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[paxl13]

Hey y'alls,

I just want to share my experience with 3d printed top in PLA. do not bother... My friend had printed me 2 of the top shared that used the spintastic tip...  I've destroyed the first one while playing over asphalt ( my mistake... ) And I just delaminated the crown of my second one while playing over grass and dirt ( no rock or anything )... I was praticing full string ( with a 90 ish inch string ) suns... and it flew off at the top of the arc... ended up falling on the crown and now it's half delaminated...

It wasn't a nice print to begin with but... any other top would have surived that without even choking... Jose, out of curiosity, have you ever had any trouble with abs prints ? Also, I'm looking at my S8's and should I refrain playing outside on grass ( IE how more resistant is delrin compared to PLA / ABS ).

From what I've read the biggest problem with PLA is that it's not flexible at all.

Cheers and thanks for sharing!
paxl

[jmadrigal]

Sorry to hear about your top. Not surprising though. I personally don't play over cement with any of my tops. In Iceland we had little choice and I cracked the top I used the most after 3 to four days playing over granite. ABS and PETG are more suitable for tops because they flex. They are tougher to print than PLA though.
You will certainly break an ABS top if you drop it over a hard surface enough.
You should be safe over grass unless there are rocks and you are unlucky.
I would think the S8 would be indestructible but someone else might have more info on that.

[Rayos]

Nylon might be suitable for printing spinning tops along with PLA+ filament and PETG, just remember to properly vent your printers or use filtering, they found even PLA produces UFPs that cross thro the lungs and get into the blood stream, and the styrene from PLA melting is carcinogenic. A friend sent me two large printers, but I haven't been able to use them yet cause I don't have a garage with ventilation or a filtering system with enclosure. Nice design on the tops, 3D printing allows a extreme variety of tops to be printed.

[jmadrigal]

Nylon is a great plastic for tops. I have found it one of the most challenging to print though. Higher temperatures, warping and it absorbs moisture like crazy. Most people print smaller objects with nylon.

[paxl13]

Nylon might be suitable for printing spinning tops along with PLA+ filament and PETG, just remember to properly vent your printers or use filtering, they found even PLA produces UFPs that cross thro the lungs and get into the blood stream, and the styrene from PLA melting is carcinogenic. A friend sent me two large printers, but I haven't been able to use them yet cause I don't have a garage with ventilation or a filtering system with enclosure. Nice design on the tops, 3D printing allows a extreme variety of tops to be printed.

Ouch, that sounds quite bad for the health...

[jmadrigal]

I never thought tops could be hazardous to my health. 

[Pulpowsky]

Pulp
I think you are asking me the process I use for making/designing my tops. I use a 3D cad program to draw what I want to print. For simple things like tops, Google SketchUp is free and works fine. When you have made your drawing you need to generate a .stl file for your project. SketchUp does not do this directly but you can download an extension that will do this for you. Once you have your .stl file you upload it to your slicer software that lets you control how your print will be built. Here you select part print orientation, fill %, layer height, speed, temperature, support material and more. After this you ready to print.
From my experience machines vary wildly in quality. These machines are for people who like to tinker and usually won't give good prints without some work. Printers are getting better, but still need a lot of attention. For most consumer machines in the ~$500 range, I  would expect to put in a lot of time leveling the bed and working about your part lifting during the print.

As far as materials go, there are a lot of options. PLA is simple to print and does not require a heated bed but is not as durable as the other materials. ABS is strong but requires a heated bed and tends to have shrinkage/warping problems, so you have to design accordingly. Polycarbonate is impact resistant and strong but requires a nozzle that can print at over 300 C. Nylon is tough and would also be a good option but also requires higher nozzle temperatures. There are many other materials, these are just some of the common ones.

I think printing is definitely worth the time. I recently checked how much one of my 3" tops would cost through Shapeways. They quoted me over $200 for an ABS print. I think my machine is paying for it's self each time I make a top.

Thanks a lot with great delay.

