pic: Homemade Orbit Ball! (White Paper Coming Soon)
 

Re: pic: Homemade Orbit Ball! (White Paper Coming Soon)
 

WOW! Thank you so much for proving that it can be done. I cannot wait for the white paper/tutorial vid as all the local stores in my area have been cleaned out. I am sure that my team will be making these. Is the spring constant approximately equal between the real and reproduced? A good test would be resting a heavy book on one, measuring then depression then doing the same to the other.

Re: pic: Homemade Orbit Ball! (White Paper Coming Soon)
 

Unfortunately this is also a good way to break them.

Re: pic: Homemade Orbit Ball! (White Paper Coming Soon)
 

OK maybe a medium weight book :) Start at Dr Suess, and move up to JK Rowling.

Re: pic: Homemade Orbit Ball! (White Paper Coming Soon)
 

I also reccomend dropping the real one and fake one at the same time while videotaping. On the tape you can count the bounces and see the height, comparing the consistancy.

What are the actual balls made of?

Re: pic: Homemade Orbit Ball! (White Paper Coming Soon)
 

If all else fails, it seems you have a potential future in the toy manufacturing busyness. :p

Re: pic: Homemade Orbit Ball! (White Paper Coming Soon)
 

Awesome.

I like the compression test Idea, maybe do 10 test with varied orientations of the ball with each, and compare the average?

Also, did you happen to measure the internal plastic on a stock ball?

Re: pic: Homemade Orbit Ball! (White Paper Coming Soon)
 

This reminds me of a story one of the mentors on my team told me about the floppies from '97 which was the only case of FIRST using a game piece that was not readily available in stores so one rather enterprising team made the floppies for other teams for a fee. There's a fundraising idea for you!

Re: pic: Homemade Orbit Ball! (White Paper Coming Soon)
 

fixed :)

gosh darn Orbit Balls

Re: pic: Homemade Orbit Ball! (White Paper Coming Soon)
 

That was actually '99.

Which was also the first year of alliances as well.
I think I still have a few of those floppies laying around, I know team 190 uses them for packing material in their crate year after year.

Re: pic: Homemade Orbit Ball! (White Paper Coming Soon)
 

While we've been lucky enough to find a small cache (6) of them in local stores (and are scouring the region for more), we've also been pondering making our own.

Perhaps this might plant a seed of thought: We're wondering if we can find a plastic jug (gallon or 1.5 gallon, maybe from a bleach bottle?) that is about the right size, and then slice it on a bandsaw to 1" strips. Finding such a container might make it easier to make, since A) you could use 2 or three rings whole, B) the plastic is already round, and C) the jugs might be readily available and essentially free.

Happy hunting!

Re: pic: Homemade Orbit Ball! (White Paper Coming Soon)
 

The major concern I would have with this process is that, if you left the loops whole instead of riveting them together, they would not be nearly as breakable as the regular Orbit Balls. I really think that, just like last year, when we had to worry about balls that were not optimally inflated, we are this year going to have to worry about Orbit Balls that are pretty busted up (at least internally).

Patrick

Re: pic: Homemade Orbit Ball! (White Paper Coming Soon)
 

Hey, Thats a totally awesome idea...
That had not even crossed my mind. Luckily, our team snagged a dozen at a single walmart, but this may come in handy for when the ones we have become unreliable.
Nice job, and good luck making that video. For now though, I had found a video that shows you how to weave the ball.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-...aper-Football/

Re: pic: Homemade Orbit Ball! (White Paper Coming Soon)
 

Can you interlock the whole rings as the orbit balls are interlocked? I haven't attempted to see the interlocking pattern because I don't want to break any of them.

Re: pic: Homemade Orbit Ball! (White Paper Coming Soon)
 

I just did this test by stacking six encyclopedia volumes each upon both the real Orbit ball and the reproduction side by side, and they compressed nearly the exact same amount (they were within 3/8" of each other, which I'd guess is within the tolerance of the balls anyway).

I also did this test by simultaneously dropping both balls next to each other, as well as a second test of throwing the balls at the ground at the same time with same velocity. In both tests, they bounced to the exact same height. Between these results, and the compression results from above, I'd consider these a nearly perfect reproduction of the Orbit Ball. (Except the polycarbonate rings don't break easily!)

I still don't know, but .062" polycarbonate provides a very good approximation for cheaper than many other plastics (using McMaster prices).

I don't want to take apart one of our five actual Orbit balls, as they are all still unbroken. However using calipers I estimate that the interior ring is 1.00" wide with an I or C channel shape. The edges are about .093" thick, and I cannot really tell the thickness of the inside between the two, but I'm estimating it's about .050"

Milk jugs or similar plastic containers are only a few thousandths thick, and lose nearly all of their strength as soon as the container is breached (with holes, cuts, etc). I don't think it would be feasible to make full-scale reproduction with same characteristics, but they may have potential for 1/3-scale Vex prototyping.