly recommended to leave the rubber until the dome is
well down, as it may be very hard to get it to stick to the blade if you don't.
Note that the effect of the dome coming down is not an indication of the effect
wearing off, but merely the topsheet stretching further, allowing the rubber to
flatten out.
6. Now the rubber is ready to be attached to the blade. If there
is any residue or dirt on the sponge (not likely), wipe it off with a tissue or
dry cloth...
It is recommended to use a water based glue, such as Falco Water Glue or Falco
Ocean's glue, to attach the rubber to the blade. The water based glue is very
easy to remove before the next application (after the effect wear off).
7. After gluing and clamping the rubber to the blade, it's ready
to use for play. The effect should last for about 3 weeks, and should be quite
consistent during this period.
8. When the effect starts to wear off, remove the rubber from
the blade. As is usually good practice with any speed gluing procedure, leave
the rubber off the blade for at least 24h, to allow it to shrink a little since
it's been under high tension for such a long time.
9. Remove the layer of glue from the rubber. This allows better
penetration of the Booster to the sponge. As there will still be significant
booster present in the sponge, less booster is required to get the same effect
(exactly how much less may take a little experimenting as this depends on the
initial application, the duration it was used for and the rubber type).
10. Repeat from step 3., remembering that less booster will be
required to give the same effect for another 3 weeks.
For Maximum Speed glue effect
For maximum and huge speed glue effect, prepare the rubber with the booster
(as per procedure above), and use the Falco
Tempo Unlimited every 8-10 days. The chemical structure of these 2
products is made to create maximum speed glue effect together!
Review of Falco Tempo Booster (by
Alex):
I used the Falco Tempo booster on a Tulpe 007 Japanese sponge (40-43 deg), on
a Galaxy ALL+ blade.
I followed the procedure above, applying 2 medium thick layers of the
Booster. As you can see from the picture above, the final dome was huge and I
did not want to add a 3rd layers! Obviously this will vary from rubber to
rubbers with difference sponges and hardness's.
After the 2 layers I left the rubber to dry for about 36hrs. By this time the
dome was still quite large, but had started to come down a little. Next time
I'll most likely leave it a little longer again, making the gluing to the blade
a lot easier.
Since I have a durometer (specifically for measuring sponge hardness), I
measured the sponge hardness before and after the rubber treatment. Although the
absolute readings are yet to be worked out, I would estimate the sponge hardness
dropped by about 4 degrees! This is very impressive for a VOC free alternative!
Since the dome was quite big, and I had never used a water based normal glue
before, I had a little trouble getting the rubber to stick, but eventually got
it stuck to the blade fairly well.
Well the results were not disappointing, the speed glue effect was massive!
There was a huge increase in speed and spin, and the rubber felt significantly
softer too. The sounds was not quite as loud as with some VOC glues I've used,
but the effect and feel was virtually the same!
I compared the Falco Booster with the highly regarded Tibhar
Clean Tuning Extra, on identical rubbers and identical blades. I used 5
layers of the Tibhar CTE and 2 layers of the booster.
The Booster won the battle this time with the Booster softening the sponge
1-2 degrees more, and with a little more speed and feel (as a guess 5% more
speed). I let another regular speed glue player try the 2 bats, without telling
him which is which, and he came to the same conclusion.
Of course this may be different on different rubbers, and more layers of
Tibhar CTE would likely offer more effect. I also still have to test how long
the effect lasts and how consistent they are, and how well the 2nd application
works... However both products are the best I've seen so far and very
impressive, and certainly genuine alternative to VOC speed glues.
This has also encourages me to try some further test on the Falco Tempo
Unlimited, as I don't feel my previous test, although still fairly successful,
do it justice. I've now learned that longer waiting times, more initial
applications and the cumulative effect will almost certainly improve the
performance of this glue as well!
NOTE: One of a Kind Trading is the sole distributor for
Australia & New Zealand for the Berenger Falco products. If you are
interested in being a distributor of these products for your area, please
contact us. We can be contacted via Email: lunavander@internode.on.net
or our table tennis forum
or our table tennis ONLINE store
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