3A New Yoyo Concept Design in "Shambles v.1"

[EYD_Nami (etude.YD)]

This idea and design started when I posted my developments with “PIXEL HEART” and “PIXEL HEART ES”. I couldn’t sleep like most nights so I got out my sketchbook and started writing out specs and early concepts… Yes… At 2:30 am…

**On a side note, thank you to @GTDropKnot for inspiring me to make a pair just specifically made for 3A play!!

Mono Shambles v.1
Mono Shambles is a design that is built straight from the ground up and does not have many matching features to PIXEL HEART. Though it might look like a PIXEL HEART at a glance, The design has more cuts and angles on the body in contrast to the latter. Things that I consider that make a 3A yoyo are:

• Narrow body
• Slight heavier weight
• High stability
• Good agility

(Note that these are my thoughts as of now and would definitely change as I dig deeper into playing 3A)

You can see in the cross-section of the Shambles that the rims are as thick as possible and the walls are as thin as possible. This is theoretically my first attempt at designing specifically for 3A and spatially arranging weight distribution was something I found different compared to my previous designs. It is also noted that there is a slight bump in the cup of the yoyo for more weight distribution and structural integrity.

This current rendition of Shambles has a very angular profile that has been filleted and softened to increase the comfortability quality while keeping the catchability aspects.
As always the current specs of Shambles v.1 are below these renders

Weight - 67.1g
Width - 43mm
Diameter - 56mm
Material - 7075
Axle length - 10mm
Trapeze width - 41.4mm
mmoi - 15.6 Kg•mm2

Working with 7075 allowed me to push the weight out as far as I could while making the walls thinner but as strong. The weight of 67.1 grams is optimal (in my opinion) and is light enough so that it is not too tiring but heavy enough to increase the spin time. I chose to have a 56mm diameter which is 1mm more than the conventional 55mm that I have seen from most common 3A throws, this allows more weight away from the centre and tries to increase the power and stability of the Shambles.

Shambles ER v.1
Shambles ER (also referred to as “Emergency Rim”) is a more conceptual version of the Mono Shambles. It shares the rim placement of my favourite 3A throw of the Autoscopy (again ) but instead of a stainless steel inner-rim design, this involves a polycarbonate rim.

Original Concept of Emergency Rim

This is my original head scratch thoughts that I drew down at … 2:30 am… and shows me going through various shapes drawn over each other and rim designs. The idea of the PC rims is similar to yoyos like GPPR, Savage, Onslaught, Toru0.999 and of course Liminal Autoscopy. To try and increase the width of the yoyo without affecting the stability as drastically.
The current design of the Shambles ER are as follows:

Weight - 68.6g
Width - 45mm
Diameter - 56mm
Material - 7075 + Polycarbonate
Axle length - 10mm
Trapeze width - 43.8mm
mmoi - n/a

As you can already tell from the specs of Shambles ER, it is a heavy yoyo, which is not a bad thing entirely but arms would get sore after a few throws. Another thing that can get nit-picky is the added 2mm in width because it is starting to get into the wider side of 3A yoyos which could make or break technical tricks. Lastly, the trapeze width of 43.8mm is theoretical, since the highest point of the yoyo that is touching the ground is the PC rims which are again, 2mm wide.

Current Theories of Emergency Rim System
As my research into yoyo design, techniques and development continues, an idea came to my head that the PC rims could be changed to another material such as silicone found in the YYR Staater or TPU seen in the Viper Remix. In the description of the Staater it states that,

“The STAAATER comes equipped with removable silicone rings, designed to minimize crash noise in 3A and allow for customizable weight adjustments to match your style.” (Referable to YYE or the Official YYR Online Store).

Therefore, this technology could be implemented onto Shambles as an “Emergency Rim Kit” to convert your Shambles into a Shambles ER. However, there are still some questions that need answers to…

1. Flexible rubber rims could fly out at any time or when struck
2. There is the potential that it could induce vibe
3. They will add a lot of weight

So for now there are currently no real positive implementations or reinforcing arguments that suggest that this theory applies to this scenario of an “external rubber rim” to reduce clash noises. But once again, currently, Shambles ER is a conceptual design and not intended to be a functional yoyo just yet.

Once again I would like to thank everyone who spent their time reading this silly little post about my yoyo design journey! If you have any suggestions or questions about Shambles or if you would like to play with yoyos like this I’d gladly appreciate your kind words and feedback!

And here is a link to my previous post about PIXEL HEART and PIXEL HEART ES

[GTDropKnot (Henry)]

Awesome! Let’s gooo!!! One little comment is that I noticed ski jumps like this on 3a yo-yos tend to get smashed and flattened out. It’s not that big of a deal but just a little thing to consider.

