Silver Tops: Development - Re-Engineering Spinning Tops

A teaser of what I have been creating, the material is polycarbonate which I have found to be very good for quickly testing out a design as it's softer than aluminium.

Hopefully it's recognisable as what part it is.

do you still sell the silver tops like the Driger V2?
Interesting is that Blade, but the seller disappeared. Unhappy
Not realizing how long it's been since my last post I think an update is overdue...

With life's joys causing distractions I'm at a stage again where I can continue where I left off. After the last update this took me down a path I quickly realized wasn't the way forward (too complicated to manufacture the parts for my liking)

The majority of the last 3 years has been in RC Car chassis design and manufacturing, I was still skeptical of 3D printing at the time having seen how poor filament printing was but had since discovered SLS printing, a couple of trials and I discovered this to be a very useful manufacturing process (Google "SLS Nylon Printing" to see how useful and cool this technology is) as it allows for complicated shapes that injection molding can't achieve. The extra freedom of this process opened up a whole new design world for me where I've been racing 3D printed components as production parts without any breakages.

I then learnt extensively about planning your design in as much detail as possible as this keeps you on track of your original design intent, I also went back to scribbling down random ideas as several years on you discover a way of making them possible with what you've learnt.

This then took me onto going for a full redesign of my spinning top ideas, the "Neo" magnetically held together system I ended up not liking and saw the idea then was used in the current Beyblades which showed me quite well it wasn't what I wanted to achieve. I found either they fly apart too easily and only provide very short battles, or they hold together making the idea have no purpose, so I went back to a "positive" attachment of all the parts again.

I then came up with the ideas for turning "Silver Tops" into more than just another spinning top, but have worked around most of a game-play format for playing with them.

This then brings me up-to now, below is my CAD preview of STTL001 (Silver Tops Tri Lock 001) , featuring 4 parts it went back to my original methods of wanting something simple but performs well. Due to finding some of my pictures on file sharing sites labelled as their own creations, until it is a physical item I won't be posting the assembly mechanism as it's something quite simple and different that should work well which I'd like to protect for now.

In short, assembly is done by a spring pushing the 2 upper parts into place, to release the parts, pushing the assembly together and a twisting action releases them to allow disassembly.

The launcher is an unfinished design hence I had previously not got the parts made for this design, but this in the longer term will form a nice feature in the game-play. As for a brief description of the game-play, below is also a picture of one of the available badges which can be collected to give a better achievement dimension than just trying to beat everyone.

Some brief dimensions:
Maximum spinning top diameter - 50mm
Badge diameter - 30mm
Badge thickness - 4mm

After getting the final prototype made and final alterations in the next few weeks I intend taking it to the Kickstarter stage as the first opportunity of earning prestigious badges and to get feedback for future improvements and to help with getting a website up and running to save using other photo hosting sites that change their ideas (thanks photobucket!)

Anyway, enjoy some pictures whilst I continue my designs!

STTL001
Badge Example
I've done a little more work on the cosmetics of STTL001 (needs a far better name! current ideas are revolving around "something Knight", add your own ideas! )in-between finishing off the launcher mechanism design for it.

Going back to my original intents I have added a quick change part above the weight disk which will act as doing most of the attacking, this is also to be made of stainless steel like previous designs with the aim of adding more weight and metal into the top, this renders the upper 3D printed part mostly cosmetic and functioning only to hold the whole assembly together.

Here's some pics!

Based on the name of this kind of top and if the color is the same as in the pictures I would say Silver Knight would be a good name.
(Nov. 16, 2017  9:16 AM)Flame-Byxis Wrote: Based on the name of this kind of top and if the color is the same as in the pictures I would say Silver Knight would be a good name.

Either that or Spike Knight
My first thought would be to fuse the names of a Spin Dragoon recolour and Death Driger's AR, giving Megaro Star but, if you're dead set on the knight theme then Cosmic/Asteroid Buster and Meteor Knight also have potential.
(Nov. 10, 2017  4:27 PM)lowen93 Wrote: Not realizing how long it's been since my last post I think an update is overdue...

With life's joys causing distractions I'm at a stage again where I can continue where I left off. After the last update this took me down a path I quickly realized wasn't the way forward (too complicated to manufacture the parts for my liking)

The majority of the last 3 years has been in RC Car chassis design and manufacturing, I was still skeptical of 3D printing at the time having seen how poor filament printing was but had since discovered SLS printing, a couple of trials and I discovered this to be a very useful manufacturing process (Google "SLS Nylon Printing" to see how useful and cool this technology is) as it allows for complicated shapes that injection molding can't achieve. The extra freedom of this process opened up a whole new design world for me where I've been racing 3D printed components as production parts without any breakages.

I then learnt extensively about planning your design in as much detail as possible as this keeps you on track of your original design intent, I also went back to scribbling down random ideas as several years on you discover a way of making them possible with what you've learnt.

This then took me onto going for a full redesign of my spinning top ideas, the "Neo" magnetically held together system I ended up not liking and saw the idea then was used in the current Beyblades which showed me quite well it wasn't what I wanted to achieve. I found either they fly apart too easily and only provide very short battles, or they hold together making the idea have no purpose, so I went back to a "positive" attachment of all the parts again.

