[HN Gopher] I overengineered a spinning top [video]
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I overengineered a spinning top [video]
Author : bane
Score : 105 points
Date : 2026-01-23 03:32 UTC (5 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.youtube.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.youtube.com)
| tartoran wrote:
| This is fun, well done. Quite a performance to reach 2 hours on
| that little battery. Perhaps Euler disks are next?
| Terretta wrote:
| > _Quite a performance to reach 2 hours on that little
| battery._
| slfreference wrote:
| Never perfect a game something to its theoretical limits, It
| stops being exciting.
|
| https://youtu.be/0Yubn6P5DUw
| chankstein38 wrote:
| I saw this and, while interesting and impressive, this isn't
| really a spinning top. It's a gyroscope. I was hoping for a real
| like "I cast metal into the perfect shape that I physically
| derived somehow to last as long as possible" or something similar
| not just "I put a motor in a case and it spins"
| pelf wrote:
| https://youtu.be/QLTsxXNekVE?si=S31kpZQHiYlUSedx
| barbegal wrote:
| For a real spinning top over engineered
| https://youtu.be/QLTsxXNekVE?si=S31kpZQHiYlUSedx
| chankstein38 wrote:
| Thank you! This is what I really wanted!
| observationist wrote:
| It's fascinating that you can get to the level of atomic
| material properties as a spinning top hacker. Diamond seems
| like it'd be the obvious winner, if you could somehow get a
| perfectly polished and smooth surface.
|
| I'd love to see a small Prince Rupert's drop for a tip and a
| ruby/sapphire spinning surface - you'd need to make a ton of
| drops, probably, but having a round, nearly spherical contact
| geometry and super smooth surface seems like a winning combo.
| anfractuosity wrote:
| Thanks! I came across http://www.pocketwatchrepair.com/how-
| to/jewels.php recently, hadn't realised the jewels weren't for
| aesthetics.
| gigaflop wrote:
| My mind immediately went towards Battlebots when I saw
| electronics getting involved. I wonder what else would need to be
| done to make this steerable over RC? There may be a lower weight
| class where some nicely CNC'ed 'Phantasm Orbs' can score
| reasonable points.
| everyday7732 wrote:
| This already exists- there's a class of robot called
| "meltybrains" which spin the whole robot using one or more
| wheel, detect the speed of spinning with a gyro and modulate
| the speed of the wheels at different points in its' rotation in
| order to create translational movement. Since they effectively
| put all the weight allowance into the "weapon" they can be very
| effective. The additional complexity means that they are hard
| to get working reliably in chaotic combat conditions. A team
| called "Project liftoff" had some serious success though.
| gigaflop wrote:
| I saw Project Liftoff in person, that little death-frisbee?
| Looked like they have two points of contact with the floor,
| which is probably just better design.
|
| And now that I think a bit further, I might just be imagining
| a more complicated version of one of those crabwalk spinny
| metal ones..
| hamdingers wrote:
| Meltybrains are still wheeled robots even if they use the
| wheels in a novel way.
|
| If you could develop a self-starting top capable of remote
| controlled translational movement you would get non-wheeled
| weight bonuses up to 2x in most competitions.
| mariocesar wrote:
| There is a Japanese show that made a Scientist vs Engineers
| version to build the best Spinning Top:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q-hcidtjiM
|
| Awesome!
| a2dam wrote:
| This rules
| johndough wrote:
| The entire "Supreme Skills!" series is amazing. Highly
| recommend!
| 1shooner wrote:
| These would make great pomodoro timers.
| jcims wrote:
| Saw this last week, really enjoyed the tenacity in problem-
| solving!!
|
| Did make me wonder if you could build a solid state one using
| well-timed pulses through an electromagnet that provide torque
| through the field interaction with the earth's magnetic field.
|
| Not much torque available there obviously, but on a per-
| revolution basis you don't need much.
| isaacn wrote:
| Reminds me of this little top, which actually works quite well:
| https://limbo.top/
| inanutshellus wrote:
| man i get advertised to for these things NONSTOP. IMO it's
| cheating to call it a "top" but stick a motor in it to make it
| work.
| Espressosaurus wrote:
| Entertaining, but holy cow that music distracts from the content.
| augusteo wrote:
| I love projects like this. Taking something trivially simple and
| asking "but what if we really optimized it?"
|
| The material science discussion in these comments is fascinating.
| Never thought about how the contact point geometry matters so
| much. Diamond tip makes intuitive sense for hardness, but then
| you need something it can spin on without scratching...
| ReptileMan wrote:
| I like it, but part of me thinks that spinning tops should be
| without IC and batteries. I don't mind some steampunk clockwork
| mechanisms though.
| dylan604 wrote:
| Freaked me out for a second and had to double check that my
| tablet comes with a stop watch without having to download an app
| WITH ADS!!!!! Does he earn money for displaying these ads in his
| video too? I find it hard to believe that a content creator with
| sponsors is forced to use an ad supported app. Something about it
| being a stopwatch really just adds the cherry on top
| VladVladikoff wrote:
| I wonder if he wanted it to be bigger? The stopwatch on iOS
| doesn't quite fill the screen as the one he used does.
| zzzeek wrote:
| this guy is super great but wow do the juvenile sexist comments
| he makes (over and over again, tripling down on them) detract
| from the overall value of the video. Would female engineering
| students really appreciate all that? I think not
| bdamm wrote:
| As a male this turned me off too. I didn't like it, and it
| really distracted from the overall very cool thing.
| bambax wrote:
| Excellent!
|
| At around the end of the fidget spinner craze I thought "but what
| would it take to make it spin by its own?" And it turned out, not
| much. Just put one magnet at each of the three ends, and have
| some pulsating magnet near it (next to it, or under it hidden in
| some kind of base), and there! you have a basic electric motor
| that seems entirely magical.
|
| It was a really fun experiment; I even toyed with doing a small
| production run but by the time I was almost ready the craze had
| passed.
| nomel wrote:
| Related, here's a globe that uses the earths magnetic field (an
| a little solar panel within) to spin "forever"!
|
| [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-NII1RdlcQ
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