I want to design a yoyo (Or, I already have , just need to refine it. How would I produce it? And who would? Is it even possible for a simple man, non-champion to do this?
Foxland precision??? I hear that name thrown around a lot on the forum… I’m not real sure though. Maybe you could do a little research and find a local person near you that is good at metal working of the sort that could do it.
In short, you’d need to have a CAD model that you can take to someone who has a CNC machine and LOTS of money. So to answer your question, which has been asked multiple times on this forum over the years by people including myself when I was first starting out, the chances are very slim unfortunately. Even if you did have a CAD model, someone to machine it, and the money to do so, there’s A LOT more involved than that, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. If more people could make their own yoyos there probably wouldn’t be a need for the companies producing them today or the stores like YYE that sell them.
Okay, I’ll just go by a Replay… 
SR is correct. making yoyo takes a lot of time and money however if you really want to do it there are ways you can.
Foxland precision does the machining for a lot of yoyoers these days and they do a pretty good job.
There is also the other way where you contact a shop in china and you can get hundreds of yoyo made for pretty cheap however they wont be that great of quality.
The average price for a cad designer is 50 dollars an hour so unless you can learn it yourself or find a cad designer on the design forum on facebook your gonna need to save your pennies for quite awhile.
you could also try the 3d printed route which is much harder to design but is cheaper and you can use tinker cad. There is no easy way around this, making a yoyo is hard and while take you awhile. If your gonna make a company remember that its really not for everyone. Yoyo companies are rarely profitable and your often putting more of your own mony into the company to keep it afloat for the next run.
Foxland Precision is a good place to send you CAD files to. They make excellent quality yoyos in 6061 or 7075 aluminum for a great price. I highly recommend them to anyone starting out.
I agree with SR 100%. It is really hard and you are really lucky if you can get this to work. I have been trying to get my yoyo to happen since October 2014, but until just now, we don’t have anything other than prototypes. Most of that time was filled with making money and testing prototypes. It cost us about $600 to get our four original prototypes. It costs a lot more for a run of 20 yoyos. Just keep that in mind.
What CAD software do you have? A good one that I recommend is Solidworks. It is inexpensive and you can save to a .dxf, which is required in the machining process.
Good luck
It wasn’t hard for me at all. Maybe I’m doing wrong?!??
maybe it isnt hard but most people don’t realize the amount of work it may take so its better just to go a little overboard…
I’d start by joining this facebook group to talk to other designers.
Foxland is great from what I’ve heard. There are also a number of Chinese manufacturers that have started offering small batch runs of your designs.
Speaking as someone who finally has prototypes coming after about a year… Its all about the money.
If you dont know how to do solid works extremely well, you have to hire someone to do touch up work. $50 at least.
Then you have to find a machine shop, and wait until they are free of work, and pay them several hundred dollars. Around $400-$600.
Note that that last step is only for prototypes, if they are messed up you have to spend another $400.
Then you go into a full run of 40 or so, and pay for packaging, parts, and you have to deal with the retailer markdown.
But if you have an extra grand lying around, and some experience with CAD or yoyos, and lots of time. Message me and ill get you on the right track.
Prettttyyy sure you have to be a champion
Just curious, how many of you guys call out tolerances, surface finishes etc. when working with a shop for prototypes? I’m wondering if there is any correlation between that and your bad results from China or anywhere, for that matter.
most of the reason why you have to be careful in china is they have no quality testing for yoyos.
its better to deal with someone who knows yoyos therefore they know also what to look for in yoyos. That way its just another check and balance.
I’ve gotten proto’s made years ago and I used somebody local. It was pretty easy to sit and show them what new yoyo’s are all about. Helps a lot when you teach them about modern day yoyos and yo-yoing. The guys I was working in got really into and made a really nice yoyo.
Sadly I was pretty young and didn’t have the money to move forward with the project lol
But yeah my 2 cents is talk to somebody local if you can as well. Usually places like that are really busy but just feel them out, you’ll get a vibe if they are willing to look into it simply cause its “cool”. They don’t make too much money on most yoyo orders. In my experience the guys were doing it to be nice.
Hope this helps!
So you were just thinking of doing this for a personal yoyo???
I say ignore the doubters and just go for it! Nowadays in the yoyo community, there are many more machinists who are willing to produce your product for a fee. No one said designing your own yoyo would be easy, I didn’t think some companies, Tropic Spins is a big one, who would actually be able to take flight and produce very well playing yoyos. Plenty of small companies like these have proven doubters wrong, I bet you can too. But it is fair to warn you there is a lot of time and money involved, but as is any profession.
It sounded more like he was just looking for his own personal yoyo, thinking it would be a cheap way to get a good yoyo.
In which case that would be one pricey yoyo for personal enjoyment.