Press start against a surface

[ortwin]

After I saw those slow motion videos with the spinning cylinder and made my first experiments with cylindrical objects, I thought it should be possible to give the ends of the cylinder ( or one end at least) a shape that encourages it even more to right itself, I mean to stand up completely. The tippe top came also to mind in this context.
Following the teaching of Jeremy San I made a prototype with LEGO parts.



A different way to start a special type of finger tops.

Maybe someone with a lathe can make a better one?
Maybe a large one that can be started with the foot (without string)?

[ta0]

After I saw those slow motion videos with the spinning cylinder and made my first experiments with cylindrical objects, I thought it should be possible to give the ends of the cylinder ( or one end at least) a shape that encourages it even more to right itself, I mean to stand up completely. The tippe top came also to mind in this context.
Following the teaching of Jeremy San I made a prototype with LEGO parts.

A different way to start a special type of finger tops.

Maybe someone with a lathe can make a better one?
Maybe a large one that can be started with the foot (without string)?

Good idea! I always love to see new ways of starting a top and I think this counts.
What I like the most is that it appears easier to start it this way than the conventional finger snap.

We do have a foot start of a spintop on the floor that has some similarities, but the tip of the top is on the string and we use the string to straighten it up.

[ta0]

I tried Ortwin's spinning method with my tall finger tops, which are notoriously difficult to snap start with the stem:



It worked very well with the rainbow top! I bet that for people not accustomed to spin these tops the Ortwin method would be easier than using the stem.
With the Apollo 11 top (also from Energia Ludica) on the right, the method almost worked, with the top wobbling at a relatively small angle from the vertical. The same with an Armin Kolb of similar difficulty (not on the photo).
Finally, with Philippe Dyon's tree top on the left (the most difficult to spin) it didn't work.

[ortwin]

I tried Ortwin's spinning method with my tall finger tops, which are notoriously difficult to snap start with the stem:
...

I was also thinking about that type of tops when I made the prototype but I don't have any of those. I just remembered having seen them at Marines.
Good that you tried and I am happy that it worked well in at least one case. Looking at the shapes of those tops I also would have guessed that the rainbow top would work best. I think it is best if the curvature of the tip continuously increases going outward. Maybe by shaping the tip of a regular (short) pencil the way the rainbow top is shaped, can make it become a finger top?
I should make Alberto aware of our findings, maybe he wants to make a version of the rainbow top completely without stem so that it could only be started by this method. And maybe also a larger version for the foot start. I know there is a method to wind up a yoyo by stomping on it.

[ortwin]

As a kind of proof of principle, I cut a piece of PVC pipe to 10 cm an stuffed a wooden top in it.
The footstart is kind of working. The first try was successful already, the video is of the second attempt.

[ta0]

Good idea!

It reminded me a whip top and I thought that with a rounded tip it should work even better. And it did!



Now, if somebody designed a trick spintop that was easy to snap start with the foot (without even needing the string), it could become popular with those that do not want to pick up a top from the floor

[ortwin]

In the toy store today I found that even more things can become a spin top with this starting method, for example a part of a wooden carrot:



It is also possible to start it by foot.

Do you have a top that you can start this way and then pick it up with a "big scoop" and do "hackey top" and "arm walker" and such from that?

[ta0]

Ha! Around 17 years ago, I was probably the second, after Gerardo, to post a video of a foot-start transitioning to trick play. I pressed the foot against the top, like we have been discussing, but I had the string around the tip. It never occurred to me to do it without string, as I thought I needed it for the top to not just roll away. I didn't think it would stand up. But I just tried it, and worked beautifully:



This top, my all time favorite, is a Spintastics HP with a YYJ cap, which is narrow, with a relatively high aspect ratio, what makes it good for pressing it that way.

[ortwin]

Now I also want some top that I can foot start that way and that has a "normal" tip (by normal I mean like an S8 top or the mexican tops) so that I can pick it up with a string and regenerate a nd do regular tricks.
Maybe I can convince Alberto or Rocco to try to make one until Marines next year.
In the meantime I also tried the trick on my whip top and it also works well as starting technique for that one.