how to make an atlas stone for cheap part 3 of 3

I really wanted an atlas stone but money is tight right now so I thought up a very cheap way to make one. I went to wall mart and purchased a big rubber "marble" ball..you know the ones in the bin..and I also got a basket ball pump..the ball was 2.50 and the pump was 4. when I got home I went in the backyard and dug a whole about 30"s deep. I pumped the ball up to my desired size..I was a little nervous the ball was gonna burst but suprisingly it got pretty big...anyways I placed the ball in the whole and packed dirt around it, dousing the dirt with my water hose and occasionally stomping the dirt. I completely covered the ball with dirt, and went about 5"s above the ball with dirt. remembberin where the center of the ball was, I used my hand and dug a round whole back down to the surface of the ball so I would have access to the valve( remember valve side up) and also it would give me a place to poor in the concrete. the next day I put the needle part of the pump in the ball and it slowly released the air. then when I could see the ball deflated away from the surrounding dirt, I stabbed it with a knife and the ball turned into a wrinkled piece of rubber which made it easy to pull out. I then mixed up about 5 40 lbs bags of portland cement in a wheel barrow and shoveled it into a 5 gallon bucket which I would carry over to the hole and pour in carefully. your suppose to let the concrete sit for about 3 days to cure but I waited about 6 hours and dug the sucker up...it was hard as a rock...I wont drop it on a solid surface for about another week or so, but it is definitely hard enough to drop on grass without an issue. plus at this early stage it makes it easy to scrape off any abnormalities with the claw end of a hammer. oh yeah and when you pour the concrete in the hole, take a board..I used a 2x6 to lay across solid ground near your whole so you can stand on the board without putting your bodyweight on the soil where a giant whole awaits to cave in on it self. mine came out pretty good, now just gotta put some concrete sealer on it and it will be ready to go!!

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• how
• to
• make
• an
• atlas
• stone
• cheap

[tlast2012dude]

how much does it weight and how can you control the weight of the ball? to make many like 225, 300, 350 etc...

[Cambria2007]

you can pump the ball up with a basket ball pump and use this chart... 54" 216 lbs, 56" 240lbs, 58" 267 lbs, 60" 295 lbs, 62" 326 lbs.

[plantera07]

i cant believe how well this worked, its a pretty good looking stone. i have made 4 stones using the plaster method and they turn out great. the only additional cost is one bag of plaster and it saves alot of work i.e digging and pulling a 240 pound ball out of the ground

[mossberg451]

what is the circumference of the ball if i wanted one at say im a beginner 116 pounds

[ihavemonkeysinmybutt]

so you basically dug a hole in the ground put the inflated ball in it covered the ball in dirt then deflated the ball and then took out the ball and then poured the concrete inside the hole?

[leefoll]

Nice job.

[rgugliel]

fair play, that worked good

[spagnot]

pretty good for a dirt ball

[Dumby571]

wats the ball for

[BRUTUSPLAC]

CONCRETE SEALER 1 gallon $17 here at lowes

GREAT JOB BUDDY .....