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[Pepe]

EDIT: Just ordered the Taorenado, woohoo!

Is small and not beautifull but is amzingly relentless, magic!!

[Jeremy McCreary]

EDIT: Just ordered the Taorenado, woohoo!

Have you seen this review?

[Kirk]

But RR in a bowl works only when you move the bowl horizontally in a circular or back-and-forth motion with no vertical component.

Be careful with the word "only".  All broad statements are wrong!   In a bowl, orbiting the same direction of spin is pretty easy. Tilting is not necessary. However starting from a slow spin is lots easier with tilting. As orbit speeds (and thus spin speeds) increase tilting the bowl is needed to keep the top in.

Using the Bowl at the Hall of Fame I have been able to keep 2 tops going for a little while.

It is possible to orbit the other way (like a flat plate) by staying near the center.

[Jeremy McCreary]

Be careful with the word "only".  All broad statements are wrong!   In a bowl, orbiting the same direction of spin is pretty easy. Tilting is not necessary. However starting from a slow spin is lots easier with tilting. As orbit speeds (and thus spin speeds) increase tilting the bowl is needed to keep the top in.

Using the Bowl at the Hall of Fame I have been able to keep 2 tops going for a little while. It is possible to orbit the other way (like a flat plate) by staying near the center.

Agree, too broad. But true at least for the bowl shown, with its smallish diameter and strong, uniform curvature. It's pretty much a one-way RR arena. Also, the only workable bowl out of many I tried around the house.

Are you referring to Mike's bamboo bowl from Ikea? What's the finish like? Gloss or matte, like our bamboo utensils? Maybe I'll spring for one.

[Kirk]

Are you referring to Mike's bamboo bowl from Ikea? What's the finish like? Gloss or matte, like our bamboo utensils? Maybe I'll spring for one.

Yes. it is large and shallow. Matte finish.

[andydecleyre]

Thanks for the extra Taorenado video. I have mine in hand, and it's wonderful. Is the name supposed to be a play, with "tao," or is it simply from a transliteration of "tornado" into Japanese, or what?

As it's around my birthday, I've also managed to get in touch with Ed Rubin, LSX/top-no-sis inventor, and will be getting some more of the old, pointed ones very soon. He's retired, but still has stock available, and will probably accept more orders via email and payment by mailed check or money order -- edrubin17     AT     gmail     DOT        COM (mangled to throw off any spam scrapers).

Oh, and I'm starting to get the hang of reverse regeneration, though I still find myself jerking erratically and losing control much of the time.

Thanks so much to everyone for existing and hanging around here!

Now my regeneration collection is (or will soon be):

- Foreverspin aluminum
- LSX tulip
- LSX pointed
- Taorenado

I guess the ones to dream about now are:

- those nut covers
- Foreverspin tungsten carbide (just for durability, but probably will never be willing to spend for it since I've got the aluminum)
- Billetspin loki (but: not available, expensive, no confirmed regeneration)

That Billetspin release policy (available for only a few days and then never again) is maddening.

[ta0]

Thanks for the extra Taorenado video. I have mine in hand, and it's wonderful. Is the name supposed to be a play, with "tao," or is it simply from a transliteration of "tornado" into Japanese, or what?

It's just a cool coincidence: the verb taoreru means to fall. Taorenai is the negative: will not fall. 
The ending was probably made to match tornado.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

You can make some cheap and fun little LEGO tops with Taorenado-like behavior and experiment to see what it took to tune that behavior into the design. Configurations with especially strong self-righting come in at 3:18 and 6:18...



Two key ingredients: A fairly high center of mass and a ball tip with the right radius of curvature.

[andydecleyre]

Beautiful stuff in that video, Jeremy, thanks. I'll have to keep an eye out for Lego sets like that next time I get some "for the kid."

[Jeremy McCreary]

Beautiful stuff in that video, Jeremy, thanks. I'll have to keep an eye out for Lego sets like that next time I get some "for the kid."

Alas, there are no sets like that -- and in fact, very few LEGO top sets ever offered. Some of the recent Airjitzu and Spinjitzu sets in the Ninjago line are notable exceptions, but the parts useful for making your own tops aren't very versatile.

Just rummage through the kid's parts and see what opportunities present themselves. Get any additional parts you might need from www.bricklink.com. That's where all the parts in my videos here came from.

[andydecleyre]

Good info, thanks. Well we haven't yet moved on from Mega Bloks, and don't have any proper Legos at home. Maybe I'll investigate alternatives like Ocho/KuckleStrutz and K'NEX for the next stage.

[Jeremy McCreary]

Good info, thanks. Well we haven't yet moved on from Mega Bloks, and don't have any proper Legos at home. Maybe I'll investigate alternatives like Ocho/KuckleStrutz and K'NEX for the next stage.

If you change your mind, my blog page at http://www.moc-pages.com/moc.php/431164 will show you a versatile and  relatively inexpensive way to get started with LEGO tops -- one you can build on and tinker with as new parts come in.

The blog page includes lots of photos, videos, and direct links to all of the key parts in the BrickLink parts catalog at http://www.bricklink.com/catalogTree.asp?itemType=P. (I buy all my parts on BrickLink.).

With shipping, you could probably make 10 of the tops featured for well under $30 with parts to spare.

[Jeremy McCreary]

Finally sprung for a shallow laminated bamboo bowl like the one from Ikea. Got it on Amazon, so it may not be exactly the same.

Intended to use it for rolling regen (RR) and lateral spin transfer (to balls orbiting the top). Workable but somewhat disappointing so far.

Pros: Large diameter, lack of lip, promising inside curvature with no bottom flat.

Cons: Low-friction inside surface covered with low, closely spaced ripples from the lamination -- as if they forgot to sand it.

Tip traction suffers from both the low friction and the ripples, which cause my tips to hop during RR. Since the ripples spiral slowly outward, a top orbiting at constant radius has to cross one or more ripples with each circuit.

Will try to optimize a top for RR in this bowl. Sorely tempted to sand down the ripples.

Again, this could be a cheap knock-off of the Ikea bowl Mike and others have.