Normally every CAD software can calculate surface areas, weight, center of mass, volume etc etc
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The Diffraction (1 and 2) has a total surface area of 8367 mm^2.
The cup (including the flat part of the face of the rim) is around 3200 mm^2. I skipped adding every little fillet so maybe add 100 more.
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@MarkD thousand thanks!!! I am very grateful to you … I had opted for about 60 cm ^ 2 (therefore 6.000 mm ^ 2)
practically if you could “stretch” the curves from a diameter of 56 mm of the yoyo, you would get a circle with a diameter of 74mm … I would never have said that!
sorry for the delay in answering but I was doing some math 
Forum Introduction
My name is Joe and while working at Yomega Yoyos in Fall River, Mass., I developed an aluminum roller bearing yoyo that weighed no more than a plastic Yomega Raider, but you could almost (I’m not sure you couldn’t) run over it with a car and not affect performance. When I joined this forum,I told a little of my story. A couple of people expressed an interest in pictures of them. Unfortunately I was in the process of moving cross country and they were all packed. I have since reached my destination, but have yet to find all my yoyos, though I have most. It was a frantic move and pack when we escaped Masshole, and 6 months later I still don’t know where everything is. However, pictures ensue for what I do have.
To recap:
The story begins with me, an absolute yoyo illiterate, getting a job with Yomega Yoyos in Fall River, Mass. I was not a yoyo guy, even when I worked there. I had interest in their history and workings/design much more than playing with one, but the bottom line was,it was a job in a long dead city. I was working to support my family and didn’t have the time to dedicate to being a master with one. I was there from the time Yomega was in an old fire barn, until they sold their soul (and sold out their employees) to Bandai Toy Co. In Japan.
I worked in shipping and knew Chris Ciosek, the public liason/demonstrator and Brett (his last name escapes me) who did the same. They entered championship contests representing Yomega and did shows for kids, very good players.
One day about mid 1997 or so, Chris came into the shipping Dept. playing with the then new Yomega Metallic Missle. This yoyo was the pride of Yomega, from what I was told it was the culmination of years in development and thousands in cost. It was to retail at $100.00
Chris had just put a new string on it and in the course of one of the tricks,it hit the cement shipping floor. The string was a little long! Well, I’m here to tell you, that Metallic Missle did not fare well. It was bent out of balance, beyond repair.
Two thoughts immediately came to mind:
1st) Holy Toledo! There goes a hundred bucks!
2nd) I can make a better yoyo than that.
A few days later, I went to the local recycle yard and bought a bunch of aluminum round stock. I used an old belt driven South Bend lathe that I had access to and a drill press to make my prototypes. I went through a few different designs, utilizing the roller bearing systems bought from Yomega. I soon came to the conclusion, that it was a flawed system (see pictured below) and got an idea of my own (also pictured below). The obvious and simple answer was overlooked by the engineers and designers. Being a vet, I go by the KISS principal. (Keep It Simple Stupid)
My Bearing System
Now my intention from the start was to give the completed idea to Yomega for a small royalty on each sold or something like that. It was also to build a yoyo that had bulletproof durability, stylish looks,good performance and cost half of what most aluminum yoyos at the time sold for.
As I developed prototypes, friends and strangers all wanted to buy one, after they saw them and played them, but I could not sell them at the time as I was waiting for an answer to my patent application. Yomega was all in on the Metallic Missle,needed to recoup what it cost to develop and did everything to discourage me from continuing (maybe viewing it as a threat to their market share?).
Now frustrated, I sought the help of friends. I brought them working samples of my designs and proposed a 50/50 split when it hit the market, after manufacturing cost were deducted. I knew it would take thousands to get to production to market. I had no financial contribution to put in to this effort and my friends covered it all but by the time we got to the clamshell packaging and found out that was another $1,700.00 that none of us had, the wheels of progress ground to a halt.
We had paid a CNC shop to make the yoyo halves for us. He charged me $27.00 a half. When I later took them to a local shop for anodizing, he told me he would have charged me $9.00 a half, including the anodizing. Big mistake going to that first highbinder, probably could have afforded packaging if he hadn’t bent us over a barrel.
Anyway, the project had kind of floundered for a couple of months due to deaths in my family. Needless to say, yoyos were far from my mind for some time.
A few months later, I received an inheritance, at which point I paid back every investor with interest and took sole possesion of all yoyos,strings,parts, the whole ball of wax.
