I really like yoyos and am slowly getting better. I am up to the Matrix trick. But what I like more than yoyos is building things. I build robots for a living and that is pretty cool, but I always enjoyed making things for my friends. In fact I got a reputation for being the guy to go to when someone had a neat idea, but didn’t know how to build it. But I moved and now I miss that. I have access to two metal working shops, and two woodworking shops and a whole lot of other tools.
Here is the deal, if you have a yoyo design or other similarly sized project send me a message. I will look it over and if I think it is something I can build we can make a prototype out of scrap plastic that I have. FREE to you. If the prototype looks good then we can make some aluminum ones if you pay for the material (about $10). You still own the design and I will never sell any yoyos from your design. My hope is to get some practice making yoyos and then start offering my services to make small runs of yoyos. The only catch is that if we make some cool yoyos I get to keep one of your design for my personal collection.
Below are some of the tools and skills I can offer:
Manual mill and lathe
CNC milling
laser etching and cutting
Waterjet cutting (this can cut through 6" thick steel. So basically it can cut anything)
Welding (mig, tig, arc and plasma cutting)
sandblasting and powdercoating
leather work
I am working on getting an annodizing set up to annodize the prototypes. If I can get a few people interested then I will get one. Basically if I can get some small paying jobs I can get a nice setup to annodize the yoyos I machine. The really cool thing is that if I could annodize things, then I could laser itch the annodized layer and do custom artwork too.
Powder coating is no problem. I can show you examples of my work. I have about 10 colors and will do a few using my powder for free. If you want a specific color you will have to get the powder sent to me.
I can powder coat things in a matter of days. So the turn around would be around a week after I get them.
Wow everyone thanks for the messages. I am really excited to see what I can do in the machine shop. I plan on spending a few hours this weekend doing some test cuts in plastic. I got a lot of messages in a short amount of time, so if you don’t get a reply in the next day or two send me another message.
As for the powder coating I am attaching some pictures of a traffic light I restored. It was really beat up and I sand blasted all the dirt, grease and old paint off and powder coated it.
As for what colors I have I currently have these powders:
RAL 1023 TRAFFIC YELLOW
RAL 2009 TRAFFIC ORANGE
RAL 3020 TRAFFIC RED
RAL 4008 SIGNAL VIOLET
RAL 5005 SIGNAL BLUE
RAL 6032 SIGNAL GREEN
RAL 9003 SIGNAL WHITE
RAL 9005 JET BLACK
RAL 9006 WHITE ALUMINUM
if you search for the RAL number you can see the exact color. If you are nervous about the color I can powder coat some scrap piece to show you.
Woah, this is crazy generous of you and a dream come true for many here. If no one else has anything, I posted in a thread awhile back where we made “signature yoyos.” I don’t have a CAD design but I do have great specs and a pretty fantastic rendering.
Take a look:
“Fantasy”
The Perfect YoYo
56.50mm ~ Diameter
44.50mm ~ Width
65.50g ~ Weight
CBC Slim Pad ~ Response
CBC Center Trac ~ Bearing
Organically shaped, but nevertheless, still built for competition.
I want a very simplistic yoyo. No steps, no rim cuts, ridges, or anything. Here is a rendering I did, it’s based off a Chief if you’re wondering. To me this would be the most perfect yoyo ever.
Which CAD software to use is a topic which I could write a lot about. I have been designing in CAD for years. I have used Autodesk, ProE, Inventor, SolidWorks and several others. SolidWorks is my favorite and is the easiest to learn. However, none of these are free or even cheap. If you are a college student or part of some club SolidWorks will usually sponsor you with a free educational copy.
I can work with most standard file formats. .step and .iges are the most common cross program formats. for 2d stuff .dxf are the most common. I hope that helps a little.
You know, it especially impresses me those tiny holes on the traffic light weren’t blocked by the powder. I’d love to get a couple of throws done in the black.
Also, if possible, I’d also like to get a few yoyos powder coated.