Record Broken!

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Longest Non-Mechanical Top Spin

Italy

3 likes

Montignoso (MS), Italy / June 21, 2015

Iacopo S. kept a non-mechanical top spinning without external support for 41 minutes, 25.68 seconds, a RecordSetter.com World Record.

- must follow form of current world record holder
- spinning top may not have bearings, zip starters, or moving parts
- top may be whipped while spinning to build up speed
- timing starts when fingers pull away and stop when top comes to complete rest
- use of magnets not permitted
- must follow form of current world record holder
- must provide video evidence

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Tags: wildcardlongestspinningtoytopspinning topnon mechanical

Comments
  • Italy Iacopo Simonelli

    August Geesaman, Ashrita Furman spun a "whipping top", which is set going continuously by striking it with a whip again and again, for this reason it can spin for so many hours. The mine is a "finger top" and it spins by inertia alone. I think it would be advisable RecordSetter to consider whipping tops and finger tops like two different categories, since they are quite different tops.

  • Italy Iacopo Simonelli

    Gerardo Ortigoza, hi. I don't use Facebook, write me on You Tube or on ITopSpin forum.

  • Italy Iacopo Simonelli

    Fausto Garcia, at present I am not selling my tops yet, but in the future I will organize to sell a few ones. This 50 minutes spinning top is a very particular one; read the description about it below this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUxemAvWSSA You can follow me on my YouTube channel, (always updated with my latest tops) ,then I often write on ITopSpin forum.

  • Italy Iacopo Simonelli

    Niels Schotten, it is normal that heavier tops spin longer. This is not a reason, in my opinion, for subverting the rules. Also, the rules you propose are not neutral as you seem to want we to believe, and, paradoxically, they favour the littlest tops, which are the ones that spin for the littlest time. To make a sample, based on your rules, a very little top, weighing 0.6 grams, diameter mm 5, able to spin for just only 2 seconds, would be "better" than a top weighing 160 grams, diameter mm 50, able to spin for more than an hour, which is absurd, because it is much more difficult to make a top able to spin for an hour than for two seconds, also considering the mentioned differences of dimensions.

    • The Internet Niels Schotten

      So what are the rules then? Are there any build rules? limitations or boundaries to work in?

    • The Internet Niels Schotten

      If you manage to build a top of 0.6grams and that spins for 2 sec on a hand start... It would be a tat small to even get a proper spin on... But i see your point. But the way things are now with basically no build rules that i could fine... it is just a crap shoot.

    • Italy Iacopo Simonelli

      I would know how to make such a little top and it would be not so difficult to spin it. But I agre with you about the poor rules; I would prefer to have different cathegories of spinning tops, based on the kind of the tops, maybe also on weight, each cathegory with its clear rules and its record holder, and its followers. You don't know, but when I submitted my attempt to this site, I tried to open a new cathegory, because I realize that my tops are particular and different from the ones used here. But I have been ignored. It seems like Recordsetter wants consider all the kinds of tops as a only one broad cathegory. See that there is also a whipping top here, together with finger tops, but they are totally different things, and no one has said one word about this. At least finger tops and whipping tops should be considered separately.

  • The Internet Nathan pennell

    som people have to much spare time

  • Italy Iacopo Simonelli

    I have built another top.... This one is really special because it can spin for more than 50 minutes, with just only one twirl of the fingers. I have made a video about it and submitted it to this site as a new record attempt: https://recordsetter.com/submit/review?pend=478f3ed9-60f1-411d-a6e4-70777f497bf3 There is also a video about it on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUxemAvWSSA I explain this top in the description below the YouTube video.

  • United States Corey Henderson

    What kind of sorcery is this?! Excellent spinning technique to start, but to almost double the current record is really impressive.

