The vast majority of metal yoyos are made from 6061 aluminium. I’ve been wondering a bit lately; has 6061 design been pushed to it’s limit? (I mean excluding obviously odd an non-functional designs.)
There are hundreds of yoyos of all shapes and sizes that use it. Is there still much more potential left in it?
No…it hasn’t. Of course that statement won’t be realized until further innovation has been discovered.
I’ve thought about this before as well. As of how it is now, I believe 6061 and 7075 design have more or less reached its peak, at least in terms of a competitive standpoint. I feel like bimetal designs can still be improved a little in the future and maybe companies will start using new materials but as a whole, until something groundbreaking occurs, which may or may not happen in the next few years, we’ve nearly reached the peak of how well a yoyo can play.
I think we’ve been progressing nicely over the past 2 decades but things are definitely starting to slow down. we went from responsive>unresponsive that was huge. Then people started figuring out metal is better than plastic due to allowing for better weight distribution than plastic. While this was occurring people were starting to figure out what really makes a great yoyo(rim weight, low walls, H/V shape, etc). Then 7075 became a thing, and I the latest breakthrough was bimetal design which happened nearly 5 years ago. Not much has happened since then, some people have attempted using different rings other than steel for bimetals, trimetal design, etc, but none of those really showed a big impact in terms f performance.
Outside of traditional bimetals, some companies have tried to innovate with bitanium(luftverk most notably) and I think that’s our best bet at the next big step in terms of yoyo design and performance. I doubt it will catch on though since titanium is so expensive but who knows, over the past decade or two people have slowly been paying more and more for yoyos. Back in the days $50 was pretty much the cap for what any player will pay for a yoyo, then it jumped to $100 after aluminum designs became a thing, $150-$200 after 7075 became a thing, $200-$250 after bimetals, maybe people will start paying upwards of $300-$400 for bitanium yoyos in the near future.
However, this is just following yoyo design progression in terms of performance. Fun and enjoyment is a different thing and I still think there’s plenty of companies making great and unique designs out there not to mention budget metals and overall value for yoyos will slowly get better and better as the market becomes more flooded and competitive so these are all good signs.
The latest breakthrough was bimetal design which happened nearly 5 years ago?
Just so you know…bimetal yoyo’s have been out much longer than 4 years…remember the Handquake 1.4 ? It was released 18 years ago!
I know there’s been other bimetals but I just meant in terms of influence bimetals in the form it’s at now didn’t really see a rise until around the time the Draupnir was released
Yes.
I’m sorry…I just realized that bi metal yoyo’s came out before you were even born ;D
heh… 6061 has not even gotten close to reaching its peak.
There is a lot you can still do with the material and its up to the designers to really show everyone what it can do.
To be honest I don’t think we have seen the beginning of what yoyo design can do.
Depending on what you consider as ‘the limit’. The way I see it when you talk about having the maximum weight distribution possible then it seems pretty much near the physical limit of what a 6061 single metal can do. You can always increase the size and have more weight pushed even outward, but sometimes less rim weight is okay as long as the yoyo is not overly sized, there you have the limit.
I used to own a bootleg Sleipnir which was made of 6061, the body is very thin since it was a design meant for 7075, it bent easily and got ruined after a few dings. It’s already oversized yet having most of its weight on the very outside, increasing rim weight with the expense of durability.
From these and looking at how newer yoyos are made, I would say that 6061 design is already at its limit, when it comes to maximum rim weight possible (which is often the reason to go bimetal or titanium), unless of course if there will be better treatment processes in the future and we can have 6061 T7, T8, etc then there will be a new limit.
However if you talk about anything else such as comfort, higher tolerance, grindability, and any performance enhancements optimized for certain tricks like certain shape is better for rejection etc there is still room to explore.
100% agree.
You guys!!
I would like 2000 series aluminum being used.
Its strength/weight ratio is supposedly better than even 7005/7075.
Its weakness lies by its vulnerability to corrosion induced cracks.
But heck,even handlebars of road and mountain bikes are made from the stuff,and you DO NOT want those to fail.
I welcome 2024 aluminum!
you have got to be joking…
Thanks for your responses. Its good to know there’s a lot of life left in 6061
One material that really interests me that I’d like to become a standard is 7068 aluminium.
Why? what properties of 7068 make it better for yo-yos over 6061 and 7075?
(Text is hard to decipher context, this isn’t snarky. I really am interested in what makes it desirable.)
I’m not an expert but I believe it is slightly stronger than 7075 which allows you to have thinner walls, which provides more room for better weight distribution. Same benefits of 7075 over 6061.
Could you elaborate on why 2024 is unsuitable for yoyos?
So I’m going to be the dumb sounding person here… I didn’t know there were all these different materials.
Why is sengoku the only company that uses this material… If it’s so strong and cheap why don’t all companies use this material. I assume there are some cons to it as well…