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[ta0]

. . . I also support a Kickstarter campaign, "Forever Spin" which are finger tops (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1251371853/forever-spinning-top). . .
Ehud

Wow! His funding goal was to get $1,500 but it already raised over $35,000! and in just 19 days (out of 35 day funding period)
It warms my heart that there are so many people interested in finger tops!

The way Kickstarter (www.kickstarter.com) works, because the supporters receive gifts (in this case finger tops), this is in practice similar to pre-sale of a product, except that the buyers can feel more connected to the success of the business/project.  The early bird cost of their top was $14 ($19 gold plated) and now it costs $19 ($29 gold).

The top is very slick (each one has a serial number) and the video is professional quality (except for several misspellings (!), but I love the high resolution video of the machining). You would think I would jump to get one as I am a prime target.  But he kind of lost me. He says it is based on a design that dates back to 3,000 BC of ceramic spinners found in Troy but it looks almost exactly like the one from the movie Inception and Ebay is full of them. He claims that you are helping create "the world's first quality spintop company"      (website: www.foreverspin.com). A little internet search would have found quite a few others (including their fellow Canadians, Spinny-Doo).

I don't know, but the presentation does not feel very sincere to me.  He (they?) does not show any plans for future high-precision tops. To me it is more like something tailor-made to get kickstarter money not a true love for tops. But maybe I am mistaken.

[ta0]

He says it is based on a design that dates back to 3,000 BC of ceramic spinners found in Troy but it looks almost exactly like the one from the movie Inception and Ebay is full of them.

I need to correct myself here.  Something clicked in my head and I checked Gould's book. The third illustration on the book is a drawing of a ceramic spinning top drawn by Schielmann the "discoverer" of Troy and it looks somewhat similar to the Inception/ForeverSpin top! Gould does not give it a date but says he doubts Schielmann's assertion that it was from the time of Homer. From Wikipedia I found that he excavated (with dynamite!) through what most believe was the Homeric level to a level 1000 years prior.  That would be consistent with a date of 3,000 BC.  So the claim of being based on "a design that dates back to 3,000 BC of ceramic spinners found in Troy" is valid.



Edit: I guess I read too fast the website and missed this: he quotes the history of the spintop from the Spintastics website, compiled by Val (the images are scans from Gould's book that Val references.)

It seems that because they reached certain funding goals, you can get it made on copper for $19 more, titanium for $28 more.  If they reach $50k (likely) of funding there would be one available in brass and if they reach $70k (unlikely but possible) there would be one available in tungsten.

I may support them, after all 

[Ehud]

Archeology is a funny thing and when done by a liar and thief like Schliemann things get dicey.  I do not trust his work.

I doubt that Forever Spin is in it for more than money but so are a lot of businesses so that does not bother me too much.  He can exploit me if, and only if, he can produce worthwhile products.  As it is, I have reduced my pledge as I decided that many different tops of the same design (even in different metals) is not worth the price of admission.  I will get my 3 original tops and maybe titanium and tungsten if the latter is ever reached.

I will buy a Spinny-Doo ASAP.  Are there any other companies you can recommend?

He says it is based on a design that dates back to 3,000 BC of ceramic spinners found in Troy but it looks almost exactly like the one from the movie Inception and Ebay is full of them.

I need to correct myself here.  Something clicked in my head and I checked Gould's book. The third illustration on the book is a drawing of a ceramic spinning top drawn by Schielmann the "discoverer" of Troy and it looks somewhat similar to the Inception/ForeverSpin top! Gould does not give it a date but says he doubts Schielmann's assertion that it was from the time of Homer. From Wikipedia I found that he excavated (with dynamite!) through what most believe was the Homeric level to a level 1000 years prior.  That would be consistent with a date of 3,000 BC.  So the claim of being based on "a design that dates back to 3,000 BC of ceramic spinners found in Troy" is valid.



Edit: I guess I read too fast the website and missed this: he quotes the history of the spintop from the Spintastics website, compiled by Val (the images are scans from Gould's book that Val references.)

It seems that because they reached certain funding goals, you can get it made on copper for $19 more, titanium for $28 more.  If they reach $50k (likely) of funding there would be one available in brass and if they reach $70k (unlikely but possible) there would be one available in tungsten.

I may support them, after all 

[ta0]

I will buy a Spinny-Doo ASAP.  Are there any other companies you can recommend?

Just to clarify, I do not own yet a Spinny-Doo. 
For my collection I am mostly interested in tops that have unusual ways of launching or spinning (besides the performance throw tops for trick playing).  I am not a big collector of finger tops, but there are some very interesting ones out there.  If you do not have it, I would recommend the Non-Stop Top (mine is the original Japanese brand but should work the same).

Grand Illusions has several interesting ones (they are in the UK and somewhat expensive, so you may want to try to find the same tops in the US): www.grand-illusions.com/acatalog/Spinning_Tops.html

I assume you already have a tippe top (flip-over top): if not get one asap! (but not the metal one from the link above, you can get wooden and plastic ones that work better).

