That flat basketball or soccer ball that’s been sitting in your closet for the past few years won’t help you get back into shape in its current state. You always knew you’d repair it one day, and although today may not be that day you go through with it, at least it’s the one in which you find out how to do it.
Livestrong takes you through the process.
First, pump up the ball, fill up the tub and dip the ball in to determine the source of the leak. Keeping an eye on the area, pull out the ball, dry it and paint the point with a marker.
Here is where things get a little wild. Turn on an oven burner, then heat the edge of an old, dull knife. Then you slide the knife around the leak to melt the vinyl, sealing the hole.
If you don’t trust yourself around fire, you can always opt for injectable ball sealant.
How to Fix a Leak in a Basketball [Livestrong]
More From Consumerist
-
If You Buy A House Next To A Golf Course, Don’t Be Surprised When Your Lawn Is Littered With Balls
-
Cops: Man Used Guests’ Credit Cards In Order To Live The High Life At Luxury Hotels
-
Oh, Great: China Busted A Counterfeit Durex Condom Mill
-
LEGO Set For Girls, Slurpee-Maker For Kids, Top Nominees For Worst Toy Of The Year
-
You Should Definitely Return To The Scene Of The Crime If You Left Your Baby Behind
I came to this article thinking it was about alimony.
Using injectable ball sealant on my busted balls just sounds wrong.
Better than using a hot knife.
Didn’t some ‘doctor’ in Florida just get in trouble for doing something like this?
http://www.cbs12.com/articles/say-4736832-police-morris.html
The picture of the victim has a clickable caption that says “Enlarge”.
This seems like a pretty temporary fix to me, as the bladder inside wouldn’t be affected, right? Just the cover. Also, totally worthless for leather or other non-meltable surfaces. I guess if you had an emergency situation and you needed to have a ball for a few hours and you had a meltable ball or a toothpick, these tips could work, but I fail to see a whole lot of derived value for long term repairs here.
Ball sealant would work better for long term repairs (I have used it), despite changing the weight and potentially the balance of the ball.
I was about to mention the same thing, but the original article is specific to vinyl basketballs, not soccer balls or any other type.
True, it just seems goofy to me. Like something 12 year old me would have come up with (I had an idea to melt all the leftover soap slivers together and form a new bar from it. Luckily my mom stopped THAT idea).
Hey, he wrote the article. You can’t expect him to do that AND get the facts straight at the same time.
You can do the same by melting tape over a hole in an air bed to seal the leak or get a patch kit. Either way works. The problem with the ball melting is that you may weaken that area of the ball which can lead to future blowouts. Best to melt something over it rather than melting the ball.
If you’re so careless to puncture a basketball, you’re not the type to take the time to fix it.
This only works on vinyl sports balls, which are by far the cheapest. Who goes to all this trouble for a sports ball they could replace for a couple of bucks?
I was thinking the same thing. I mean, saving money is great and all. But if you’re storing a ball that is busted, you’re creating clutter and wasting space. I’d rather toss it and buy another new cheap ball than keep a busted ball around for a few months before I finally feel up to a DIY repair project.
I’m guessing the advice is for fixing a cheap kid’s ball — One that’s prone to being popped, lost, or otherwise destroyed. It’s akin to gluing a GI Joe’s body to the pelvis instead of replacing the whole figure when the little rubber band breaks. Sometimes, “good enough” is just that and the quality of the ball doesn’t really matter when playing Four Square.
Why use an old coffee tin to store nuts & bolts when you can just buy a Tupperware container for $3?
the fact that most balls of this sort are CHEAP has already been mentioned…
my wife runs a local chapter of boys and girls club, and i get tapped to repair these all the time…
how you may ask???
super glue, one drop, be patient for ten minutes, kids are back in action…
hot knives??? holy unnecessary crap, batman…
This method MIGHT work for a typical schoolyard kickball, but more than likely nothing else.
My balls are beyond busted reading this article. XD
Seal the hole by melting the vinyl. Obviously not worth the bother if the ball is such a piece of crap. Ball sealant will likely throw the balance off if not done perfectly.
The good ones have a rubber bladder that holds the air. Depending on the ball it might not be repairable.