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Friday, September 30, 2011

Adding Ping Pong Balls Part 1

Artist and rocket designer Shrox has been given credit for being the first to use ping pong balls in rocket designs.
Take a look at the FlisKits Alien8 kit to see how they can add to a great design. Click HERE

Cutting holes in a ping pong ball can be problematic. Take your time and you can get a clean, tight fit around the body tube.

It's hard to see in the picture, but the ping pong ball seam is parallel to the end of the body tube. You don't want to be cutting into the ball and hitting the seam.
Before marking with a very sharp pencil, rotate the ball so the inside seam is centered between the two holes you want to make.






Holding the tube against the ball, draw around the tube edge making a sharp pencil line on the ball.






Hold the blade still and turn the ball underneath the blade tip. Turn the ball until about 1/4" is scored with the knife. Reposition the ball and score another 1/4" length.
I tend to cut just inside the pencil line with a new knife blade.
Don't try to cut all the way through in one pass. It'll take three complete cuts around the circle before the top starts to free up. Be ready, it tends to "pop off" when you don't expect it.

Don't flex and crack the dome cap off like you might do with vacu-form plastic. Continue to score around the pencil line until if comes completely off.

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