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[ta0]

Today was Market Day at my youngest son's school (5th grade). The students had to sell a product they had made themselves. Pablo made and sold tops assembled with recycled CDs or DVDs and a marble, with the label covered with acrylic paint.  He ran out of tops to sell, so I guess it was an attractive product for the kids.



The inspiration was, of course, the old tops from Toycrafter. Using a marble as the tip and stem, instead of a penny, facilitated the construction, although it left little room to grab it. The idea of making tops out of old CDs is an old idea, but generally the suggestion is to use a pencil.

[poptop]

Pablo does good work!  Well done.

[the Earl of Whirl]

Ahh, my good friend Pablo.  I am so glad to see he is so industrious.  Those are some colorful looking tops.

Good work Pablo (as well as mom and dad).  It is so neat to hear that he sold out.

[jim in paris]

eh eh !
that's a serious display table !!
i like the recycling process too

go Pablo , go!

jim

[topper777]

how cool for him!!!

[Dick Stohr]

Well done Pablo!  Jorge please explain a little more how the marble works or is attached?

[ta0]

Well done Pablo!  Jorge please explain a little more how the marble works or is attached?

Unfortunately, Pablo did not keep one to take a photo (and I don't have any for my collection! )
The marble is a little bigger than the hole at the center of the CD and if you place it there it will stick out on the opposite side providing the "stem".

The tops could be spun on either side, but to make them more sturdy and also to increase the clearance with the floor the official tip side was the one from where the ball was placed. Unfortunately, this made for a rather small "stem". They still could be spun by grabbing and twisting the ball, but some adults preferred to grab the outside of the disk. To attach the ball you just super-glue the edge of the hole.  We first tried hot glue but it would come out easily if you dropped the top. Pablo would have been dangerous using super-glue, so he "hired" me at minimum wage to glue them.  His cost sheet gave 27 cents per top and he sold them for 50 cents.

[the Earl of Whirl]

I was about an hour north of Miamisburg for the Tipp City historical home tour.  It is a well organized event but the highlight of the day for me is to go to the toy shop in their historic downtown.  They have a number of tops there but the find of the day was a display with over a dozen penny tops by Channel Craft but invented by Don Olney.  I told the store owner that I know the inventor and she explained to me that they sell out the rack of tops about three to four times every year.  She told me to be sure to tell Don about that!  His top invention is alive and well and a big hit in southwest Ohio.

[ta0]

Thanks for reviving this thread, Mike. It was nice to see that photograph again. Kids grow so fast!

[Jeremy McCreary]

@ta0: Love that photo of your son behind the table full of toos at Market Day!

Reminds me of a much older guy I know behind tables full of LEGO tops at LEGO shows -- way back when it was safe to exchange air with people you don't live with.

Some day...

[ortwin]

So tell us ta0, could you confirm within this project that CD's with Heavy Metal music spin for much longer then easy listening? We seem to have discussed something along those lines in other threads.

[ta0]

So tell us ta0, could you confirm within this project that CD's with Heavy Metal music spin for much longer then easy listening?

Well, I think most, if not all, the CDs he used were computer CDs and not music CDs. But you're right, that would appear to be the case when listening to them   

[Jeremy McCreary]

I think Jimmy Buffett CDs might have more inertia.

[ortwin]

I made a test with old vinyl records of mine.

[ortwin]

And then there is also the "Voyager Golden Record" that takes us to space, once again. Maybe we see von Braun's space station on the way?




Wait a minute, ta0 said platinum, not gold! How about "double platinum" ?




@ Jeremy: sorry, I don't quite get the Buffet thing. Something about him being rich?