The Hoop Ball

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The Hoop Ball…A DIY Project
I found this on another sight and thought it was really cool, heres all the info that i copied!!

This project starts out with four hula hoops that we got at the super Walmart...just the plain ordinary ones like these pictured here...

Then we went back to their boat and marine section and got some poly rope in different colors…
Each pack of rope is 3/8 diameter, 25 foot long and it takes two of them (50 foot total) to cover each hula hoop...the hula hoops were 28 inches in diameter. So you will need 8 packs of 25 foot long rope to cover the hoops. 2 packs of each color is what we used.
This pic is of one of the hoops done in the yellow...

The rope has to be wound really tight on the hoop, my son was going round and round with the rope ahead of me while I pulled the rope up tight. I found that if I turned the rope with a tight twisting grip I could force it even tighter and make the rope go further. You wrap a ways and then go back a little and grip and twist it even tighter while pushing it together to make everything as tight as possible...this is important…you will have some sore hands before it's over.

Here's the pic of the poly rope with the bar code numbers...as you know, the bar code has a smaller printed number one in front and one at the end of the main number so I'm giving you the "entire" number set.
This is 3/8 inch poly rope in a 25 foot lenght. You will need two 25 foot lenghts of each color to cover the 28 inch diameter hoops.

 

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Here's another pic showing how the two 25 foot lenghts of rope didn't cover the whole hoop. You can also see where I was using clear packing tape to hold the ends of the rope while wrapping it and to keep it in place. You can also use some of the SS screws to hold it in place and I would suggest doing that.. The two inside hoops need to be a little smaller than the outside hoops, so usually the two hoops that you cut the most off of will be used as the inside ones. You can make any of the hoops work that way though by simply making sure that the two inside hoops are a little smaller in diameter than the outer ones by cutting them smaller even if it means cutting some of the rope off too.

Here's a picture of why I cut the eyebots short....So I could get both of them in the 4way on each side without running into each other. Update...we have started using stainless steel hardware since then. You can get the eyebolts in stainless that are the right length already at Lowes...no more cutting them off like before. They are called 2 inch but the shaft is only one inch of that length which makes them work out great. They are also 1/4 inch in diameter.
Use the self locking nuts on the eyebolts so they can't come loose. I had to use "washers' on them to make them tighten up on the 4way. So add 1/4 inch washers to your list of supplies. If you want the eyebolts to "swivel" then don't tighten the "self locking" nuts all the way down. I like to have eyebolts on "both sides" of the 4ways so I can hang a toy in the center and also the very bottom eyebolt will allow me to hang a droppings catcher underneath later on when I make one.

Here's a picture of the holes you need to drill in the 4way to install the eyebolts. Drill a 1/8 inch diameter hole as a guide(as shown on the left) "before" drilling the 1/4 inch one.

Here's a picture of the 1/8 inch holes you need to drill for the #8 stainless steel screws to go into. There is holes drilled top and bottom and staggered so the screws don't run into one another. The holes on one side of the 4way were drilled 3/8 of a inch from the end and the other side was drilled 5/8 of an inch from the end just to give ya an idea of distance. Two of the 4ways need the 1/4 inch hole in the middle for the eyebolts while the other two don't.

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Here's what the end of the hoop should look like after you cut off any excess hoop as you want the end to go up into the 4way far enough to make sure the screws go through the rope to hold it in place…or better still, if you already have some of the SS screws in place to hold the rope from coming loose. Recheck the rope to make sure it is still twisted up tight before putting it into the 4way to install the screws.

Here's a picture of what I did to the ends to make "sure" they would not untwist or loosen back up. I installed a screw close to the end. It's the same #8 SS screw, 3/4 inch long, that is used in the 4ways. You'll need to buy an extra pack of screws to do it this way.

Here's a picture of how the ends are all the way into the 4way before installing the screws to hold them in.
Just "pay attention" that the 4way is in the right position to the curvature of the hoop before installing the screws. Put the screws on the outside of the 4way first and then put the ones in that are facing to the inside of the hoop. When the screw pulls up tight, then stop screwing it in or the screw will strip out in the plastic hoop.

 

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Here's a pic of the two hoops that will make up the two inside hoops.

Here's the two inside hoops put together, with the red one in the background waiting to go on next.

This is a picture of the two outer hoops. They will also be the ones with the eyebolts in the 4ways.

After you put the red one around the two inside hoops, you can install the yellow one also.

 

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You need to position the two sets of hoops in relation to one another like this. Note in the picture where the 4ways are located....top and bottom on the outside red and yellow hoops and on each side for the inner two hoops. Just keep working with it until everything looks like it should and is in place before tying it at the eight intersections where the 4ways are not there.

Then where they intersect with each other, you can take the two foot long pieces of 1/8 inch cotton rope and tie it around those spots to hold it together in that spot. Tie it around the intersections in a X pattern. You can also put some beads on the ends of the strings for them to play with also.

While this size is made for Macaws, you can always get smaller hoops to adapt for your own bird size.
Remember is you make one smaller then you won't need as much material.