So you haven't been into tops seriously for even three weeks yet? Then, you are doing great!
Where do you buy your bearings?
I found I was able to get a lot accomplished while my kids were in swim lessons. Like you said, the grass is great and there are a lot of supportive people around. I have a lot of good memories of skill toy work at swimming pools.
Keep up the good work!!!
I've messed with spin tops shortly after I got into yoyo in May 2011, but it was fleeting. A couple of throws, quit, not even try for months. Fortunately, I have a couple of friends who can use spintops, one of them being YoYoExpert. I've gotten a few up-close demonstrations, combined with watching videos and really dissecting them, as well as not being afraid to ask questions. On top of that, I have two local friends who are also yoyo people, and they also try to use spin tops, so we have an unspoken competition going on. Excellent motivation. I didn't realize that for my short time, I was doing that good. I've been practicing 3-4 hours a day. My goal is once the kids get back into school that I can do something besides yoyo while I wait for them to get taken in when school starts or picked up afterwards.
So, my progress is kinda good? Thanks. I'm usually slow on this stuff. I know spin tops are not as easy as yoyo.
I buy my bearings from either YoYoExpert, a local RC hobby store near where I live, or via TerrapinX. I will get bearings here and there from other places, mostly yoyo stores that sell online. I just ordered 4 ceramic A-sized 9-ball flat Terrapin X bearings to use in my spintops.
I had to take this diversion from yoyo and dive back into spin tops because I injured my fingers in areas where the yoyo string often hits, but they weren't yoyo-related injuries. I bought the Guilia from YoYoExpert and it was picked up at the 2014 National YoYo Contest because I was already planning to get serious about spintops. Due to my minor injuries, I only accelerated my plans by maybe a week.
Today I was dialing in string length on my Spintastics Trompo Bearing. That was fun. The work on my Blizzard was downright scary, that top spins with some extreme speed. But, I need to dismantle both of those tonight and clean the bearings. They just aren't up to what I think they could be doing. My only bad thing is I only have 3 spare A bearings that I am aware of, digging through my parts boxes. If the existing bearings are good, then I should come out fine. I find that the Trompo Bearing, being 3 inches, is a bit harder to handle at first, but after a few good boomerangs, you get the hang of it. The Blizzard is spinning so fast that it really takes off with more energy than I was expecting.
One of my things I do when I measure string is to mark at 56, 60, 64 and 68 inches using a black Sharpie, but ultimately making the string around 74 inches long. Depending on where the top needs to be, according to the Chris Neff document, I start there. Once I figure out what's too long and too short, I remark that section in 1 inch increments. From there, it's usually just a few more throws of trial and error before I'm close enough to be happy.
At this point, I've been traveling to the park with yoyos for 1A, 2A and 4A, plus a diabolo and now spin tops. Parents and kids have questions. I'm doing my best to give answers, as well as some hands on. I don't mind "failing". I think it's just as important that kids see that I try and fail but get right back into it again. Since I have to stick around for 2 hours of swim practice(the kids are in 2 different groups that are fortunately back to back sessions), I have plenty of time to work on whatever strikes my interest at the moment.
I think next week I'll be ready to start with some of the simpler tricks. If i can just move the top off my hand and into the string, swing around and bring it back, I'll feel a major milestone has been crossed.
I'm on vacation next week, so I doubt I will make any real progress, but that's OK.
