I’m thinking of making a DV888 out of olive wood or a dark teak for my friend’s birthday. I’m putting in PGM spacers, and probably some rim-weights. I heard that Luminator weight rings are fairly inexpensive, and they look perfect.
If I steam the wood, will Luminator weight rings fit inside? If so, will the wood crack when it settles?
The weight rings are just large rubber O-rings. You might be able to find some of an appropriate size at your hardware store.
Rather than making a “wooden DV888”, I would strongly encourage just designing something that will work with wood and can incorporate weight rings of your chosen size. I suspect that if you try to make a wooden replica of a DV888 it will not work. Certainly a 1:1 mapping of the aluminum yoyo to a wooden target will not work; it would be too light if you could even finish the job, but more likely it would split at some point because of the thinness of the wood and the way wood grain works. You might be able to do something with the profile of a dv888, but then again… you should be able to improve upon it and make use of the material at hand (wood!) in a way that works with its strengths and limitations.
With rubber O-rings, you shouldn’t need to do any steaming. Using whatever means you have at your disposal, carve a ring indentation in the inside of the cup such that the O-ring will be a press fit.
Just check out lowes and do what she said^^^
;)…
I just picked the DV888 because I’ve found it to be very reliable, and a simple shape. Lathing something like a Superstar would be pretty difficult, and the DV888 was the simplest one I had.
I’ve accounted for it being lightweight, so I was planning on giving it some heavy-duty rim weights like a Protostar (The rim weights make up at least a quarter of it’s overall weight, and a 32nd of it’s volume). The light-weight center and the heavy rims would give it a great rim-weight ratio, giving it godly stability. If the DV888 is too thin, I guess the largest yoyo I can think of is the Oxy Megatron, but I don’t have a reference model for that.
I probably could make a 2.5:1 POPStar, because those have really thick rims. They’re pretty hard to model though.
PS. I actually didn’t know that Luminator rim weights were rubber. I thought they were metal. Any suggestions for dark-steel (or something that looks like that) weight rings?
She?
and I’ve only made a few pens, and a catapult. I don’t think I’ll be accurate enough for a press fit O-ring. Steam’s probably the best way to go.
Ya mean a rockstar?
Combination of a ROCKStar and a POPStar. Size of a ROCKStar, rims of a POPStar, and hubs of a ROCKStar.
I don’t own a ROCKStar reference model, but I can assume how it looks from the pictures. If anyone owns a ROCKStar and is reading this, can you please make a video of just rotating a ROCKStar in your hand a few times from all angles so I can get a good shape of it?
I just don’t know what steam would do for you. I can’t visualize how steam is going to help either a rubber OR a metal ring stay in place.
Making the indentation wouldn’t be that hard. Even without the lathe spinning, you could use a small rounded scraper and some patience to do the job.
Oops didn’t mean to thank you, but the original rockstar has really similar rims.
Steaming the wood would expand it slightly, so you can slip a weight-ring inside. When it returns to normal temperature, it goes back to its original shape. The metal is then constantly being compressed at all sides, keeping it in place. If your rims are too thin, this could crack the wood.
This is my first yoyo project, and only my third wood-based project. I don’t think that I can be precise enough for the rim weight to fit perfectly.
The 1:1 ROCKStar and the 1:1 POPStar do have similar rims, but a 2.5:1 POPStar has much larger rims than a 1:1 ROCKStar.
The wood will expand in all directions, though. And it’ll expand less than you think. 
Since it will also expand in the direction of the center of the cup, it’ll likely be harder to fit rather than easier.
If you managed to steam it significantly to soften the wood enough to “force” a metal ring in, you will probably also end up warping the wood.
There’s always glue. People have glued weight rings into yoyos since the dawn of weight rings. You’ll have to pick something able to bond those two materials, but glue would be the best bet. Or rubber O-ring with a bit of a groove. It doesn’t need to be as precise as you think, if the area accepting the ring is already the right size (ie slightly smaller than the outside diameter of the ring) for the job.
If you’re not going to be accurate enough to press fit a rubber O-Ring I really don’t think you’re gonna be accurate enough to duplicate a dv888. Not trying to be rude, but I’ve turned a few wooden yoyo’s in my time and press fitting an o-ring is going to be the least of your worries. Steaming the wood for this application doesn’t make any sense.
Edit: Just noticed you thought the O rings were metal! Makes more sense now why you’d want to steam the wood. If those luminator weight rings were metal though they would be HEAVY!