    • Italy Iacopo Simonelli

      Corey, one ingredient of the sorcery is weight. The heavier, the better, if energy to put the top in motion is provided adequately. And this top weighs 847 grams against 329 of my previous top. Then the technique of twirling the stem more times is a great advantage in terms of a longer spin. This is not possible with little tops but easy to do with larger ones.
      I have calculated that with a single twirl of my fingers I put about 0.6 joule of energy in a top.
      If the top is little or big it doesn't change a lot, a littler top will spin faster and a bigger one slower with a single twirl, but the received energy is always about the same, 0.6 joule.
      But the littler tops, after a single twirl, are already spinning so fast that it is difficult to accelerate them further.
      Instead the larger tops are still spinning slowly after the first twirl, so it is easy to twirl them further.
      The top in this video, with a single twirl, 0.6 joule, spins for about 8 or 9 minutes, starting from 315 rpms.
      But with more twirls, I am able to start this top from 1100 - 1200 rpms, the energy accumulated is about 8 joule, instead of a poor 0.6, a huge difference, and duration of the spin becomes 40 minutes and over.

  • Italy Iacopo Simonelli

    I have built a new top, weighing 847 grams (nearly two pounds !), that spins for more than 40 minutes. I have submitted the video to this site, it could be the new record in this cathegory: https://recordsetter.com/submit/review?pend=ff54710e-2165-411e-90b3-7529e4f9df39

  • United States Steve W

    I made a magnetic spinner which HANGS rather than being a top as shown here. In my case, additional weight REDUCES friction instead of adding to it.

    My longest spin thus far (finally completed a few minutes ago) is 32 minutes 4 seconds. Figured I'd go online to see similar challenges, ran across this one - will investigate rules etc. later to determine whether to post here or start a new 'hanging' version, just thought I'd drop in... Enjoy! - S.

    • United States Daniel Hug

      Interesting. :) You should post a video on YouTube or elsewhere and comment with the link.

    • Italy Iacopo Simonelli

      It seems something like this:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_STnL0U9PyQ

    • Italy Iacopo Simonelli

      I point out that this record has become official here in RecordSetter, with the heading "Longest free spinning inertia rotor using magnetic ball bearings":

      https://recordsetter.com/world-record/free-spinning-inertia-rotor-using-magnetic-ball-bearings/42061

  • The Internet Chris Akers

    Nicely done, Iacopo! Do you mind me asking what type of top that is and where you found it?

    • Italy Iacopo Simonelli

      Thank you, Chris. I am an artisan and I myself have designed and built that top. The outer side is made of tin, the inner side of epoxy resin (black) and wood (mahogany). Weight 329 grams. Actually is not commercially available.

    • The Internet Chris Akers

      Really a beautiful piece of work. I wish more precision top makers would try such combinations of materials and this size as well. Thanks for sharing the details of your design!

    • Italy Iacopo Simonelli

      Thank you for your kindness, Chris.

  • Italy Iacopo Simonelli

    Also there is this one, spinning for over 23 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBX1DGuhwZ4&feature=youtu.be

    • United States Daniel Hug

      That's a really neat top James! I'd say your spin technique is still valid and that you hold the world record. I'm sure you saw Professor Black's 24 min spin: also neat but hardly a top. :)

    • Italy Iacopo Simonelli

      Thank you Daniel. I have sent the video to this site too, now it is "under council review", from two days, but still no answer. Yes, I saw Professor Black's 24 min spin. I don't understand why that top doesn't topple in the end, maybe he uses magnets but I cannot be sure. What I know is that if a magnet is held over a spinning top, its spinning time will be longer because being attracted upward there is less weight and consequently less attrition on the tip. And the top doesn't topple. But I'm not sure, and Professor Black affirms to use not magnets.

    • Japan KAPPA738

      I think that the structure of Professor Black's 24 min spin is what is not a magnet and is based on a self-righting dharma doll.

    • Japan KAPPA738

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkNWB1tcDqk

    • Italy Iacopo Simonelli

      Thank you for your reply, Kappa738. It seems to me that the principle of that self righting dharma doll is that there is a large enough flat or nearly flat surface on which the top can balance and stay upright. Professor Black uses in his top a 8 mm ball, that in my opinion is not enough to produce that effect, unless, maybe because of wear, a tiny flat surface has formed on that ball, and the top balances over it. But also flat surfaces generally produce more attrition and shorter spin times, so I don't know... If there is someone else who experienced a top with a ball as a tip staying upright when not spinning, he/she would let us to know. It never happened to me.

