The weekend before Valentines Day in 2006 [Possibly 2007] I started building a rubber band ball. It was more or less spur of the moment, as I was just playing with a few bands.
I made the ball myself, from scratch, so I know it is 100% rubber bands.
I built it up to the size of a Softball, perhaps slightly larger. It measures about four and half inches in diameter.
I stopped working on it, and put it on display. I just caught a glimpse of it today, and a considerable number of the bands on the outside layer have popped or broken. In short, my ball needs a hair cut. The bands look old and over stretched.
What is the right move here for the integrity of the ball ?
Do all rubber bands have a 4 year life expectancy?
The only advice I can give is to keep it out of direct sunlight. Humidity probably also plays a part, but I don’t know if you want high humidity or low.
My rubber band ball. Born around 1986 or 87 or so. Yes, rubber bands do get brittle with old age. I think the constant stretching such as when they are on a ball weakens them faster than a rubber band left untensioned in a drawer. Keep applying “fresh” ones regularly and you never see the frail and tattered old ones.
My rubberband ball (about the size of a basketball, estimated to have 10,000-12,000 rubberbands on it) doesn’t have any problems with the current outer layer. A few years ago, every once in a while one would snap and fly across the room, but I’ve found that as long as you put a fresh layer on from time to time there’s no problems with it.
I started one in '97. It’s bowling ball size and in need of a fresh layer. I just came in here to echo what Chronos, Joey P, and fiddlesticks said. Best of luck.
Its hardly the basketball size boasted by Joey P. Right now its somewhere in the continuum between a softball and a volleyball. When that picture was taken, the last time I had put some rubber bands on it was probably a few months prior. It still pretty much looks like that today. These days I don’t add rubber bands all too often…in days gone by, my mother saved every rubber band that came into her presence for the ball…most of the rubber bands in the ball are from her. These days I only seek out a bag of new rubber bands if the outer layer is looking bad. I don’t get a free rubber band with my daily newspaper anymore.
fiddlesticks, your rubber band ball is beautiful. Where did you get those wide purple and blue bands? Your’s is the same size as mine and I need to add a fresh layer. Adding wider rubber bands like on your’s would make the task less time consuming.
When that picture was taken, the last time I had put some rubber bands on it was probably a few months prior. It still pretty much looks like that today. These days I don’t add rubber bands all too often…in days gone by, my mother saved every rubber band that came into her presence for the ball…most of the rubber bands in the ball are from her. 
