Football Bladder

[soarin]

Looking to make a custom football for my brother. Wondering if anyone knows where I could buy a standard size american football bladder.

[stelmackr]

Looking to make a custom football for my brother. Wondering if anyone knows where I could buy a standard size american football bladder.

Would this Google search help?

http://www.dutchdipping.com/footballbladders.html

[cem]

Would this Google search help?

http://www.dutchdipp...llbladders.html

They don't have American bladders, only rugby and the valves are different, I tried to buy from them at one time as I repair old rugby/Australian and American footballs but they were difficult to deal with as they weren't set up for online payments. I ended up buying from a place in the UK called http://sportsballuk.co.uk the fellow has been ill though so I'm not 100% sure if he is still doing them or not.

You used to be able to get replacement bladders from the Wilson factory in Ada, Ohio cost between $5-$15 can't remember exactly as it's only for US residents, if you are only making one ball it will probably be easier to just buy a cheap ball and get the bladder out of that as the Wilson bladders are made of TPU and designed to fit their footballs with the cheaper balls the bladders are butyl or latex and you have more leeway with the fit.

Let me know if you need any help with the best way to sew it together as there is a knack to it if your using certain types of leathers.

[nickjhh]

Hi there, I am looking for help in having a leather rugby ball repaired...the bladder has perished I believe. I can probably source a new bladder but have no idea how to go about unstitching / stitching a ball back up. I think the chap that owned sportsballuk has passed away sadly.

cem, is this something that you'd be willing & able to help with (for a fee of course!) Apologies for hijacking the thread....I was struggling to find any discussion on this on the net until I found this thread!

Cheers, Nick

[cem]

Hi Nick,

Yes sadly Trevor from sportsballuk has passed away, I bought quite a few bladders from him and he was always willing to help with any questions I had about a soccer ball as I rarely work on those. He was a very nice guy and I wanted to catch up with him if I ever got over to England so I'm kind of sad that I won't get to now.

Anyhow I can help with your rugby ball just let me know what's wrong with it, if you can try and take photos of it I can get you on track quicker if you don't want to post them in the thread your welcome to PM me. A good start would be an overall shot of the ball, the laces if it has them, the air valve area so I know what type it has and a close up of the stitching.

Cheers,

cem

[nickjhh]

Hi cem, thanks a lot for your quick reply - much appreciated. That's sad about Trevor - and that you were never able to meet up with him. I'm only going off his videos I have found online but he seemed a very nice and friendly chap.

I've just bought the ball I'm looking to repair - it's an old Adidas Wallaby leather rugby ball. The seller tells me that the bladder has perished so I'm planning to get it repaired. Now I should quickly add that it was on my search for information online that I found this forum (and thread.) Sadly I'm in no way experienced in this type of thing!

I have a few pictures of the ball which I'm happy to share with you. I'm still working out how to use this forum so I'm not sure if you have an email address I could send them to. Otherwise, what's the best way to share photos - via something like photobucket? I should get hold of the ball some time next week so can send you more pictures then!

I live in Singapore and doubt there'll be anyone here who has done this before....though plenty of shops that repair shoes, bags etc that might be able to do it but I don't think I would risk it!

Thanks again for your reply! Best, Nick

[nickjhh]

Hi cem,

I'm hoping this links to the pictures I have of the ball!

http://s1208.photobucket.com/user/njhh1/library/Adidas%20Wallaby%20Ball

Cheers, Nick

[cem]

Bummer I was hoping it was the one with laces as they are easy to repair, I've only done a couple of balls without laces and they were soccer balls.

At the moment I can tell you that by the valve type the bladder is glued in and those bladders are more difficult to find. Your best bet is probably to buy a cheap rugby ball and get the bladder out of that, it's only light glue so they can be pulled out. To glue it back into the Wallaby ball you will need something like shoe goo. If you are able to find a bladder on its own let me know what the valve housing looks like and I can tell you if it's the right one or not.

If you buy a cheap size 5 rugby ball to get the bladder out, deflate the ball all the way and grab the seam opposite to the valve hole give the ball a shake so the bladder drops to the bottom then squeeze the seam together so you can see the stitching then with a scalpel blade or another small blade cut the stitching if it's machine stitched you will only need to do a few then it can be pulled apart if its hand sewn your likely to have to cut at least half the seam. Make sure you cut the seam furthest away from the valve hole otherwise you may nick the bladder.

