Constructing a Mini-Zorb

These are the supplies I started out with, back when I still thought I might actually make it inflatable. That plan got abandoned pretty quickly when I thought a bit more on how difficult it would be to make it air-tight and round without some sort of solid skeleton. Here we have four clear vinyl shower curtains, lots of glue, and a beach ball as a template for the vinyl strips.

This is the wire used for the skeleton. Much thanks to my neighbour, Rick, who helped cut it (and also helped with taping together the skeletons). The guy at Home Depot said it was easy to cut... Ha! Far from it, in fact!

Step 1) The skeleton. This is the bigger one, hanging in the doorway because gravity would pull it all out of shape at the joints if I left it on the ground. If you look closely, it's even losing shape a bit while hanging.

Step 2) The vinyl around the inner orb. The tape is holding a join together while the glue dries. The inner orb had to be very strong or it would be pulled apart by the force of the wires connecting it to the outer one, as I discovered in my first failed attempt. It is held together by a second, much thinner wire (rebar tie), which was very greasy. Therefore, to keep Mini-Peter's clothes clean, I had to wrap the whole inner skeleton in duct tape.

Step 3) The inner orb enters the outer orb!

Step 4) Connecting the two orbs. I used more of that greasy rebar tie wire to connect the inner and outer orbs at key structural points. The outer orb was strengthened and held in shape by these wires, and of course, the inner orb was kept centred. At this point I also created the vinyl walls of the entry/exit tubes.

Step 5) The vinyl around the outer orb. This was tricky. I had no template for these strips of vinyl so I had to clamp a big piece on to measure it, then cut twelve more pieces from that sample. The inner orb only had six strips, but the outer one, being much more visible, needed twelve to keep it looking more like a proper ball than an angularly curved hexagonally roundish thingy (a very technical term).

Voila! Bob's Your Uncle! There Ya Go! Houston, we have a Zorb!

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