[ta0]

Wow!  They have raised $96,000 and they still have one day to go! 
The Tungsten top was unlocked.  It is now available in steel, gold plated, copper, brass, aluminum, titanium, bronze, nickel and tungsten!

After the success of this project, I am not surprised I got a message (from Brazil) about a related spintop kikstarter project that just started: machined top pens. Here it is:

www.kickstarter.com/projects/424991352/totem-pen



The idea are pens with releasable finger tops. There are 3 versions, Totem (Inception-like), Tippe (tippe top) and Teetotum.

EDIT: This project was re-started with just one model because of lack of interest and this time it was barely funded:
www.kickstarter.com/projects/424991352/the-totem-pen-a-pen-and-a-top-combined

[ta0]

The Forever Spinning Top project just finished.  They raised $130,447 Canadian dollars or $118,00 usd ! 
I finally did contribute and I got (hopefully) one triple-plated in gold.

I just found out there was a somewhat similar project a few months ago, that raised $78,118:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/124127689/precision-machined-spinning-tops

  Actually, I think the tops were cooler:



Hey, Maurizio, maybe you should consider Kickstarter  . . .

[ta0]

I was contacted by the creators of a new high-performance finger top project on Kickstarter.  It is called the Janus top and they sent me two free samples to review. Here is the link to the project: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1785985788/the-janus-top and here are some photos:





The main feature is that it has ceramic balls on both ends for spinning the normal way or upside-down. I often spin finger tops upside-down to increase the challenge, so this made sense.

The body is in two parts: the spindle, which can be aluminum, stainless steel, copper or brass, and the outside ring, which can be of the same metals except aluminum. So there are 4 x 3 = 12 possible combinations. I got a steel spindle with brass ring and a copper spindle also with brass ring. They weigh 22.0 gr and 24.7 gr respectively. I specially like the contrast between the colors of the spindle and ring on the first one.

I think the tops look very nice. As each top is made of 3 materials (spindle, ring and balls) they are more interesting than another Kickstarter top we discussed, the ForeverSpin. Also, they have more material where it matters (but same height) and out-spin it by a lot. I got 6.5 minutes on my second try (on glass) with the steel spindle and got 2 minutes upside down after a few tries. They are long spinners but, as explained by one of the creators, they are not specifically designed for very long spin times (unlike the discontinued Quark).

As you would expect for something turned on a CNC lathe, they are perfectly well balanced. The grooves on the spindle could be rough on the fingers if you spin them a lot, but being circumferential they won't add air friction. The tops feel the right size for a finger top. The only change I would have suggested is to expose more the upper ball so the top can spin on it at a greater angle when it is dying.

Having two I could do some battling. On a concave base the battle doesn't last too long to be boring as the mutual friction kills the spin, while they circle each other. It works pretty well. However, a right-handed person against a left-handed one will usually end up in a long spin touching each other and a tie as the tops just share the spin.

As finger tops go, they are pretty unique. With only a few days into the campaign, the project is already well funded.

[ta0]

Janus finally got 1,012 backers and $58,000. Not bad.

Forever Spin ended up with 1,899 backers! 

There must be quite a few finger top collectors out there!

I have a gift card valued at $15 if anybody wants to buy from the shop.foreverspin.com website. It expires tomorrow night. Send me a PM if interested.

[ta0]

On its second Kickstarter campaign ForeverSpin (2.0), with hours to go, has over 3750 backers and raised over 375,000 ca ($330,000 usd)! 
They made a slight redesign of the top and added an optional spinning base, plus more finishes. But I wouldn't have said it is kick starting something new . . .

Anyway, so much interest in tops is nice.

[ta0]

Foreverspin did it again, with a Kickstarter campaign that in a few days has raised more than $160k: "Humanium" metal top
Between the kickstarter campaigns it has continued to successfully promote and sell it's expensive finger tops. Many promise to continue producing their Kickstarter products and build a company, but they are one of the few that have. They do know how to do marketing, no doubt!

EDIT: They got to $214k and 1,845 backers.

[the Earl of Whirl]

Amazing.  I am stunned at how they are doing this!

[Jeremy McCreary]

They made a slight redesign of the top...

What changed (besides the finishes)?

[ta0]

They made a slight redesign of the top...

What changed (besides the finishes)?

On the second Kickstarter they made it bigger, while changing the radius of the tip and making the stem longer and thinner (according to the description).
I only have the original. The only dimension I see listed on the campaigns is the diameter of the second version, at 1.125 inches. I measure mine to be 0.968 inches.

[robtsou]

I kinda like the Foreverspin tops, they aren't high tech but they are fairly inexpensive and look good too. 

I got burned by one Kickstarter finger top campaign and now I won't touch them.  I think that guy got away with over $50k (maybe less but it was up there)