Phases of the molding process of StarVie padel rackets

In 2013 we launched our StarVie padel racket factory in Azuqueca de Henares, Guadalajara; being one of the few companies that decided to invest in manufacturing and employment here in Spain. In this way, we can monitor each process in the production chain from start to finish and achieve low costs due to productivity and R&D.

Our factory is an artisan workshop where 96% of the processes are completely done by hand. The racket goes through a total of 12 processes until it is finally ready to go on sale after 10-13 days of production.

One of the most important processes is the moulding process because it produces the initial shape and determines the quality of the racket, as well as its playability.

What does the moulding process of a padel racket consist of?

The previously cut materials go directly to the following process to begin the moulding of the padel racket, which is divided into different phases:

• First, “the master moulders” clean the aluminum mould to remove any residue that may have remained from the previous casting.
• Then they prepare the epoxy resin, which is used to impregnate the fibres and the tubular part of each of the models. We impregnate by hand, one of the differences with respect to the Asian products.
• The materials are impregnated according to the configuration of each racket. In StarVie we use materials from leading brands imported from Europe and USA, which have technical specifications with very defined parameters regarding their characteristics.
• The fibres, pre-impregnated tubular parts and EVA rubber are placed inside the aluminum mould, which in our case can be of V30 density (soft) or V50 density (medium).
• Once the mould is closed, it goes to a press or oven for a certain time and temperature to “cook” the racket.

At the end of this process, we have the “raw” racket as we commonly call it. From there, the racket will go through the rest of the processes until it is finally finished. In order to ensure that the rackets we manufacture are of the highest possible quality, we carry out controls to check and verify that the characteristics of the rackets meet the specified requirements.