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[ta0]

I realized today that my very stable 1" diameter top will orbit for a long time if disturbed at high RPM (1,000 to 2,000). 

It is most stable between 700 and 800 RPM.  When disturbed while in this range, it orbits for only a few seconds.

Alan

Perhaps at the lower speeds the tip doesn't slip and just rolls, what makes it more effective at speeding up the precession and thus standing up the top.

[Iacopo]

I realized today that my very stable 1" diameter top will orbit for a long time if disturbed at high RPM (1,000 to 2,000). 

It is most stable between 700 and 800 RPM.  When disturbed while in this range, it orbits for only a few seconds.

I have no ideas about it.  I know better spiked tips, I used ball tips only a few times.
But I am making some experiments with ball tips, for my thread about torques measurements.

I noticed that, (with ball tips), there is less tip friction, and the top spins longer,  when it orbits, (precession), than when it spins in sleeping position, (at parity of speed). 
I tried a few times with two different tops, and this behaviour always happened.

I suppose the cause is that, during precession, the tip rolls, and rolling friction is lower than sliding friction, (which happens when the top spins in vertical, steady, sleeping position). 

[Aerobie]

I "stumbled across" a video by Billetspin (Rick Stadler) of a top with a high Cg.  The Cg is about twice as high as the diameter.  He knocks it around while it's spinning.

[ta0]

I "stumbled across" a video by Billetspin (Rick Stadler) of a top with a high Cg.  The Cg is about twice as high as the diameter.  He knocks it around while it's spinning.

This is the same idea as the Japanese Taorenado we discussed before . I'm sure Rick is familiar with the koma taisen battles.

[Aerobie]

Where can I buy a Taorenado?   ebay and amazon came up zero.

Alan

[Jeremy McCreary]

Some fun little high-CM LEGO tops with all the same behaviors as the BILLETSPIN offering but a whole lot cheaper...



You can adjust the behaviors -- and the sounds they make -- in several ways...
1. By adding or removing rotor disks.
2. By adding tires to the wheel-like rotor disks.
3. By moving the rotor up and down along the central axle as a unit.
4. By separating the rotor disks and spacing them out along the axle.
5. By changing the tip's radius of curvature.

Overall, the ball tips shown (5 mm radius) generate the most interesting behaviors.

[ta0]

Where can I buy a Taorenado?   ebay and amazon came up zero.

You can get it from Taka's SpinGear shop:
http://spingear.jp/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=2549
You can select English at the upper right.

This is the thread where we discussed it: Japanese finger tops.