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[bluetie]

Hey everybody,  here is this crazy thing I put together. It's had various incarnations but this is the latest one.  It kind of works but is a little unbalanced. 
  In case it's not clear it's a piece or wood with a auto funnel at the bottom and a frisbee on the botton and a few other parts to make it work.    Maybe if I had a better weight ring it would help.  The tube doesn't stay perfectly round without an attachment that would make it unbalanced.
    I had a local wood worker make the tip/axle that holds it all together.  Other versions of a threaded axle with a doodletop attached to it were even more ridiculous.   
    I'm just trying to make something that's big and visual and can take a beating without beating up the stage.   I have a plastic duncan tip at the end. It might not be that hard to attach a bearing tip. 
  Any and all thoughts are welcome.   
 Andrew

[the Earl of Whirl]

I agree with the fact that we need tops that can take a beating and won't beat up a stage.  Maybe more like a diabolo rubber style top?  I don't have an answer I just feel like people aren't using tops on stage much because they don't want to ruin the good ones they have and they don't want to get in trouble for messing up the stage.

[Neff]

Mark has that light hollow 4" Toycrafter top.  How many of those were made?

[Dick Stohr]

How about a one sided diabolo.  There are threads on here that show how to play a monobolo.

[the Earl of Whirl]

Ahhh......the Toycrafter 4 inch top.  That's a pretty tough top and not too heavy that would hurt a stage.  I need to revisit that.  Good ole Don Olney tried pretty hard with that.  He said it was a problem, though.  Only a few came out balanced as the plastic would not spread out evenly when they were made so he finally abandoned the project.  I was once at a juggling festival in Cincinnati and Mark was there (maybe almost 20 years ago) and he let me use his 4 inch Don Olney.  I practiced with it for a long long time and when I finally boomeranged it (with the nine foot rope) the thrill was so great that I'm convinced that was one of the reasons I started moving more into top spinning.

Yes, I wonder how many of those are still around?

[jochs12]

Ahhh......the Toycrafter 4 inch top.  That's a pretty tough top and not too heavy that would hurt a stage.  I need to revisit that.  Good ole Don Olney tried pretty hard with that.  He said it was a problem, though.  Only a few came out balanced as the plastic would not spread out evenly when they were made so he finally abandoned the project.

Yes, I wonder how many of those are still around?

A flexible plastic is also prone to distortion and therefor wobble. Not a large problem with diabolo, more of a problem with spintop.

I will balance the thousands of wobbly tops.  It is my special purpose 

Well, if there were any still around it looks like we have a volunteer to balance them for us, for a nominal fee of course.

[ta0]

Yes, I wonder how many of those are still around?

Don't you have two of those Mike?  I would trade quite valuable stuff for one . . .

That is a very imaginative use of stuff to build a top, bluetie!  But the most critical thing on a top to do tricks is the tip and you need to work on that.  Jochen Schell uses many custom tops in his shows and those have been designed for performance as well as flair.

[Kirk]

Weight ring ideas:
large rubber o rings or some small drive belts. Try your local lawn mower shop or McMaster.com.
Towel Rings (remove the wall bracket)
embroidery hoops

Kirk

[Neff]

A flexible plastic is also prone to distortion and therefor wobble. Not a large problem with diabolo, more of a problem with spintop.

I will balance the thousands of wobbly tops.  It is my special purpose 

Well, if there were any still around it looks like we have a volunteer to balance them for us, for a nominal fee of course.

LOL!  My goodness you are thorough.  Have you read the entire board?