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Unread 03-01-2009, 20:24
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Re: Source for Orbit Ball

To anyone who has already broken one of these: can you find out what plastic material they are made of? I'm looking for an exact answer (such as acetal, PET, etc), not just something like "Its plastic, duh".

The reason I ask, is that after finding only four of them between two local Wal-Marts, the engineering and New England frugality instincts inside of me rang out. The orbit balls don't look very hard to [re]produce!

Using calipers, the interior plastic material is about 1" wide by about 0.1" thick (cannot tell for sure due to felt thickness), and the material they are coated with seems to be identical to the material used on stretchable Book Socks. The plastic (depending on the actual material) should be easily source-able through McMaster, and book socks aren't that difficult to find.

If someone can get me an [exact] answer within the next few days, I'll immediately place an order into McMaster to make about twenty or thirty of these balls, and then I'll raid the school supply sections of every store in the area like a loaded refrigerator.
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Unread 03-01-2009, 21:42
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Re: Source for Orbit Ball

Quote:
Originally Posted by artdutra04 View Post
To anyone who has already broken one of these: can you find out what plastic material they are made of? I'm looking for an exact answer (such as acetal, PET, etc), not just something like "Its plastic, duh".
http://www.bliptoys.com/aboutus.htm

They should have an engineering department you can ask right?
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Unread 03-01-2009, 22:16
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Re: Source for Orbit Ball

Quote:
Originally Posted by artdutra04 View Post
To anyone who has already broken one of these: can you find out what plastic material they are made of? I'm looking for an exact answer (such as acetal, PET, etc), not just something like "Its plastic, duh".

The reason I ask, is that after finding only four of them between two local Wal-Marts, the engineering and New England frugality instincts inside of me rang out. The orbit balls don't look very hard to [re]produce!

Using calipers, the interior plastic material is about 1" wide by about 0.1" thick (cannot tell for sure due to felt thickness), and the material they are coated with seems to be identical to the material used on stretchable Book Socks. The plastic (depending on the actual material) should be easily source-able through McMaster, and book socks aren't that difficult to find.

If someone can get me an [exact] answer within the next few days, I'll immediately place an order into McMaster to make about twenty or thirty of these balls, and then I'll raid the school supply sections of every store in the area like a loaded refrigerator.


They are made of 1" polymer strips that are woven together
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Unread 05-01-2009, 10:28
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Re: Source for Orbit Ball

Walmart is everyones best bet.
We bought a few but the material is already coming off.
I think this may be a problem
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Unread 03-01-2009, 23:17
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Re: Source for Orbit Ball

Quote:
Originally Posted by artdutra04 View Post
To anyone who has already broken one of these: can you find out what plastic material they are made of? I'm looking for an exact answer (such as acetal, PET, etc), not just something like "Its plastic, duh".

The reason I ask, is that after finding only four of them between two local Wal-Marts, the engineering and New England frugality instincts inside of me rang out. The orbit balls don't look very hard to [re]produce!

Using calipers, the interior plastic material is about 1" wide by about 0.1" thick (cannot tell for sure due to felt thickness), and the material they are coated with seems to be identical to the material used on stretchable Book Socks. The plastic (depending on the actual material) should be easily source-able through McMaster, and book socks aren't that difficult to find.

If someone can get me an [exact] answer within the next few days, I'll immediately place an order into McMaster to make about twenty or thirty of these balls, and then I'll raid the school supply sections of every store in the area like a loaded refrigerator.
I wouldn't bother with buying up book covers for this purpose. Admittedly, I handled the orbit balls very litte despite taking dozens of photos of them, but I believe the outer skin was basically a spandex material, as are those book covers. It would be much more efficient to just purchase a few yards of fabric from your local Joanne's, or, McMaster might even stock sheets of spandex.
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Unread 04-01-2009, 18:05
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Re: Source for Orbit Ball

Quote:
Originally Posted by artdutra04 View Post
To anyone who has already broken one of these: can you find out what plastic material they are made of? I'm looking for an exact answer (such as acetal, PET, etc), not just something like "Its plastic, duh".

The reason I ask, is that after finding only four of them between two local Wal-Marts, the engineering and New England frugality instincts inside of me rang out. The orbit balls don't look very hard to [re]produce!