I then came up with the ideas for turning "Silver Tops" into more than just another spinning top, but have worked around most of a game-play format for playing with them.

This then brings me up-to now, below is my CAD preview of STTL001 (Silver Tops Tri Lock 001) , featuring 4 parts it went back to my original methods of wanting something simple but performs well. Due to finding some of my pictures on file sharing sites labelled as their own creations, until it is a physical item I won't be posting the assembly mechanism as it's something quite simple and different that should work well which I'd like to protect for now.

In short, assembly is done by a spring pushing the 2 upper parts into place, to release the parts, pushing the assembly together and a twisting action releases them to allow disassembly.

The launcher is an unfinished design hence I had previously not got the parts made for this design, but this in the longer term will form a nice feature in the game-play. As for a brief description of the game-play, below is also a picture of one of the available badges which can be collected to give a better achievement dimension than just trying to beat everyone.

Some brief dimensions:
Maximum spinning top diameter - 50mm
Badge diameter - 30mm
Badge thickness - 4mm

After getting the final prototype made and final alterations in the next few weeks I intend taking it to the Kickstarter stage as the first opportunity of earning prestigious badges and to get feedback for future improvements and to help with getting a website up and running to save using other photo hosting sites that change their ideas (thanks photobucket!)

Anyway, enjoy some pictures whilst I continue my designs!

STTL001
Badge Example
This is a cool project, I'd so see it become open source.
I hope the WBO will make open surce Beyblade projects made for use with WBO tournaments in mind.
More CAD design work has been underway this last week, with refinements to the assembly mechanism and shape of STTL01, however additionally STTL02 and 03 have also been designed. More excitingly the first parts to try out have been ordered which I hope to have together by next week!

I'm liking the name suggestions which are all good, I'm still undecided so will leave the name for now but may later on open up a naming competition of some sorts for it...

I introduce to you all...

(yet to be named) Knight, from the Earth element (STTL01)
Winged Avenger, from the Wind Element (STTL02)
Sonic Hog, from the Water Element (STTL03)
These are only renders and give more of a shine than the actual parts will give, these also introduce the natural elements and their colours into the game:

Earth - Green
Wind - Purple
Water - Blue
Fire - Red




The next step is to continue with the launcher design

(Nov. 18, 2017  3:04 AM)Flame-Tiger Wrote: This is a cool project, I'd so see it become open source.
I hope the WBO will make open surce Beyblade projects made for use with WBO tournaments in mind.

I'm not exactly a fan of open source as I believe in people having a right to owning what they have created, however I am going down my own route of gameplay where dimensions and potentially CAD templates will be available with some guidelines of construction so that others can create their own tops in this format.

The issue in allowing self created parts on mass I have learnt, is that anyone can make something round, a large diameter and heavy quite easily, this makes everything look the same with little variety whereas a controlled environment keeps a balance. Making something with an obvious good trait and a flaw is quite hard to maintain.
So that rules out Meteor Knight, IMO (too much of a fire feel) but Asteroid fuses rock and stars nicely. Terra would also be a fitting, in element prefix.
I am concerned about Sonic Hog's design, though. If the holes go all the way through (and we can see they do) then won't it whistle as it spins, making airflow through the AR a not insignificant gimmick for it? Surely that's off theme for water?
Today the first trial parts arrived, and they fit as expected with my tolerances!

Here's a couple of quick pics off my phone, will get some better pics soon and a quick video knocked up showing the assembly.

The next step is to get the 2x steel parts made in steel now I know the design will assemble correctly, these will add considerably to the weight as the plastic is quite lightweight.

Looking super slick, Lee! Hey, one thing I didn't notice in the CAD drawings, the green earth layer (in the centre of the photo) has four outer protrusions matching the protrusions on the metal layer it rests on. Those protrusions are really fingernail thin. If your primary impact points are going to be made of metal, won't those four little thin bits get pulverised? Nylon is pretty strong, but that's... Really thin. Test battle time!

Edit: also, can you print nylon in colour?
(Nov. 24, 2017  2:59 PM)lowen93 Wrote: Today the first trial parts arrived, and they fit as expected with my tolerances!

Here's a couple of quick pics off my phone, will get some better pics soon and a quick video knocked up showing the assembly.

The next step is to get the 2x steel parts made in steel now I know the design will assemble correctly, these will add considerably to the weight as the plastic is quite lightweight.


This is so cool, are you going to provide 3D printable STL files under an open source like the GNU GPL, MIT License, any of the Creative Commons licenses (Attribution,Attribution-Share Alike, CC0) that allows both remixing and making money off of these creations, or even straight into the Public Domain?
I hope everyone had a good Christmas and New Year!

I recently got round to taking close up photos of the first 3 tops in colour.

I have modified an existing launcher to test the balance of the parts and am very impressed in the quality of the spin. I have some tolerancing to do to the CAD files of the Stainless parts (seen by the white plastic parts) to make assembly slightly easier. The spring is not shown as I will get these when I order the Stainless parts.

