Building a huge ball out of more than 175,000 rubber bands(1) is dangerous business. Really. "The rubber bands ... sometimes they'll break. That hurts," said Steve Milton, whose 4,594-pound rubber band ball was certified Tuesday as the world's largest by Guinness World Records officials. "As long as you wear your safety goggles(2), you're good."

Milton, 26, of Eugene, Ore., watched as four bodybuilders rolled the multicolored(3), rubbery mass — 5 1/2 feet high and 19 feet around — onto a giant scale in downtown Chicago for the official weigh-in(4).

He raised his arms over his head in Rocky-esque style when Guinness judge Sarah Wagner announced his ball had bounced(5) the previous 3,120-pound record-holder from the books. That record was set by John Bain of Wilmington, Del., in 2003.

"It was just a great project with me and my kids," said Milton, who worked on the ball with his 6-year-old son, Bryce Milton, and soon-to-be stepson(6), Austin Johnson, 7. "We did a little bit of research on how big rubber band balls are, and realized there was one out there that was 3,120 pounds and we knew we could do it."

Milton credited his success to a simple credo(7): add to the ball every day, even if it was for just a few minutes.

"We tried to do at least ten to 20 pounds a day," said Milton, who moved the ball to the garage after it dawned on(8) him the growing globe would soon be too big to fit through the door. "Some days we'd take off, and not do anything, but we definitely stuck with it."

Milton's fiancee, Nicole Johnson, said she thought at first that her family might be a little crazy.

"I was wondering," Johnson said. "But it turned into a fun project for all of us."

Milton bought the rubber bands, finally striking a deal with a manufacturer to buy them in bulk(9).

Guinness judge Wagner, who is based in London but flies around the globe certifying records (her previous assignment was the world's longest line of pizza in Italy), said the atmosphere for the weigh-in was great.

"You meet all kinds of people all over the world, and it's lovely because people have passions and you get to help realize them."

用175000根橡皮筋做成一個球是很危險的工作。真的。Steve Milton說：“有時候，橡皮筋會斷，會傷到人。除非戴上護目鏡，否則很危險。” 周二，他制作的4594磅橡皮筋球通過吉尼斯世界紀錄官方審核成為世界最大橡皮筋球。

26歲的俄勒岡州尤金小伙兒Milton看著四個大力士將高5 1/2英尺、周長19英尺的彩色橡膠團推上位于芝加哥的巨型天平，進行官方稱重。

吉尼斯評委Sarah Wagner宣布Milton打破2003年特拉華州威爾明頓John Bain創下的3120磅紀錄。Milton像拳擊獲勝者一樣把手臂高舉過頭頂示意。

Milton與六歲的兒子Bryce Milton和7歲的準繼子Austin Johnson一起制作，他說：“這是我和孩子們的大工程。我們首先了解到世界上最大的橡皮筋球為3120磅，我們認為我們可以超越。”

Milton透露簡單的成功秘訣：每天都纏，哪怕只纏幾分鐘。

Milton說：“我們試圖每天增加10至20磅，中途也停止過，不過最終又專心制作了。” 當他意識到這樣下去球會越變越大，可能很快就出不了門的時候，他把球移到車庫中。

Milton的未婚妻Nicole Johnson說，最初她認為她的家人有點瘋狂。

Johnson說：“開始我覺得很困惑，但是后來這變成全家人的娛樂活動。”

Milton負責購買皮筋，后來索性從生產商那里批量購買。

基尼斯評委Wagner說稱重時候的氛圍太棒了。Wagner住在倫敦，終日在世界各處飛來飛去為世界紀錄做見證人，上一次是在意大利見證世界最長的比薩隊。

“你在世界各地見到各種各樣的人，很高興看見人們心懷激情，而你能幫助他們實現夢想。”