Spinning Top, Made for casting (1 of 2)

thingiverse

<h3>Background</h3> This is one of several innovative spinning top designs I've created. After making some sand cast dice for my D&D sessions, I started looking for other projects to cast. This design is specifically tailored to be extremely casting friendly with generous draft angles and (not completely) even thickness. <h3>Materials Needed</h3> <ul> <li>Spinner lower half</li> <li>Spinner upper half</li> <li>Epoxy or other type of adhesive</li> <li>4 mm ball bearing ball (preferably ceramic, Si3N4 works exceptionally well)</li> <li>Tin (I source my tin from local thrift stores; simply melt down a tin cup, candlestick, or whatever you can find)</li> <li>Melting pot</li> <li>Sand for casting</li> <li>Casting frame</li> <li>Talken powder</li> <li>Knife</li> <li>Drinking straw or other long, thin object</li> <li>(Optional) Spray paint</li> <li>File &/or sanding paper (Coarse and fine)</li> <li>Play-Doh or Blu-Tack</li> <li>Small paint brush and paint</li> <li>Patience </li> </ul> <h3>Instructions</h3> <ol> <li>Print both the upper and lower half of the spinner; the part named "cover" is a must-have, as it will help you achieve a better balance.</li> <li>If you want to paint your pieces, mask any areas you don't want painted. The outer perimeter of the disc is essential, as you'll need to remove material here later to balance the spinner. I recommend masking the handle of the spinner and the ball too. Follow the instructions of your paint system of choice. Don't skimp on primer if you want to make the paint-job last.</li> <li>Now it's time to glue our pieces together. Try to gauge beforehand where the holes in the spinner lines up the best to limit the amount of sanding you'll have to do later. If you have sink marks near to the center of your two halves flat ends try to place these on opposite sides of one another to make balancing easier. I used two-component epoxy adhesive, but you can use whatever you think will work. Leave it to set positioned upright. I stuck it into my casting sand and left it there to set overnight.</li> <li>After your adhesive of choice has set you are probably tempted to do a test spin. So do that if you want to, just don't do it on a wooden or other soft surface as you'll be sure to leave a mark. You probably won't be too impressed as the spinner will wobble quite a bit. We will fix this shortly, but first you should now go ahead and file the outer perimeter of the disc with a coarse file or sand-paper. If you do this in a direction parallel to the axis of the spinner you'll probably end up hiding the seam better. Once you are happy with your initial filing/sanding go ahead and jump to the next step.</li> <li>Here's the hardest part and where you'll need the most patience. You have to balance the spinner before it will spin with any amount of grace or for any length of time. I won't go over this here, but I'll point you to the source <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpRlsWLgeQ0">I used</a> to teach me how to balance my spinners. You'll need to figure out where to remove material and file it away. Once you have a balanced spinner you can go ahead and use finer grit sand-paper. Check the balance again, if you need to, go back and balance it again. Don't settle for an "OK" spin, you will probably only do this once so make sure you're making it as good as you possibly can. After you've sanded your piece you can even buff it if you want to.</li> </ol> <h3>Closing words</h3> If this was your first casting project then a whole new world of making has just opened itself up to you. 3D printing and casting goes really well together and its possible to make molds using other techniques that will produce even better results. Check out <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkEYj8wtK3aEW8vSGhlB43g">Veg Oil Guy</a> on Youtube if you want some more inspiration. If you've gotten this far and you now have a spinner that you can be proud of, I would absolutely love it if you could post it and leave a comment. Post your best spinning time too! Take care and I hope you have fun.