About six months ago, while traveling for work, I found an old Timex rotating watch display with odd shaped shelves. Id’ been looking for a way to display my Tom Kuhns and I thought this rotating display could be ideal, but it would need some work.
I’d seen photos of yo-yo collections in rotating watch displays a few times and always thought the displays would be ideal for showing yo-yos. The one I found was perfect; it would hold 96 yo-yos and had a self-rotating base that allows for the entire display to be easily rotated. The shelving had been modified to show off jewelry, but I recognized the potential. I bought it and barely managed to fit it in my SUV for the drive back to Chicagoland.
A few weeks later I found another Timex display, this time with a motor, nearby my home. This one was cleaner, and held 108 yo-yos.
These Timex displays were designed to hold specially designed Timex watch cases. They were usually found in retail department stores as a way to show off multiple styles of watch to consumers. The angled shelves were designed to hold the Timex cases of the era, and would need some modification to display yo-yos.
Over the next few months I reached out to a few different 3D printers in my area, but never found one that really got what I needed until I connected with Trevor Frederick, owner of East Tennessee Fabrication & Design. Trevor’s enthusiasm and knowledge of yo-yos were instrumental to the success of my project. He was able to produce multiple prototypes to help tweak the design so that the yo-yo stands fit perfectly on the Timex shelves without the yo-yos bumping into each other on the corners.
Trevor brought a lot of excellent suggestions to the project, helping to refine the design with his expert knowledge of 3D printing. He helped with the idea of having the Tom Kuhn logo recessed in the stands, and created the dual-stand with Tom’s signature in relief. I cannot say enough great things about Trevor and East Tennessee Fabrication & Design (etnfab.com).
Last week the stand order arrived with 400 pieces; 100 left stands, 100 center stands, 100 right stands, and 100 flat stands. I spent the last few evenings arranging my Tom Kuhns in the stands and they look great. I’m happy to have not only a showcase for my collection, but also to have a lot more room on my book shelves for more yo-yos!
I definitely don’t have the room for it though.