Using calipers, the interior plastic material is about 1" wide by about 0.1" thick (cannot tell for sure due to felt thickness), and the material they are coated with seems to be identical to the material used on stretchable Book Socks. The plastic (depending on the actual material) should be easily source-able through McMaster, and book socks aren't that difficult to find.

If someone can get me an [exact] answer within the next few days, I'll immediately place an order into McMaster to make about twenty or thirty of these balls, and then I'll raid the school supply sections of every store in the area like a loaded refrigerator.
I second the motion to getting exact specs on the materials and when i inspect the ball on monday i will post as detailed of info as i can.

the other logical way to get around the problem of unobtanium balls would be to find some sort of substitute (obviously there will be complications but its worth trying)

so far i have found this
http://www.amazon.com/Rhino-Toys-100...pd_sim_dbs_t_3

good luck to everyone! this is gonna be a challenging season
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Unread 04-01-2009, 18:16
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Re: Source for Orbit Ball

Quote:
Originally Posted by llama View Post
I second the motion to getting exact specs on the materials and when i inspect the ball on monday i will post as detailed of info as i can.

the other logical way to get around the problem of unobtanium balls would be to find some sort of substitute (obviously there will be complications but its worth trying)

so far i have found this
http://www.amazon.com/Rhino-Toys-100...pd_sim_dbs_t_3

good luck to everyone! this is gonna be a challenging season
I have one of the balls mentioned in the post. Though it is of similar weight, and might I say much more durable, its dimensions are much smaller. The ball that i have is about half the size of the Wild Time Orbit Ball and would not sufice for the actual game piece.
I'm hoping all my concerns about the orbit balls is answered by Monday or Tuesday after corporates have a chance to respond to this increased demand. :/
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Unread 04-01-2009, 19:06
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Re: Source for Orbit Ball

Thanks Pat McCarthy, team enigma was able to get those!!
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Unread 04-01-2009, 20:15
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Re: Source for Orbit Ball

I wish FIRST supplied more of these things. Its now impossible to get some in the kc, ks area.
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Unread 04-01-2009, 20:16
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Re: Source for Orbit Ball

To help you find orbit balls at Wal-Mart:

Go to your local Wal-Mart and ask to see an assistant manager, one over toys would be best.

Ask them to please look up the UPC code or the Wal-Mart number for you in their Telxon (pronounced Tel Zon)
UPC 65838282040
Wal-Mart number 784170

This will tell them if they have any in stock in their store.

They can also do a search of other stores using these numbers. They can search in say a radius of say 50 miles (there are over 100 balls in stock within 40 miles of Middletown, Delaware as of tonight.

They can give you the store numbers and the number of balls on hand. I then went to the Walmart web site and got a listing of the stores in the area. The store number will print out with each store.

I also found that many times not all of the product is out on the shelf. They come in boxes of three so many times they are still in boxes in the back room.

It should be noted that this inventory system is not perfect, but is really pretty good at finding product. I also took along a picture of the product when I went to visit the stores to buy them. It often helped the employees find the products once they could see it.
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Unread 04-01-2009, 22:35
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Re: Source for Orbit Ball

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob Koch View Post
To help you find orbit balls at Wal-Mart:

Go to your local Wal-Mart and ask to see an assistant manager, one over toys would be best.

Ask them to please look up the UPC code or the Wal-Mart number for you in their Telxon (pronounced Tel Zon)
UPC 65838282040
Wal-Mart number 784170

This will tell them if they have any in stock in their store.

They can also do a search of other stores using these numbers. They can search in say a radius of say 50 miles (there are over 100 balls in stock within 40 miles of Middletown, Delaware as of tonight.

They can give you the store numbers and the number of balls on hand. I then went to the Walmart web site and got a listing of the stores in the area. The store number will print out with each store.

I also found that many times not all of the product is out on the shelf. They come in boxes of three so many times they are still in boxes in the back room.

It should be noted that this inventory system is not perfect, but is really pretty good at finding product. I also took along a picture of the product when I went to visit the stores to buy them. It often helped the employees find the products once they could see it.
Thanks this really helped! Here is an image i took of the label in walmart.
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