I had a thought today that maybe I should think about going down the way of producing more plastic fixies than wooden ones.
It’s fairly unique to me. There are very few others handmaking their own and even the people that do make them don’t make them particularly functional for play.
I can see certain advantages to my plastic models:
They are tougher
They are smoother
Poly string is native
They can be taken apart
The gap is truly adjustable (to a more functional degree than TMBR’s models)
The axle will never wear down
Water hardly bothers them
There are far more colour options
They are more pocketable and retain great performance.
Just to elaborate more on the adjustability of the gap; the aluminium axles I use in them are now very snugy press fitted and require zero glue. You can narrow the gap or widen it as you see fit without compromising the fit of the axle. It works great.
What are your thoughts on this?
Here’s a PC KNick-KNack I just made for Kyle Nations.
I am not very experienced with fixed axel play. I would pick the material which fits ur needs and gives you the most freedom to work with. I think no matter what material it will be ur handwriting and you should define the goal in terms of performance, look and modularity.
Do you think a full size throw would feel a bit heavy in plastic? If so would you create a new full size design to address this and keep it 50g or less?
I feel like considering you doing this can you design the ultimate looper? Can you slap an a bearing in there? Not much of a Dixie person tbh but haven’t quite found my favorite plastic and maybe that because my nostalgia is butterfly before fireball in the 80’s so that plastic is really getting me excited…but it being able to a bearing wood be cool
Id have to try one in hand before giving a truly informed opinion, but I tend not to enjoy plastics nearly as much as wood or metal yoyos. I literally held one of your plastics in my hand (ok, still in the box), but resisted the temptation and mailed it back to its rightful owner. So my initial thoughts on this are that id be disappointed; nothing beats the feel of a finely crafted wooden fixie with consistent response. But without actually throwing one to see all of the advantages you listed, all id be doing is ranting about my love of wooden yoyos.
You are definitely right in saying that basically nobody is really making quality handmade plastics (especially of the fixed axle type), so this could indeed be a great niche to fill. Ultimately if this is the direction your interests take you, id be all for it. But as @Mystik said, “As long as you keep turning wood too.”
Acrylic has a tendency to crack over time, this is one thing to watch out for. I think that’s one of the big issues Landon (3yo3) had with his turned acrylic throws. After a while they can sometimes develop stress fractures. That’s not to say you shouldn’t do it! I think they look cool as heck! But it is something to keep an eye on.
This is probably an ignorant question, but, how will the response hold up over time? I like my fixies to have a snappy response when I want it to respond, and to be predictable. That said, my only non-wood fixed axle is a Duncan Butterfly, which, being mass produced, certainly doesn’t have nearly the same attention to detail as your yoyos.
Just a personal opinion here, but fixed axle has a lot of soul/zen in my mind and wood is good in the soul dept. Plastic is…I dunno, less soulful to me these days.
That said, others may disagree. Soul and zen are where you find them, after all.
CAVEAT: The Original ProYo and ProYo II were hugely important to me back in the day. So it’s not as though I’ve NEVER cared about a plastic fixie. But…that was a different time.