Now I’m resuming this matter ethusiasticaly

[Pulpowsky]

Nylon might be suitable for printing spinning tops along with PLA+ filament and PETG, just remember to properly vent your printers or use filtering, they found even PLA produces UFPs that cross thro the lungs and get into the blood stream, and the styrene from PLA melting is carcinogenic. A friend sent me two large printers, but I haven't been able to use them yet cause I don't have a garage with ventilation or a filtering system with enclosure. Nice design on the tops, 3D printing allows a extreme variety of tops to be printed.

Using filtering mask becomes neccesary, and open the windows later.

[Pulpowsky]

When I printed the yellow one, I noticed a crack between layers about 28mm from the tip. This is caused from the warping that occurs (from temperature change)  while printing ABS. I threw it and one drop cracked the top. I figured I could glue it together, but then decided it would be more interesting with the tip on the top "crownless". I was amazed it actually worked well, and I think I liked it better. This was a great discovery for me and opened a new door for top shapes. I am currently printing a green PETG version that is based on this shape. While the yellow one is just taped together with electrical tape, it is a fantastic top.
The green top in the video is a similar shape to what the yellow top was supposed to be, just a bit lighter and different weight distribution. I like the green one a lot as well. It is basically the red top I made lengthened by about 12mm.
The red top is great but had a vibration that was intensified when I made heavier versions. This made me question the design and what variables I could use to accurately predict if a shape will be stable or not. I am going to find the center of gravity for a few of the tops I have made to see if this is a predictor for stability. I figure I will take a few of the good players and compare them with some of the versions with vibration.

I am sure some of the people turning wooden tops have gone over this. I would love to hear some advice on design.
I would be open to a collaboration if people have ideas on shapes I am not thinking of.

What about using cetone steam to give more cohesivity to the ABS layers?

Sorry if this were talked yet, I’m reading this post since the begininig

[jmadrigal]

I do use acetone on the ABS tops. It smooths them out and I would think add strength. I actually apply the acetone directly and not just as vapor.

[Mermouy]

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3604896

Hope someone gives this a try. V3 is great! I included 3 others that I liked less. V4 and V3 are the same except for the mass is shifted higher in V4. Print these two and compare if you want to see what shifting the weight around does to the play. V1 and V2 were a starting point. I would rather not talk about V5 

Two of them already printed for ludo, but just stupidly forgot to take them with me on season... (my computer has been stolen few days before leaving home that's why I'm not posting muxh these days...) Ludo has been very surprised and happy of this "honor".
The tops play great as usual with relampago tops!!!!

[cecil]

John how is life for you? For me not so good - l will have hip surgery on the 22 of this month. Then maybe I can get back into throwing and making-tops. Let me say first you are equipd to make the best tops in the world. AND YOU DO. I am a retired machinist who has done a lot of cutting thru life. So what l’m asking for = can you please make a video of your shop. Names of the machines speed range horse power, where you bought them and what you paid? I agree with you - I don’ want to sell any of my tops. They are all for my Grand children. If I ever get back on a good lathe I will make a couple of trick tops for Jack and Gus. P.S I’ve made videos on world records and you never make a comment on them or any of my post? I don’t want to go to the grave not knowing why. ( l LOVE the way I reach out to people)

[jmadrigal]

Just saw this listed. Not the best quality print, but interesting.

https://shop.yoyoexpert.com/collections/new-releases/products/circle-yoyo-by-unthinkable?variant=29132775391306

[paxl13]

Just saw this listed. Not the best quality print, but interesting.

https://shop.yoyoexpert.com/collections/new-releases/products/circle-yoyo-by-unthinkable?variant=29132775391306

This does indeed open you a door to sell your top via YYE I think. I also think that Andre is a top lover too.. That might weigh in your favor!!

Cheers!
pax

[Neff]

Also, I'm looking at my S8's and should I refrain playing outside on grass ( IE how more resistant is delrin compared to PLA / ABS ).

I have dropped my Giulias on smooth concrete many times, no cracking. Outdoor sidewalk concrete with a broomed finish will scuff it up pretty good, but it sands back out nicely. I have a delrin off-string yo yo with really thin walls that has seen some some heavy impact but looks like new.