03:04 PM PDT on Monday, June 26, 2006

Associated Press

EUGENE, Ore. -- It's a stretch to break the record, but Steve Milton, wants to make the world's largest ball of rubber bands. Milton, 26, an estimator for a local insulation company, was showing his 6-year-old son how to wrap rubber bands into a sphere last year and the project snowballed from there.

Photo courtesy of Steve Milton

The rubber band ball at just over 500 lbs.

The ball now weighs in at 580 pounds and is roughly three feet high.

"Nobody's really called me crazy," Milton said. "They do think I've got a lot of time on my hands."

The record to break is a 3,120 pounds and five-foot tall ball, created by John Bain of Wilmington, Del. in 1998.

Bain contacted Milton by e-mail when he learned that he was attempting to break the record. His only words of advice were to never give up and to always wear gloves because the stretched bands can burn the skin.

Milton said a rubber band company in Pennsylvania supplies him with rubber bands for at $1.80 a pound, including shipping. He says the same over-sized rubber bands sell for $5 a pound locally.

"I've got about 1,000 pounds waiting to be put on the darn ball," he says. Milton posts photos and videos of the rubber band ball and solicits donations on Myspace.com.

So far, he says, he's taken in around $200 in PayPal donations and estimates he's spent about $800 of his own money.

"Not too many people in Eugene know about it," says Stephanie Thompson, a friend and co-worker, who donated $5 to the cause. "I think he's going to break the record."

Milton has also started smashing things with the ball to raise money. He's pulverized an old TV set and tried to crush a computer monitor, but the ball bounced right off the top. Since that failed attempt, however, the ball has grown by 200 pounds and he is optimistic he will be able to flatten the computer hardware.

"It's just going to take some time and money," says Milton. "If this guy from Pennsylvania keeps working with me, I'd probably say it will cost me another $4,000."

He said he's still not sure what he'll do with the ball if it is ever completed. He'd like to see if David Letterman is interested, and he also thinks it might fit right in at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in Portland.

Milton can be reached at: Rubberbandballrecord@yahoo.com