So I managed to turn a one piece yoyo out of Jarrah tonight. I know it has been done before over the years many times but the only example I have is the Legend Wing, and I have found no examples of the process of one being turned as a true one piece by hand on the internet anywhere. They all seem to drill a right hole through the centre and put a brass tube in there.
Trouble is, by nature of my yoyo being one piece, the axle orientation is also crossgrain as well as the halves, rendering it weak.
It may just be that Jarrah is just too brittle for this application, but is there any techniques or tips that you guys might have in turning a successful one piece with an axle that isn’t brittle with the piece remaining in cross grain orientation? Perhaps it’s just a matter of finding the right wood?
To me, it’s a problem of wood quality, grain orientation is secondary.
BTW I made a yoyo mande in one solid piece, but wood has different kind of quality. http://www.bist.it/yoyos/bistone/
Do you mind me asking what kind of chuck that is (i.e. how is the blank attached on the left)? I’m a little ignorant; most stuff I learn on my own with what is available in my father-in-law’s workshop. I use a screw chuck that can strip the blank if I’m not careful.
I’m planning on posting photos of a purpleheart yo-yo which I salvaged last week. Plays pretty well all things considered. I learned a ton while making that one and I’m planning on redoing without the mistakes.
I first screw a block of hardwood onto the face plate then neck it down a little thinner to make a chuck. You’ll see two different kinds of wood there; I glued on a small piece of northern box onto it because it’s smoother and resistant to the fibres being peeled off with the double sided tape. Then I scrape that face of the chuck dead flat. I attach yoyo blanks to that using double sided tape.
IIRC, one broke quite quickly. I had kept it in my pocket, so I had wondered if it had gotten bumped. One I had let the kids at Rock and Blues camp play with. I came back and they had put it back in my back, and it was broken. I think the last one I played a good bit, and it struck the hard wood floor pretty hard and broke.
Others I’ve had for a good while, kept in my pocket, and bumped into stuff with no issues. I like the way it plays so much, that I was OK with a few culls to find a few good ones. I’ve heard sax players say they only get a few really good reeds out of a box!
The benefits I see of one piece is that axle alignment by nature of the case will be absolutely perfect. In theory, this should mean that it should spin smoother than average.
I also love the simplicity of the concept and wanted the challenge of turning one. It presents some interesting challenges when turning by hand.