    • Italy Iacopo Simonelli

      Kappa738, look at this video, it explains what I mean better than my words:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7bOpHaZvwQ&feature=youtu.be

    • Japan KAPPA738

      Thank you, but I know not needing a magnet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eqind9bxROQ#t=61

    • Italy Iacopo Simonelli

      Very interesting, Kappa738. But what is the explanation for that top staying upright ? It seems to me that the tip is too much rounded for staying upright by itself. Sure that magnetism is not involved in some way ? What is their explanation ? I can't understand japanese...

    • Japan KAPPA738

      I cannot understand English, either. Although translation software is used, I cannot read the cause of your misunderstanding. You do not need to understand Japanese. However, you need to understand the principle of a self-righting dharma doll top. If it becomes so, you can find the common feature of a self-righting dharma doll phenomenon for the top of Professor Black, JAXA, and Ceder Ben.

    • Italy Iacopo Simonelli

      My perplexity comes from the fact that the tips of the videos you linked are shaped differently. While in the first video there is a large and flat tip that really gives the idea of a stable surface on which the top can easily stay in upright position, in the second video the tip is not flat, but decisely round, and I may be wrong, but it doesn't appear very self righting.
      Today I have built a flat tip for my top, I have tried it, it works, the top stays upright, but it doesn't spin for long, too much attrition. Maybe I will make a short video about it.

  • The Internet Alex Knott

    Tungsten Lambda Top, very nice!

  • United States Corey Henderson

    This is getting intense! It is also so fitting that this record is now owned by the Swiss.

  • United States Daniel Hug

    A 17 minute top: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yI7kJwqjhqI and a 24 minute "top" that doesn't topple: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2rN3Amown8

  • The Internet HH

    Ryuusei: Wakarimashita...zannen dakedo...I was hoping you might be able to purchase some at the event for me :-). I found the online store you refer to but unfortunately they do not accept orders from overseas :-(.

    • The Internet Adam

      Try this

      http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251893341136?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

  • The Internet HH

    Brilliant...thanks both of you! Ryuusei: Will you attend koma taisen this year? Do you know if the participants also sell their koma to the public or if any online retailer sells these?

    • Japan KAPPA738

      残念ながら昨年2月にkoma taisenに参戦して以後、今年も参戦できません。 koma taisen参加のコマのレプリカなどはkoma taisen会場やオンラインで販売されています。 http://store-m.jp/

  • The Internet HH

    Hi Ryuusei! Thanks for responding. Sorry for not being clear but the question was actually to be directed at Matthew Machin. I know its a telescope mirror but would appreciate contact info of vendor if possible. Thanks!

  • The Internet HH

    Hi. Where did you get the glass base you are using?

    • Japan KAPPA738

      自宅の食器棚で見つけたけれど入手は不明。 出来るだけツルツルの皿が良い。

  • United States Daniel Hug

    Another good spin with the Prometheus Lambda top: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyHzW-L3dDU&feature=youtu.be

  • The Internet Skeeter Double-entendre

    what top is used?

    • United States Daniel Hug

      It's the KOMA Zion-ZS372

      Here's the youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrT1x1T9RKY Here it is on ebay: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=Zion-ZS372+spinning+top Here it is on a Japanese website: http://store-m.jp/SHOP/koma-016-002.html Here's another video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIuODe8FCUw

  • United States Corey Henderson

    As this category starts to get super competitive, we might want to require a clock in the picture to ensure videos are in real time. Not that I doubt any of these attempts. Well done Alex!

  • Canada Dan Rollman

    Well done, Marc. How many attempts did this take?

    • The Internet Marc Blaskey

      It was my First recorded attempt. I must praise the fabulous spinning top - it was sold to me by an expert in fine tops at a store in Paris called Tumbleweed in Le Marais.

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