To open up the Wallaby ball do the same thing the bladder is already stuffed so you don't have to worry about nicking it if you only want to have to resew one seam again cut the seam furthest from the valve and as the leather is generally thicker than the synthetic balls you will definitely need a small blade to get to the stitching otherwise you risk slicing or nicking the leather. The older Wallaby rugby balls with laces were hand stitched but I haven't seen this one in person before so can't tell you if it will be case with this one it may come apart easy or it may not.

To put the new bladder in check that there isn't a lot of glue residue around the valve hole after you have pulled the old one out, the panels are generally lined with canvas and if there is a bit of glue residue give it a light sand so the new bladder will stick in properly you may need to do this with the new bladder as well depending on how much glue residue is on that as it's likely to have canvas as well on the thicker rubber part that makes up the valve assembly.

To glue it in you don't want it completely flat as it may not sit properly so slightly inflate it put some new glue on the canvas part of the bladder and stick it in lining it up with the valve hole I've found the easiest way to do this is to cut a couple of centre metres off the end of the inner part of a ball point pen put it slightly in the bladder valve opening and put through the leather valve hole otherwise the openings can go out of alignment which is a pain when it's time to inflate it.

Make sure you let the glue fully set before you attempt to resew the seam and the bladder needs to be fully flat so let it down after the glue has set so that it's nowhere near the needles while you’re sewing. Now this is where it gets tricky I haven't resewn a rugby ball that doesn't have laces I know the last few stitches are kept loose and then pulled together one by one by pulling the stich in the middle with something like an awl but I don't know how the threads are tied off with a soccer ball there are a lot more seams the ball can be squished together easier and the ending threads are passed through an adjoining panel and I was only able to do it with Trevor’s help and I haven't done any since.

So I'm sorry I can't help any further with that part there was a video on YouTube about Gilbert hand sewing rugby balls but it didn't show the full sequence but I would maybe contact Gilbert and see if they would be willing to help.

If Gilbert won't I would take the ball to someone who makes handmade shoes as they might be able figure it as they would of likely come across more stitching types. I can say for certain though the last seam to be sewn is the one furthest from the valve.

I'm sorry I can't go through the whole process but I hope this will at least give you an idea of what to do

Cheers,

cem

[nickjhh]

Hi cem, thanks for your help there - most helpful! I will start to make preparations for the repair! I think I know the difference in the type of bladder needed knowing that this bladder is stuck in (I assume rather then placed in the seam and then stictched in?)

I've found a couple of bladder options - linked below to my photobucket...I assume I do not want the one that has the valve sticking up (i.e. want the one with the white ring around the valve?)

http://s1208.photobucket.com/user/njhh1/library/Bladders

Thanks again....Nick

[cem]

Hi Nick,

Yep you want the first one, the white ring will be canvas. If you find a supplier that can do about 50 at a time I'd be interested as I'm just about out of what I got from Trevor and my other supplier only does the valve sticking up type which are mostly for Australian footballs and in seam rugby balls.

Cheers,

cem

[nickjhh]

Hi cem, thanks again for your help.

I got lucky yesterday evening at the local sports shop - a dirty display ball with the bladder I needed bought for about AU$10! Stage 1 successfully done - bladder extracted and ready for fitting! I found a few places that looked like they had the righty bladder if you needed to try and follow up - one in India - www.gisco.in and one in South Africa www.medalistsport.com I never got as far as talking to them about cost / quantities / shipping though!

Once the Wallby arrives I'll have a go at unpicking the seam, fitting the bladder.....and then trying to find someone to sow the damn thing back up!

Cheers, Nick

[cem]

Good find Nick if you had gone the other way of trying to find a bladder on it's own it would of been a lot more $ than that. I've tried all the indian places before and they deal with thousands at a time, I tried to get 500 at one time and they still wouldn't deal. I hadn't heard of medalist before so will give them a try so thanks for the heads up.

Cheers,

cem

[BoulevardEast]

Bumping this topic to see if anyone else has a good point of contact for football and rugby ball bladders.  Thanks in advance!

[Riley2018]

Email or call Wilson Sporting Goods (1-800-800-9936) they helped me with a bladder for an old Spaulding football with a bad bladder. Cost around $10 (a couple years ago) and came with lacing. Will pass down to grandkids one of these days. Not to many real leather footballs around these days.