How to Fix Dents on Ping Pong Balls: 3 Easy Steps

Do you have a ping pong ball that is dented while you are practicing or in the game? And you have no spare? It happens very often, specifically with plastic ping pong balls. It’s normal to have dents even on the best ping pong balls.

However, don’t worry, we have come up with the methods to fix a dented ball. We are going to share three quick and easy solutions to fix dents on your ping pong balls and make them as good as new.

How These Methods Work

Now before we get into the details of the methods to inflate your deflated ping pong balls back to its original shape, let’s know about the science behind these techniques. It is not very complicated. It deals with the fundamental physics of heat and how it plays a role in expanding something.

The air particles presented inside the ball expand because of heat. The pressure changes inside the ball force pressure on the dent, causing it to pop back into its original shape.

How to Fix the Dented Table Tennis Ball With Hot Water

Let’s find out how to make your dented ping pong ball brand new again with the hot water method. This method is the most used and works like magic.

Steps to follow:

• Boil a cup of water in a wide pot or heat-proof bowl.
• Put the dented ping pong ball on the surface of the water. You can even use a spoon to hold the ball inside the boiling water.
• Wait until the ball retains its shape. It takes about 20-30 seconds.
• Immediately take out the ball using a spoon
• Place the ball on a flat surface laid with a tissue or cloth.
• Hold the four corners of the cloth or tissue and hang it on a cloth line or window.
• After the ball is completely dried naturally by hanging, you can use it again.

How to Undent Ping Pong Ball With Hairdryer

The second method is using a hairdryer since it also heats and undent ping pong balls. It is pretty easy to use and also very effective.

Steps to follow:

• Take a hairdryer and put in the highest hot setting
• Put the ball on a piece of cloth and blow it with the hairdryer to protect your hand.
• You can even blow the hairdryer vertically and place the ball in the stream of hot air.
• Let the hot air blow only until the ball expands. It is recommended to let the ball cool to prevent any deformities.
• Let the ball cool naturally on a piece of tissue before using it.

How to Fix Ping Pong Ball With Heat or Lighter

As heat is the source to make the table tennis ball regain its original shape, you can use the flame lighter or candle to fix the ping pong ball.

Steps to follow

• Take a lighter or a candle and light it up.
• Carefully and slowly pass the flame over the ball back and forth.
• Make sure not to expose too much heat to the ball since it may easily melt or cause deformities.
• Once the ball reverts to its original shape, cool it off by handing it using a cloth.

How to Get a Dent Out of Ping Pong Ball Using Your Thumb

Here is a bonus method for your crushed table tennis ball. If you cannot use any heating medium, here is an easy way to help you. We cannot rely on this method every time since it can cause bigger dents or deformities.

In this thumb method, you have to carefully push around the ball’s dented area using your two thumbs until it pops back again to a spherical shape.

Warnings

Even though you can make your ping pong ball good again using the above methods, you have to follow some precautions.

• These methods will not work if you have a cracked ping pong ball
• Do not put the ball on a flat surface while it’s still hot because it may cause a flat edge to your ball
• Do not use bare hands in any of these methods to prevent from hurting your hands.
• Make sure you maintain a certain distance between the ball and the flame since it may catch fire easily.
• Make sure to do these methods with adult supervision.
• The ball will not be as durable as it was before.
• The ball’s bounciness may decrease, and the size may increase due to the air particles’ heat expansion.
• Do not use a microwave as it will destroy the interior of the oven.
• The ping pong balls may omit a foul odor after heating.

Conclusion

To inflate your ping pong ball successfully, you must make sure that you choose the easy and best method. We hope that making your dented table tennis ball brand-new again is made easier with these methods.

Even if it’s not as durable and robust as it was once before, you don’t have to stop your game or throw it away. Now you can use the same ping pong ball for a few more months until you get a new one.