3d Printed Glass Bead Modular Yoyo

Yo-Yo Mods and Maintenance
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A very interesting project I have been working on for a while! I designed it in SketchUp and 3d Printed most of it.

The glass reflects the sunlight spectacularly and also is transparent when spinning!

I posted a previous version of this in the " Yoyo CAD & Prototyping Adventures" topic but have made some changes since.

I wanted the glass beads to be removable because if one of them would break the yoyo would be completely ruined. This led me to make the yoyo modular in that the caps can be interchanged with almost any design.

I’d love your feedback on it and any ideas on how to make it play and look better. (@wayne927)(@Kray)

Some problems with it currently are:

  • Weight: If I want it to be a normal weight yoyo (~65g) I will have to decrease the number of beads and infill a large amount (currently around 110g (I know, it’s a brick)).
  • Vibe: Due to the glass beads all being of different weights and sizes because they’re handmade, the vibe is a big problem. (Switching out beads till a desired result is acquired may solve some of the problem, though all of it will never be solved I believe)
  • String hitting beads or screw heads: Inlay the screw heads and decrease the number of beads by half and slant the yoyo down into the gap in those parts.
    Guts: 3d Printed guts obviously wear down quickly - Solution?

Hope this inspires some of you!

20 Likes
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Great you printed the thing! I remember we talked about a while back. Pretty cool

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Yeah! I didn’t realize how awesome the colors would look in sunlight - the colorful glass forms like streaks of color while spinning. If I could change out the beads until most of the vibe was gone, it would look absolutely stunning.

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Just too cool.

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This looks really cool, and your proposed changes look reasonable!

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Thanks! I believe your 3d designing actually got me into designing yoyos!

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Probably a dumb idea here, but what if you shimmed the outer ring so the beads could move freely in thier track? Kind of like the balancing beads in a truck tire?

Ivan

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hmm, I think I see what you’re saying but I believe, you would have to cover up at least one side of the beads then to connect the outer ring to the main yoyo? The beads already rotate about their center which is kind of cool though (they have a hole in them like for jewelry). Currently how the outer ring is connected to the main yoyo is through the screws going through that hole.