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[Jeremy McCreary]

OK, OK, just messing with you guys. Of course you need string for the advanced peg top play most of you focus on.

But all those tricks make it easy to forget that peg tops also do some rather interesting things when left to their own devices on hard, low-friction surfaces like polished stone floors or countertops. To fully appreciate that side of the peg top, best to view it up close at eye level, totally undisturbed. And for that, best to have a controlled start without the vagaries of strings and landings.

Hence the LEGO peg top starters demonstrated here with my 3-inch Relampago (R3)...



Best total R3 spin time with LEGO starter shown = 150 s (2.5 min), with the first 125 s in "sleep mode". During a rapidly evolving "transition mode" lasting a few seconds at most, the R3 then drops into a surprisingly long-lived "terminal mode" characterized by rapid precession at large tilt just shy of scraping. In the R3, nutation (bucking motion at 2:53 to 3:16) marks early terminal mode.

Every peg top I've managed to start in sleep mode goes through this sleep/transition/terminal mode sequence. That includes the QSH, Bearing King, Trompos Space Saturno, and Yoyo Empire Spintop (videos coming soon). The last stays up longest of all: 243 s total, 210 s sleep, 3 s transition, 30 s terminal).

Missing sleep mode with a sloppy start drastically reduces spin time, as seen at 2:40.

[paxl13]

That is very cool!! I love my string tho! 

[Jospin]

Very interesting

[jim in paris]

oh la la ! jeremy !! that's a winner , winnie !

make sure you import enuff spare parts in Gaule to make one 4 me !


jim

[Jeremy McCreary]

make sure you import enuff spare parts in Gaule to make one 4 me !

Thanks, jim! I'll bring a wind-up driver and the first peg top adapter in video for my display and then leave it with you.

This adapter works with the 3-inch Relampago, QSH, Bearing King, Trompos Space Saturno, and Yoyo Empire Spintop. If you have other peg tops with open crowns (like Relampago) or caps having center holes (like QSH) or center recesses (like BK and Saturno), adapter may work with them as well.

Solomaic decisions ahead as to what else to bring to the festival, so taking requests...
o Most of my LEGO top blog pages are in my Topped Out folder on MOCpages
o Some top starters there, too, but most starter blog pages are in my Useful LEGO Gizmos folder on MOCpages
o Additional tops and starters on my YouTube channel

Still have specimens of anything you find in those locations.

[jim in paris]

waoh!
i'll have Ludo think about it it
when is the case due to be sent over ?

jim

[Jeremy McCreary]

when is the case due to be sent over ?

Our experiences with shipping packages to our  daughter in Germany were consistently unsatisfactory, so I plan to fly with 2 big suitcases, one full of tops.

But it would still help for your requests to start coming as soon as you can get to them.

[Mermouy]

What a topic!
Great video, I'll have to take a look at these pages I never read about...
Should also be some Lego tops videos landing on Spintricks... As soon as I can, I'll add Lego tops section as well as technical/physics videos from Iacopo...

[Jeremy McCreary]

What a topic!
Great video, I'll have to take a look at these pages I never read about...
Should also be some Lego tops videos landing on Spintricks... As soon as I can, I'll add Lego tops section as well as technical/physics videos from Iacopo...

Thanks! New LEGO top and top physics sections on your site -- very exciting! Let me know if you'd like some help with either one.

[Mermouy]

Thanks! New LEGO top and top physics sections on your site -- very exciting! Let me know if you'd like some help with either one.

Sounds nice yes! Maybe you could start by pointing me a selection of best/most interresting videos you would like to be displayed?
Of course the pages would link to your MOC-pages which are already well ordered...

[Jeremy McCreary]

Thanks! New LEGO top and top physics sections on your site -- very exciting! Let me know if you'd like some help with either one.

Sounds nice yes! Maybe you could start by pointing me a selection of best/most interresting videos you would like to be displayed?
Of course the pages would link to your MOC-pages which are already well ordered...

Happy to, but let's proceed by private email -- much easier that way. Send me your address by PM, and we'll go from there.

[Jeremy McCreary]

Just got around to making a starter adapter (black, bottom center) for the weighted tetsu koma I purchased from Ludo at Marines 2019. Best spin time = 215 s (3:35).



Two LEGO wind-up motors in series give this starter lots of torque for high-AMI tops. Doesn't have the torque or speed of my ribbon-pull starters, but it's still among my most powerful. This starter also makes it easy to keep the koma centered and upright during spin-up.



The adapter's light gray centering cup receives the top's short metal stem, while the 3 rubber feet transfer torque from the motors to the top's metal rim.

Every peg top I've managed to start in sleep mode goes through this sleep/transition/terminal mode sequence. That includes the QSH, Bearing King, Trompos Space Saturno, and Yoyo Empire Spintop (videos coming soon). The last stays up longest of all: 243 s total, 210 s sleep, 3 s transition, 30 s terminal).

Unlike all other throwing tops I've tested, the tetsu koma evolves smoothly from sleep to a prolonged transition mode of gradually increasing tilt with no well-defined terminal mode. Not sure why.

[Jeremy McCreary]

Turns out that the red spin-up adapter I made for the Yoyo Empire Spintop (left in 2nd photo) mates perfectly with the tetsu koma. Better yet, it bumps the koma's best spin time from 215 to 260 s (3:35 to 4:20), a 21% gain.



At speed, centrifugal force presses the flexible rubber feet against the koma's inner wall.



A given top's spin time after a clean vertical release on a given surface grows solely with release speed. This red adapter increases release speed by reducing its own AMI and drag. Which led me to reduce them even more...



This orange adapter yields typical and best koma spin times of 320 s (5:20) and 350 s (5:50), respectively -- in the latter case, a 62% gain over the all-black adapter! Also beats the red adapter's best spin time with the Yoyo Empire Spintop by ~11%.

Most of you like your tops anywhere but on the ground. But with a spin time of almost 6 min, you can learn a lot about how a koma responds to various inputs by messing with it on the ground with aids like these.

[ta0]

The way the starter grabs the top by the inner diameter is effective and elegant.