How To: Ping Pong Ball Lights

At some point last semester I realized that ping pong balls make great diffusers and look really cool when they are glowing. Next we concluded that a hundred glowing ping pong balls would look even cooler. It was at about this point I decided that my apartment was in dire need of some ping pong ball lights.

In this instructable I'll show you a quick way to turn an ordinary string of Christmas lights into a great party decoration.

Step 1: Gather Materials

For this Instructable you'll need a few things.

Parts:

• A string of Christmas lights
• A ping pong ball for each light on the string

Tools:

• Drill and drill bit (or other implement to make a hole in a ping pong ball)
• Hot glue and glue gun

When researching this project I found that you can get a gross(144) of ping pong balls for under $20 including shipping on eBay.

Make sure the string of lights you use is in good condition. Check for any electrical shorts or overheating bulbs before starting.

Comments

[Applebohn]

this is awsome!

[w00t ._.]

dude this idea is awesome!!

[CYNICALifornia]

I think these lights look really great! Now we just gotta make the strand look as good as the lights. I know the sell white strands, but could the strands be painted easily, such as with spray paint?

[mabeline65]

you could wrap the cord in embroidery floss. It's a lil time consuming and labor intensive but it looks great and there are tons of colors to choose from : )

[Lisa Fla]

To paint the light strand wires: before putting ping pong balls on, push the glass bulbs (only) into a sheet of styrofoam, then spray paint the rest. When dry, rearrange so that you can spray any spots you missed the first time. The embroidery floss sounds clever, but wouldn't you then have to worry about wire breakage > fire? Still waiting for someone to translate POI for us. Wish I could take credit for this idea, but I saw it on HGTV or something similar a few years ago on a holiday special.

[nanananananananabatman]

doesn't styrofoam melt when spray painted???

[komecake]

 ...not enough to actually melt it to the light. It's not like it's a hot melt either. It just gets soggy like bread basically. The styrofoam is temporary so that really shouldn't matter. o.0

[noxvox]

I made some of these for my dorm. Get your Christmas lights at Good Will! 3 boxes of 50 lights for $3. 150 lights total is the closest you'll get to the 144 gross that pingpong balls are sold in. Great job!

[horowitzfan]

Awesome, I was just trying to figure that out! (now to find enough ping-pong balls...)

[michel moltrum]

so simple, so cheap and so great. these kind of Christmas lights (I mean without the balls) are real depressing to me, with this easy transformation they become a beautiful thing that you want to see everynight in your patio.

[Hejjhog]

Oh my god best idea I've seen in a long while! I am SO gonna do that! THANK YOU!

[ANTQNUT]

EPIC!!!!! teehee I love ping pong balls they're so.... bouncy

[thecolorsrun]

We used a drill press and it worked great! Went through about 100 balls in 10 minutes or so :)

[ali666]

Instead of a c clamp you could use Silicone Sealant, squeeze enough of it around a ball and cover it all the way up to around a few mills above the center line, allow to dry, or perhaps playdoh would work, anyways.. Nice intractable u got there.

[Miss World]

what a great idea! I love this!

[Nitocris]

They look like bubbles. I have to make these ...for some party or occasion that does not immediately occur to me. Good job!

[njdjs]

I made this with Led Christmas lights.I used my hot glue gun to melt the holes and while it was still warm I pushed the light in the ball. I still put a bead of hot glue on it just in case.After making them and hanging them up I see they don't have to just be used for Christmas,So I am going to leave these in my gameroom where I have a ping pong table just for a neat gameroom decoration. Thanks for the idea.

[willhooi]

alternaively, you can use a hot soldering iron to melt a small hole in the ping pong balls. beware of the fumes and molten plastic though..:)

[Sandisk1duo]

Looks Awesome!

[Platt3r]

Do you know if these look good with LED's? I think I might make some self contained LED ping-pong ball's.

[M F]

regular LEDs are made to shine light out one end, in one direction. but the new CHRISTMAS LEDs are made to shine light in all directions. they will work fine.

[advancedMischief]

LED's work great too. Check out LED-Ball here and ping pong ball defusers on uC Hobby. I don't know if anyone's come up with a really good way to reseal the ball yet but it's only a matter of time.

[dcmania21]

chek out my new instructable it is improved of of my old one i resealed them with balloons http://www.instructables.com/id/LED-Ping-Pong-Ball-Improved/

[Evilthingamabober]

Go poke some extra holes in the ping pong balls so little spots of light go everywhere.

[zombiehottie0900]

TOTALLY YES! lol

[cjozzibozzi]

Should be able to burn little neat holes all over it you heat a metal implement and burn them into the ball. Caution...do outside. Not good to breathe in plastic fumes.

[M F]

good point

[Evilthingamabober]

Yaay for getting high off of fumes! Until you die of it, anyways...

[advancedMischief]

Ping pong balls are made from cellulose, which is highly flammable. Burning holes in one with a hot implement is probably a bad idea. There's a good chance you would ignite the ball.

[wolf555hound]

That's why they make good smoke bombs! kewl, thanks, now i know not to set then on fire making holes, sweet!

[Evilthingamabober]

"kewl, thanks, now i know not to set then on fire making holes, sweet!"
Dont set them on fire?
Are you crazy! Whats better than a krazy fireball?

[wolf555hound]

nothing at all.

[jehstr]

that is really cool. i might have to steal mums christmas lights haha.

[GitarGr8]

This is such a great idea. I'm gonna try this with some LEDs hanging at different lengths.

[barney_1]

Nice work. I really like that for the price of the ping pong balls you can take that ratty old string of lights and turn it into something fresh and new. This is relatively "labor light" too, you get a lot for the work you put in. Congrats!

[2dMaxf]

This would be really cool on my mountain bike. I would do it with the battery operated rice lights I bought some years ago at Big Lots during Christmas time. Then nobody can say they didn't see me coming at night.

[DREDGONRED]

awesome!!!!!!

[whiteoakart]

Great Idea. If you made these with LED Throwie-style lights you could have a cool, night-time Easter Egg Hunt. Or roll them down a big hill. Or down your stairs at your next party. Kuhl!

[dcmania21]

check out mine, mine are exactly like these only portable

http://www.instructables.com/id/LED-Ball/

[scienceguy]

If you make sure the seal is water proof, you could float it in a pool. To turn them on or off you could put a reed switch in it.