[EYD_Nami (etude.YD)]

That’s interesting to know! As a general question, I’d like to know if you have experienced anything to that? I was planning to change the rim shape slightly in v.2 but now that you mentioned this, I might remove the ski jump if it’s a common issue!

[Simyo]

You get used to the weight, I used heavier ones for 3a in the early 2000s.

[EYD_Nami (etude.YD)]

Out of curiosity, I would like to know what yoyos you have used for 3A that are on the heavier side?
Any information about 3A would be helpful towards the second version of Shambles :))

[GTDropKnot (Henry)]

Yeah my titans have a ski jump like that and it has kinda flattened out.

Also for what it’s worth, I am also team heavy yo-yos for 3a and hades is my favorite pair. I find the heavier weight just makes them easier to control and they spin longer and are more resilient if something goes wrong like needing to correct tilt or an accidental hand bump. I also want to be clear that heavier weight isn’t preferred by all 3a players at all and is definitely a preference thing. Lots of the best players in the world and players much better than me don’t prefer to use heavier weight Yo-yos. Some do though like Aliyah Tan uses Hades and Enyuan Yang’s new signature with Yozean will be 80g. Shang Huang just took 4th with those soon to be released Yozean yoyos at China nats. Enyuan also used Titan Xs for worlds and those are a rim weighted 86g!

[EYD_Nami (etude.YD)]

Thanks for showing me! I will try and keep that in mind for the next revision.
And I do understand why 3A players would prefer heavier yoyos, when I first saw the weight of the Hades my mind was blown and hearing about Titan X is even more crazy! (in an interesting way of course). This means that my concept of the “Emergency Rim” is more of an add-on kit instead of a separate sister model is reinforced by your preferences as it would allow more customisation like in the YRR Staater. I’ll definitely think about wanting to keep the ski jump as it is tasteful, it seems that over time it sort of loses that value

If you also have any more preferences about your 3A set up feel free to let me know, I really want to learn more about what people like!

[GTDropKnot (Henry)]

Yeah sure! So I think the PC rim is great for sound dampening when they clank as well as the emergency release feature you spoke about above. I like that you’re considering the durability of the yoyos bc that’s something that 3a specific yoyos need to be very aware of. I didn’t see anything above about the gap width but a relatively more narrow gap width can be nice for helping to ensure the yoyos bind with the shorter strings 3A players typically use.

I also prefer an even larger diameter to bump up the mmoi and add even more power and stability. There is also not much downside to increasing diameter like it does make chopsticks slightly more difficult but you asked about my specific preferences and I personally feel plenty comfortable doing simultaneous chopsticks with Hades at 59.9mm diameter. I also have pretty big palms but I think in general, most 3a players don’t do many chopsticks tricks anyways. I would need to rewatch all the finals but I think Minato and Sora might have been the only finalists with chopsticks tricks this year. Those are the things that come to mind right now but if I think of anything else, I’ll let you know! Also nice work with this design!

[Simyo]

I used buzzon bushidos, and yyj copperhead heavyweights mainly. I also rotated in yyj black golds as well. I can dig them out in a bit to get weights but I think they were closer to 70 if not over. The yyj hg yo-yos were nice because you didn’t have the clattering that you would get with other yo-yos. Similar to your idea of adding the pc rim. You might want to stay away from tpu, it might be to grippy and it would cause the yo-yos to shoot off. Pom might be a good alternative too. Regarding heavy yo-yos my body doesn’t like them so much after all the years I really feel them in my shoulder and wrists.

[Beverchakus (Ty McClellan)]

Just adding another vote for heavy (75g+) and also, a tighter gap/ REALLY easy to bind response is what i look for in a 3a yoyo.

[EYD_Nami (etude.YD)]

I’ll need to have a look at these yoyos! Also thank you for your feedback regarding the PC rims, I did think about it and TPU might be too squishy and insecure. POM in theory would be a better choice because of its low-friction but I’ll mess around with the numbers and properties of both (Maybe even other materials) :))

[GTDropKnot (Henry)]

TPU isn’t too bad really. I use the Newts by Yoyo rewind and sus Yoyo mechanics sometimes which are like an unresponsive version of the viper remix. They’re amazing because I can play around my wife and not bother her with the loud clanging of metal yoyos. I wouldn’t want to compete with them but they’re great for being able to practice around other people. The TPU has like a texture which I think helps to not completely stop the yo-yos with accidental hand bumps and I’m able to do rejections off of them no problem. Also they’re kind of fun to snap start bc the tpu flexes.

[ice1000 (Tesla Zhang)]

Love it!!!

[ice1000 (Tesla Zhang)]

I would vote against too heavy… I currently think 70 grams ish would be the best fit. I have 77 gram titan, but the weight has made certain tri-attack tricks difficult. I can use shorter strings to even that out, but my 70cm strings are already quite short for me