First home made balloon

[Seidenki]

Re: First home made balloon

I would've thought it would not be possible to recycle balloon latex because one of the steps of making balloons involves vulcanisation. This changes how the latex polymer cross-linking works. You'd have to reverse that somehow and I think it's widely regarded as irreversible.

[SirSquishy]

Re: First home made balloon

Dissolving sounds like it would make the latex unusable afterwards. What about melting with heat? According to this website (answers.com/Q/What_is_the_melting_point_of_latex) the melting point of latex is 250 - 350 F. If that's correct, couldn't you melt the latex down into a mold?

[SweetBouncer]

Re: First home made balloon

I have an idea, why don't use a q24 to make a mold,( you don't need to break it, using a cork plug to seal it should be enough), that way when the method for making balloons is improved enough you could easily make more.

That could solve the problem of its disappearance from the market.

[JamesPopper]

Re: First home made balloon

Seidenki is correct, vulcanization literally changes how the latex acts, and is irreversible, you're literally changing how the latex acts at a molecular level

[Bubblyzzz]

Re: First home made balloon

I was thinking about formers. Could you use a light bulb? perfectly smooth glass, and if you drilled a hole in the screw in part, couldn't you fill it with plaster or something to make it heavy?

Sorry engineer thinking here. There are some big light bulbs...