Sometime later, while in Boston, I saw a fellow named John Higby do a show of yoyo tricks on the plaza near Fanueil Hall. I spoke with him and arranged to bring some to show him on a later trip to Boston. He actually bought the first one I sold. John was kind enough to offer help in promoting it, but life kind of got in the way and they have been languishing in my closets since then. The total cost to buyout my friends was $10,000.00, but there is no way I will ever recoup my expenses.
For that amount, I ended up with a grand total of one hundred yoyos and 10,000 fine quality Mexican yoyo strings. Oh, I also got the molded rubber rings we had a test run of.Those were costly, (I thought) hideous looking, and too wide, allowing the string to rub them and slow rotation. I suggested simple black rubber O-Rings, again , cheap to replace at industrial suppliers.
My partners (the money) prevailed and it was another costly barrel bending experience ending in failure.
Black Rubber O Ring on the JOYO
#2 of 100 CNC produced production.
Anyway, I gave some away as gifts, sold some to friends and family over the years and inventory taken before my move showed 80 yoyos completed, some requiring the O Rings.
They are pretty rare, unique, and work pretty well. Out of the 80 left, between style (solid, 4 hole,8 hole) and color, some are ultra rare, 1 or 2 in existence rare.
Thanks for listening.
Here are the pictures as promised, enjoy.
All non anodized yoyos are prototypes , I made them on the South Bend at night after work. ( except Production #1 & #2.)
JOYO #1 of 100 CNC Production
![The infamous rubber edge protector rings|649x500]
The infamous rubber rings
(upload://zk54AZK5rmiHKA9fAtzc7Cy0bma.jpeg)
Thats all I can find at this time, but there are Black,Red,Gold and Blue colors in each style.
Thanks, Joe
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These are awesome! I was yoyoing back then and remember how yucky the metallic missile played back then hahah! That and the wing force, they were pretty bad at first. If I remember correctly, they also had an issue with the wingforce and had to recall it too. That was around the time I had joined their team for a brief point. Brett Ooch was a character back then haha!
It’s crazy to think and see some of the stuff that you were brewing up back then. It looks like some of the cool stuff BMT and Custom started doing. I really dig them and wish you could have gotten them out onto the market. They looks like a lot of fun!
Thanks Cowmamba,
I intend to put the remaining 70 or so “on the market”
to anyone interested as long as they last.
Spin time is phenominal, most weight is in the rim.
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Biffraction?
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What about “Dispersion”? That’s when light is split into its different colors by a prism; multiple colors :: multiple metals/bi-metal? Name might require too much explanation though.
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This is a good angle for the name! Better than the “Diffraction 3” working title, hah.
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Very nice Mark. Innovation comes from thinking outside the box.
I tried a bi yoyo for a second. I prototyped mine on an old South Bend lathe with no prior
knowledge of machine shop.
Also, you mentioned laser engraving, not as expensive as you would think.
It’s been my experience that shops that specialize are more expensive.
Find a young guy starting out to do your machining. Someone who doesn’t have a million people beating a path to his door.
I made these in 1997. I polished them with Mother’s mag wheel polish, and they still haven’t
dulled after 25 years.
Best of luck, hope you are successful.
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I’ve only been using FreeCAD for a week (to the day!) so far. This is all new to me, so forgive any ignorance. My friend got a 3D printer for xmas, and I used the opportunity to print some Mod44 rims to great success, so I figured I’d try to design a full yoyo design. I think I wanna hammer out the design a bit more, but for a first attempt, I’m happy with what I have so far! Also, huge thanks to Mark! His tutorials were extremely helpful and easy to follow!
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Thank you for sharing your design! I’m delighted that my tutorials are helping out.
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I modeled a Yomega Brain, the first yoyo that I saved up my own money to purchase.
The actual yoyo I have is ~67 grams, very hefty. It’s one of the glow-in-the-dark models from over 20 years ago.
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So cool.
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This week I took my first shot at using FreeCAD, as I had a yoyo design burned in my head from my responsive 0A obsession the past month.
This was at the end of my first night…
And this is how it’s going!
I’m a musician first and foremost, so I wanted to imbue that into my first design. This takes its cues from my record player! I call it the Disc Jockey.
Thanks to @MarkD for the YouTube tutorials and the suggestions!
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That’s a great design for that name!
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Hmmm, i may give this a shot. Im a design engineer by profession and use Solid Edge 2021 every day. I used NX for 10 years before switching to SE.
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