I have been doing some more sketching on the launchers so will work on getting a working launcher done next.

This is the best!!!

Congrats, Lowen, the color is great. I love how the design flows from top to bottom in each one - not so obvious in the previous pics. You have GOT to churn these into mass production sometime. Wish we could highlight this thread somehow.
I am vary interested in this and would love to support you in the Kickstarter if you start one or if you can't I will still buy them from you love your work
After a couple of years of not posting in this thread I am happy to have something to post about, this time with a much better camera, better tools and no photobucket!

This post continues in part with the content on Page 3 I believe, after recently getting a much better and suitable camera for detailed close ups and videos I am starting with my polished weight disks. These I made to replace the original zinc weights which can break and to match my all metal tops. At the time of making my all metal tops I did not polish the disks but more recently got some new equipment to make metals shiny and to make the edges smoother to the touch, I will be making some polished disks available for purchase soon.

I had hoped to make these using 3D printed Steel however the cost of doing so still hasn't come down enough to make it viable against Laser Cut 4mm Stainless Steel.

Here are some pictures and a quick video with some extra angles of my 8 Balance Polished Weight Disk. I'm no photography expert but compared to the previous pages you'll be able to see the parts in more detail from now on. Hopefully by the next lot of photos I'll have worked out getting the background pure white.

[Image: 1cT5yaGykVviFixGwP1-uhuGzFnmGMkBoHMgmqIs...F6K8=w2400]

[Image: QEePzWlcjIysjID8AKp7NBAEMutiHyoi4YTEtuiJ...iKu8=w2400]

[Image: kI_6R8RnAKiS_FwdZLpSLdfF7zzE9EvJwpdAmwJs...JJ_c=w2400]

[Image: OaD4XzerGFQWotHJ6pmU-sFUi3I_6zfBevnFQM2j...pAPs=w2400]

I have had a play around with my camera settings and lighting to get rid of that weird red tinge on the previous photos, here are the 6x main weight disks that I have had made with them being displayed on some of my Beyblades.

8H - Eight Heavy[Image: lCy8hr9n6SFES6hw0hoS4Sx9TVcWvz1FbFzGEuux...F360=w2400]

[Image: hTU5vgcz2Kd3-GT3-xKQl75l9Z59r-tY5WZoX5-z...uzFI=w2400]

8B - Eight Balance[Image: WrrumLrXLyCFioxoKVvpMhsba-ztwz3qyArzSCvf...o-Jw=w2400]

[Image: vrASBY6NrwVn7G0YW8-RKX3UrcVZmB1-HGvhKvq_...Is_8=w2400]

[Image: SM1yNfYJOwqlLbk0YONFDiTU_q4sTB9ccm8ZnkmX...A-oA=w2400]

[Image: JQ8waQccXrP35XOtUU439aQ7zB7XAyREXu2NZ8Fv...1v5w=w2400]

8W - Eight Wide[Image: jh9LL7bJ8QHr35lPktNeBaOr84_AFPZw3lRtPuj-...3_t8=w2400]

[Image: kq1TF7dCfPYEhi288DvCHWmAm03m-BvLx7fvHTs6..._hww=w2400]

[Image: 2ycEYvsSb_L9P6DxrFw-hE63QyBUqe-h_r-InjWY...LBv8=w2400]

[Image: elyrWw9FWMagQ3S19fEHjD2OkwnRcQcKXKMFgP2L...rRQw=w2400]

10H - Ten Heavy[Image: VIQqPuhLdQ4arW4Mo5fiXYLpQl1g3biBDcE13Mzq...esk4=w2400]

[Image: q48Vhi8QU-LFDDsGjN9HGYDXSO7FDPTNSGex-23L...hLjY=w2400]

[Image: 4RbRozJWNtYgGzeoM-fKWTkSKYq-QSo9wNrbqyzQ...vb64=w2400]

[Image: 99cCTwKQvb01BezepLn8na4aDb4j7naBA4dWaJxR...WVZ8=w2400]

10B - Ten Balance[Image: GgLnEAUS2PatFKuJt68yKTd7evrlww8LrYPL5uyD...1iDM=w2400]

[Image: hgXvkScR3rVayr9EXctSKDnfGC55Z_ODiAYfTJEC...hc5M=w2400]

[Image: uJN8ophxroRm61TMq4RFTXbRUkGqcQ_bBmp9Ige_...6uho=w2400]

[Image: zDiviQ4dIxMq8q7u6dxhv9DfCFOvI8O_pIRR7sF1...vXAk=w2400]

10W - Ten Wide[Image: bItToRGhvcoAXfU7ZjnkkZMGQq40owUkPtpmcjpm...MGf0=w2400]

[Image: FsfGv2QTdfcKSq1NIRu61MfzKApV1YCFrX5gQS4X...9r3M=w2400]

[Image: XOYwat9QiTrmr1zI4hNgQ66yiZEdde6AZY65rEUV...2kjY=w2400]

[Image: Y929BjRPzoyldvL6b68N2OnIpakVf31DIh0uZu38...YMuw=w2400]