You wouldn’t think there’d be any way to improve on a classic toy like the rubber bouncy ball, would you? Well, it’s a good thing you’re not Aidan Leitch, who has set it as his mission to 3D print a superior elastic sphere. Using the incredible NinjaFlex TPE 3D printing filament, which has a ton of sproing, he’s been working on new designs for bouncing balls.

Leitch started out with the most basic formulation you could think of: a solid ball of NinjaFlex TPE. It bounced, sure, but not evenly. Sometimes it would get a bunch of air, sometimes it wouldn’t. He sawed it open and discovered that the infill - the latticework inside the ball - was uneven. So he realized he’d have to develop his own support system that would give the ball equal support and springiness without weighing it down.

You can watch the above video to learn more about Leitch’s process and what he wants to 3D print next. Sure, it’s probably easier to just go down to the supermarket and buy a ball from the vending machine for a quarter, but since when is doing easy things fun?

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