Show some plastic yoyos you made

I really like the concept of a 3D printed yoyo. The grey one looks really nice. You should maybe use a domed nut instead of a hex nut on the axle end. It may make it a little less sharp. You will probably have to saw a little of the bolt off for it to fit.

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I’m curious… if someone was to print a yo-yo (or a spin top) on a 3D printer could you then put that yoyo or top on a lathe to clean up the roughness? Will the printed item hold together well enough?

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unless I’m mistaken, cleaning it up on a lathe was part of the process that Kyo used for his 3d-printed yoyos.

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You most certainly can, the only think to keep in mind is heat transfer. 3D printed plastics can have potential to melt depending on what kind of material and the intensity.

For example PLA might melt easily, but ABS might not (ABS has higher heat resistance). Worse scenario it warps a little. Using wet sanding is also an option for heat reduction

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Are 3D printed yoyos hollow?

On fused filament printers (the most common, I think) you set the density of the print in the software, so it’s up to you - set it at 100% and it will print solid. If you set it for less, it will print a certain number of solid “shells” for all the perimeter surfaces and fill the interior with a grid or web of plastic on the interior. Set it for 0% and it would just print the shells, so totally hollow. Resin printers (sla) usually print solid, otherwise I think you would have liquid resin trapped inside your print. I have not run any prints on an sla printer, though, so maybe someone else can weigh in.

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Here is one I printed. PLA, not super high resolution, but it plays ok. Printed with 100% infill, but even with the screws I added in the rim it’s still pretty light.

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Cool!

As @Yertle said, 100% infill’s an option. I usually do that, but you have to be mindful of it’s moment inertia (just like aluminum yo-yos). Same rules for SLA printing.

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I picked up a print today, and After taking care of the support material, put it together. Without response it played surprisingly well. I’ll post pictures and maybe a video later to show y’all.

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Well ladies and gents, I must say I am very pleased. I now believe 3D printed yo-yos may have a place in the yo-yo world - and not just novelty. I may start a thread to share all of my findings, but for anyone that’s interested pm me. I’ve learned so much about yoyoing, printing, and building things in general through the process. I’ve named this yoyo Sigma, due to Sigma being the mathematical symbol for addition (in excel at least), and this is the successful culmination of 3 weeks of work and prototyping.

I’d love to hear what you all think

I took spinning videos but it wouldn’t let me upload them. I clocked almost a minute, and it’s super responsive with an a sized bearing, so that’s expected.

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Upload them to youtube and drop a link here!

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I made an acetal organic yoyo today. This one is 55mm/42.25mm/64.4g lt has all of the play and feel characteristics people usually want in an organic yoyo. The thick undercut lip puts a good bit of weight in the rims giving for power and stability. It’s curved all over for plenty of comfort. Really happy with this. I feel I’m getting to the stage now where my plastic yoyos are looking more machine turned than hand turned.

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Saw this on instagram. Looks great :slight_smile:

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That looks perfectly fun, awesome shape

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I tried putting a video on YouTube, but had issues with it not using the edits I made to crop the video. Luckily Instagram was much more friendly.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bz6AxIMhNxE/?igshid=1aqorcu39om9c

If anyone would like to collaborate with this, I’d love to. Or for anyone who has a design/idea that they want to prototype let me know.

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I know it doesn’t really look like anything very special, but it is actually good.

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Well this isn’t a yo-yo but it’s a plastic tip for a top that I made. The new one is on the top, the broken one is on the table. My first venture turning plastic on my lathe. I have a new appreciation for the delrin yoyos @Glenacius_K turns. Not the easiest stuff to work with.

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It’s a nicely turned tip.

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Did you just use a skew for that one?

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