trying to make a my own yoyo

#1

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so i looked online and saw the avant garde 2 and just fell in love with the shape. and since i just got out of school i figured i have some free time on my hands. i found this program on this site called Emachineshop.com which is basically a machine shop with it’s own little cad program. now i want know how do i make the hole for the axle and the bearing seat. if someone could make a quick little document using the emachineshop program and make me a little bearing seat with the axle whole pre-made that would be very nice. unfortunately, i wouldn’t be able to offer you anything but a big thankyou.

if your here to tell me about how much it’s gonna cost, please don’t because theirs away to get past the expensiveness of making prototype yoyos; buy more yoyos. yes, it’s true. while ordering only ONE yoyo from the emachine shop site will cost you about $300, ordering about 3 yoyos or 6 halve would only cost you about $120-$150 which equals out to about $50 per yoyo maximum.

if anyone want to give this a go, by all mean, try it for yourself. but be warned, their’s a reason people just don’t make their own yoyos, 1) it a little expensive, and 2) people who DON’T know what their doing can make a bad yoyo i am currently taking that risk, but i really want a yoyo like the avant garde 2 so i’m making myself one.

#2

It’s impossible that 1 yoyo costs $300 but 3 yoyo’s cost $150 total. Ok, I won’t say impossible because I haven’t looked into it…so, I’ll say it’s incredibly stupid if that’s what this shop charges. Typically, you offer bulk discounts to customers who are spending MORE than they would with a non-bulk order.

I’d say you’ve misunderstood and it’s actually $300 per yoyo if you buy one, and then $150 per yoyo if you buy 3. You’re still “saving money” buy bulk, but the total cost is more. $450.

If you’re not mistaken though, then get me in touch with these people. I’ll make an order of 100 and it’ll probably be like $5 total.

#3

Stookie, A lot of machine shops have to make or grind custom tooling to make yoyo’s. The the programming of the CNC machine is costly too. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if it cost $300 for one. Or $300 for 3. I’ve been there and I know what most machine shops will charge. It’s not necessarily the machining. that’s cheap. It’s the combination of programming and custom tooling.

#4

I think you misunderstood what I wrote. I didn’t comment on whether or not $300 was a lot or a little. In fact, I have some first hand experience with custom machining in the wristwatch world and compared to what I’ve paid for proto cases that’s dirt cheap. A good custom case proto runs about $1500-2k, but then, it can’t all be made on a lathe.

Anyway, what struck me odd was the tp’s idea that somehow you could buy 3 protos for half the price of 1 proto. I think that’s impossible. No company would sell more product for less.

(George Wollaston) #5

I don’t understand… If you have $150 dollars to throw away maybe you should wait it out for the Avant Garde 2. By the time your own yoyo is finished it will probably be out anyway.

#6

I’m in the process of working on a yoyo design as well and have used emachineshop software in the early stages but found that it really doesn’t offer enough of a setup to provide a cost effective means of production. The prototypes I have received cost considerably more and the yoyo’s only go down in price, from what I’ve seen, when they are actually purchased in large quantities. So my local machine guy here in northern NJ will do a single proto for about $600 but will do an entire run of 24 for about $800 since the setup will already be done and at that point its a matter of just letting the machines do the work.This price includes set up, custom tooling, materials and milling.

I offer this advice only after having taken numerous courses in 3D design engineering for this specific purpose. My advice to you is to toss the emachineshop software and get CAD software such as Alibre that will allow you to test tolerances rather than just design a revolve side view geometry. Not testing is what can cost you a lot in the end with products that don’t function well. Most manufacturers have their own design for the bearing seat and axle hub and once they find a design that works within set tolerances they hold onto that design and modify the parameters within certain limitations based on geometry and the physics of the design. With this said I can’t say that it will be relatively easy to find the design for the axle hub. My machine guy here only needs me to do the overall design geometry with the bearing post, bearing seat and response groove and he takes care of the axle hub post milling. But he does expect that I’ve done testing within the software to ensure that I won’t be coming back to him with a yoyo that is worthless.
So if you find a good shop they can take care of the axle hub since its a matter of tapping and threading properly. i’ve watched my guy do it several times and as long as the machine is set to the proper depth and alignment there is nothing to worry about.

#7

I agree. I think possibly there is a misunderstanding. My local shop I work with will do more product for more money but with each yoyo produced the price of each individual one will go down so basically its sort of like buying in bulk…but I still pay more in the end overall. $600 for a prototype but considerably less per prototype with each additional. So I am in agreement that I see now way for a shop to do setup, custom tooling and charge $300 for one while charging less for more yo-yos. I think maybe tp was trying to say is that one will cost $300 and the price per yoyo is less with each additional. Could be wrong but from my experience its the only way it would make any sense.

#8

this is some good stuff to read for someone or anyone trying to make their own yo-yos… btw just wanted to ask …

is there a guide or a how to … for making your own ?

(George Wollaston) #9

A good place to start would be to see if there is a CAD course to go on at a nearby university or college. It’s probably a lot better to know what you’re doing before you go spending large amounts of money on things…

Alternatively you could join a CAD forum and ask there, (hopefully their community is as helpful as ours…)

#10

I understand now. He may be thinking that after the big chunk of change for the programming then he can buy more yoyo’s for less considering that he’s already paid for the programming and tooling. Machining cost very little. It’s the up front stuff you pay a ton for.