Hot-Press & Thermoformed Pickleball Paddles

What is a thermoformed pickleball paddle?

Thermoforming shapes the face material and the side walls in a heated mold, so the faces and edge are bonded into one shell rather than glued to a core and finished with a separate edge guard. Brands use the term in different ways, so we record these builds as hot-press construction and describe the core of each one.

Cold-cut, semi-hot-press and hot-press

Our catalog uses three construction labels. Cold-cut assembly covers our 13 mm fiberglass and 14 mm T300 paddles. Semi-hot-press covers most textured T700 foam and honeycomb builds. Hot-press, listed on this page, is the closest to what the market calls thermoformed. The manufacturing methods page explains each method.

Our hot-press designs

• Spectra: 16 mm T300 carbon on PP honeycomb, 417 × 184 mm, twelve artwork designs.
• Solunaris Sol and Luna: textured T700 on an MPP shield bridge core, 417 × 184 mm.
• Surge Hexcore 5S: T700 (L100) on PP honeycomb.
• Vactor: titanium-fiber face on an EPP shield foam core.
• Lava Claw and Blush Butterfly: felt faces on PP honeycomb.
• Domin, Aurelis, Strike, Echo-E and Echo-P: MPP, EPP and PVC cores, with grooved cores on Strike and both Echo models.

Specifying a thermoformed paddle

Tell us which elements you need: a molded edge, foam at the perimeter, a continuous handle structure, or all three. We confirm the build with a section view and an approved sample, then hold that revision for bulk production through OEM development.