The start of my yoyo company- thoughts on my first prototype!

Hey everyone!

A lil background on myself:

My name is Jabari Jenkins. I’m a 22 y/o college kid about to graduate, who is very interested in starting his own yoyo company.

I am a full time freelance graphic designer (I specialize in branding and always looking for work btw so hit me up @barijenkinsdesigns ;), who was born and raised in a small city south of Chico, Ca (Gentry’s Hometown) by the name of Oroville, Ca.

I’m looking to get my design prototyped by one of the local machine shops really soon, but before I did I just wanted to put it out here for you guys to see, with the hopes of one you guys letting me know if it’s too similar to another design, as i’m not trying to bite anyone’s design. I know almost all yoyo’s are similar to one another in some way but still, I don’t wanna be that guy ya know lol.

I would like my company and designs to keep a clean and aesthetically pleasing feel, while also providing stable, familiar, and consistent performance from the throw.

But that’s about it, thank you so much in advance for the help!

Here’s the design:

Width: 47.30mm
Diameter: 54mm
Gap: 3.3mm (Gonna open that tho)

I was going for an angular and speedy style with the V-Shape design, while giving an illusion of an organic throw while playing, with a “bowled” or concave cup. Anyways, hope y’all enjoy! Let me know what you think.

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Not bad, I’m in yuba county myself. I’ve got to get up to the casino. I was you once. So I’m going to tell you it’s freaking expensive to manufacture product. Good luck! I’m here to help if I can.

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Very cool. I like the cup design!

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Definitely, I’ve been researching lately and it’s absurd lol. But I gotta try ya know. And yeah you’re welcome anytime. Not sure if they’re open currently but when they open up, come on by. And thanks for the offer, I’ll def keep you in mind if anything comes up!

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Much appreciated friend!

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bro it looks awesome but the one thing that caught my eye was the area at the end of the wall near the guts, it looks like the string will catch there, you could probably just make it a tad bit slimmer and that’ll fix it. amazing looking yoyo, looking forward to it bro!

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Ahh i see; great catch! I’ll def make that adjustment moving forward, thanks a lot!

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Because I love the cup so much, maybe you could make some editions with no laser engraving in the center so fingerspins are easier

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Notes taken! I may place it elsewhere too; if i keep it center tho i’ll def do a run without it haha! I gotta get there first tho so stick with me :call_me_hand:t5:!

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Hella Sexy!

Consider emulating YYFBen by “Crowd-Funding” the project. Except DON’T manufacture it in China. Please use sustainable packaging. I really like the cardboard boxes that CLYW utilizes…no plastic…simple!

Congrats on becoming a Graduate.

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Thank you so much :call_me_hand:t5:! And I’ll strongly consider crowd funding it, def didn’t even cross my mind haha! As far as manufacturing, I would love to give my money to my local machine shops, hopefully they’re able to do tight tolerance work. But yeah regardless I’m striving to keep production here in the states! And as for packaging i totally agree, cardboard all the way; I have an advantage being a graphic designer so i’ll for sure make the packaging look cool haha! Thank you for the kind comments and suggestions!

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I would buy this

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i’m not positive it will catch but it would definitely be something i’d be watching for. @MarkD @Palli and @hobbygod could give better feedback then me though.

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Yep, anything approaching flat will tend to catch the string for at least a bit when landing the yoyo. Best to avoid it except right near the rims where it’s unlikely to land on the string anyhow.

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Haha much appreciated, hopefully I can get it off the ground so you can be my first customer :call_me_hand:t5:!

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I mean I think it would looking at it :thinking:! But I applied a fillet to it tho so now it kinda slopes down towards the bearing smoother :call_me_hand:t5:!

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Thank you for the feedback Mark, I seen everything you done in the other thread and you inspired me to start my journey :call_me_hand:t5:! But yeah I rounded off that flat part so it’s more of a smoother slope towards the bearing, I’ll put some pics up when I get back home tho!

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The only yoyo that I can even associate being similar to yours is YoTricks x Sengoku Forge 1st proto (bowl cup, profile is literally a YYF AlDream).

And even your design is already different due to the rim shape and response area step. I think you’re safe from anyone calling it similar to another yoyo.

Take a look at the Yoyo CAD & Prototyping Adventures thread. It is a gold mine of information for anyone interested in yoyo design.

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Thanks a ton for all the info! I’ll def soak it all in and keep this thread updated :call_me_hand:t5:!

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The smooth bowl cup is definitely a looker.

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