Worlds Largest Spin Top record attempt

[Mark Magyar]

Just got word that Joe Mauk will try to regain his title for the Largest Spin Top in the World.
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Largest Spinning Top in the World
by Joe Mauk on Saturday, March 3, 2012 at 5:50pm ·

Hello FB friends,

The time is near.  On Sat. March 10, 2012 we will attempt to spin the biggest top in the world here at Rizal Re-Creation Center, Rizal, Laguna, Philippines.  All of you are welcome to come and witness the attempt.  I was accepted by Guinness Book of World Records in January 2011 to make this attempt.  They subsequently informed me I needed to break the record set in Japan in 1986 by Kawasaki Steel of a steel top 2 M high and 2.6 M diameter (thread on this forum).  Our top we are attempting to spin on Sat is 3.3 M high by 3.6 M diameter.

This has been in planning for more than a year and in construction since December.  We have acquired a 1.5 tonne steel ballast weight to drop from a tower to spin the top, we still have to set up the tower! -it is in process.  A lot of other details need to come into place but we appear to be on target for Saturday.

We appreciate your prayers and encouragement as we proceed with this challenge, adjustments are being made daily and we trust they will come to the right fulfillment Saturday!

http://www.facebook.com/notes/joe-mauk/largest-spinning-top-in-the-world/336492206387174

Photo link: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151336228950207&set=a.10151336233060207.815258.832780206&type=1&ref=nf
Photo:

[ta0]

 
Wow! That is HUMONGOUS!

If he can spin it he will get back the bragging rights to the biggest top spun by rope, no doubt!

I want to know more about the construction (is it hollow?)

I am betting it takes them several attempts to spin it . . .

[the Earl of Whirl]

Whew........serious looking top there!!!

[poptop]

speachless.

(but thinking he should wear a helmet )

[Eric]

Boomerang !!!

[robtsou]

Boomerang !!!

Regens!

[Mark Magyar]

Wow! That is HUMONGOUS!

If he can spin it he will get back the bragging rights to the biggest top spun by rope, no doubt!

I want to know more about the construction (is it hollow?)

I am betting it takes them several attempts to spin it . . .

An FB post from Joe Mauk about the construction of the top:
_Thanks for the comments, likes and interest in the giant top saga. For those asking what's it made of: steel shaft, steel plates, plywood plates and filled with high density closed cell plastic (foam forms). As to picking it up on my hand, haven't weighed the total top yet but estimating it will be around 900 lbs. So- totally not picking it up!

[JMauk]

Hello Top Spinning Friends,

I am Joe Mauk,a missionary of sorts in the Philippines. Some of you have seen my videos and stuff and may have heard some rumors of this upcoming record attempt.  I will start trying to post some info, updates, pics etc. here.  Thank you for accepting me as a member.  I want to explain first that I am not fixated on having a world record top.  As a spinner and collector I am, of course, interested in larger sizes and in 1984 had a 60-lb top made that was launched by dropping a 230-lb weight out of a coconut tree.  Some videos are around on this.

In early 2011 I was thinking it was time to try to go bigger and applied to Guinness to see if what I was thinking might be the biggest so far recorded.  I was thinking of around a 5-ft wide by 7-ft high top and had an idea how to make it.  Guinness informed me of the record set in Japan in 1986 of a 2 meter high by 2.6 meter wide top.  Hmmm, back to the drawing board.  Trevor Hill, a good friend of mine from Western Australia and a jack-of all-trades, had an idea how we might get it together.  He was house-sitting for us while we were in the U.S. last August and he made a 2-ft by 2-ft 6-inch prototype that worked beautifully.  So we decided to go for broke and attempt the record.  We just measured the one we propose to spin on Saturday and it is 3.8 meters high by 3.6 meters diameter. (12 ft 6 in high by 11 ft 9 in diameter)

That brings us to where we are now, an attempt to be made on Saturday morning here, March 10, 2012.  We are having a professional video documentary made of the whole process but should be able to post FB and youtube videos soon after (assuming it spins!).

Will see if I can post some pics.  Also another friend and top spinner from Australia emailed me a cartoon he made up about the attempt.  He is obviously recalling that in 1986 I tried to pick up the 60-lb top in a dish-like mechanism, had no control, hit me in the right cheek and knocked me down, had friction burns on cheek and jaw and ended up having a root canal to remove a nerve in a tooth that was destroyed by the impact.  We are taking extensive safety measures for this one!  We are anticipating it will weigh close to 900 lbs.  Have found a weight to drop to spin it, an old bulldozer ballast weighing 3,400 lbs.  That weight would snap a coconut tree so we are building a tower to drop the weight, hope to raise it today.  Sourced a rebuilt 5-ton anchor winch from a marine supply yesterday.  And so on we go.

-joe

[poptop]

Wow, welcome Joe!  Best of luck on the giant spin.

Cheers!

[ta0]

Welcome to the board Joe!  It is an honor to have you here.

You are really going extreme with that top.  It is going to be a challenge to spin.  I am excited abouit getting a first hand narrative of the attempt. Good luck!

By the way, would the Guinness Book accept it if you used a car instead of a dead weight drop to pull the rope?

The drawing is hilarious: attacked by a top!

[Neff]

Very ambitious, good luck Joe!

[the Earl of Whirl]

Yes, we all know about you JMauk.  We have watched your videos for years.  I can personally remember when I first heard about you.......in August of 2000 when Don Olney brought me a VHS tape of your spinning efforts (also included on the tape was Jim Schrieber).  That video eventually made its way to ta0 and word spread about you from there.  Over the years we have found videos of you on the internet and have seen some of your spinning efforts that way.

I cannot say I have ever met or known about a man who had a root canal because of a top spinning accident.  All I can say is "wow" about that and a "double wow" about your record attempt.  I look forward to hearing more about it all.

Good luck and, yes, that cartoon is pretty funny!

[JMauk]

Okay, will put up the info I had put on my FB page and attach the first pic I posted anywhere of the top itself.

Hello FB friends,
The time is near.  On Sat. March 10, 2012 we will attempt to spin the biggest top in the world here at Rizal Re-Creation Center, Rizal, Laguna, Philippines.  All of you are welcome to come and witness the attempt.  I was accepted by Guinness Book of World Records in January 2011 to make this attempt.  They subsequently informed me I needed to break the record set in Japan in 1986 by Kawasaki Steel of a steel top 2 M high and 2.6 M diameter.  Our top we are attempting to spin on Sat is 3.8 M high by 3.6 M diameter.
This has been in planning for more than a year and in construction since December.  We have acquired a 1.5 tonne steel ballast weight to drop from a tower to spin the top, we still have to set up the tower! -it is in process.  A lot of other details need to come into place but we appear to be on target for Saturday.
We appreciate your prayers and encouragement as we proceed with this challenge, adjustments are being made daily and we trust they will come to the right fulfillment Saturday!

Thanks for the comments, likes and interest in the giant top saga. For those asking what's it made of: steel shaft, steel plates, plywood plates and filled with high density closed cell plastic (foam forms). As to picking it up on my hand, haven't weighed the total top yet but estimating it will be around 900 lbs. So- totally not picking it up!

Trevor Hill from Australia supervising the completion of the world's largest spinning top — at Rizal Re-Creation Center.

[JMauk]

Latest pic today, March 7, 2012

[JMauk]

It's great to be hearing such encouragement from so many of you already.  Thanks!