How are ping pong balls made?

Flat sheets of celluloid are soaked in hot alcohol, once the celluloid sheet is soft it is pressed into a hemispherical mold. The edges outside the mold are then trimmed. The celluloid will remain in the mold until it has hardened. The mold is of one half of a ping pong ball. Once the celluloid is hardened the one half ping pong ball will be matched to another half by weight, the weight of the 2 halves should be identical. The two halves are then butted together they are lined with alcohol base glue. The balls are placed in a light agitation machine that will smooth the surface.

It's ready to be tested and graded on its quality. Ping pong balls are graded in stars, 3 stars being the highest (ITTF approved tournament-quality) to the lowest, seamed, less than 1 star grade (used for crafts or other uses other than ping pong). Everything from the seam on the ping pong ball, its weight, bounce and hardness will determine it's star rating.

How to fix crushed or dented ping pong balls:

Did you step on your ping pong ball and crush it? Or do you have one heck of a backhand that caused a dent? No need to throw that ping pong ball away! We're going to walk you through some very easy instructions on how to bring it back to its original shape.

Supplies:

• An empty soda bottle (any size will do)
• A cup of hot water (the hotter the water, the faster the process)
• A Crushed or dented ping pong ball

Steps:

1. Take your damaged ping pong ball and place it in the cup of hot water
2. Use the soda bottle to submerge the ball, make sure it's completely under water
3. After 30 seconds see if the ball has returned to its original shape
4. If not, submerge it again for 30 seconds (If you see air bubbles then it's damaged beyond repair)
5. Dry it off
6. Play with your repaired ping pong ball

Other Uses for Ping Pong Balls

What can ping pong balls be used for other than ping pong? This is a question customers have always asked, this is what we know:

• Beer Pong Ball - If you don’t know what beer pong is - it’s basically the drinking game quarters, but rather than using a quarter...
• Ball Drops - Similar to a balloon drop
• Winning a car - For a Dealership's Grand Opening, the interior of a car was filled with ping pong balls. Customers guessed how many there were and whoever was the closest won the car
• Killing snakes - For use in pest control - the snake will mistake them for eggs and eat them - Death is caused by the snake's inability to digest the balls
• Ping pong air guns
• Raffle - Numbered and bingo
• Cat toys
• Game shows - Nick at Night and The Kids Choice Awards have both used our ping pong balls
• Arts and crafts