The "original" ruby-tipped spin tops: crafted without compromise Kickstarter Original : This is the original design from my Kickstarter project. I still think it's the best. For me good design is all about balance and simplicity. The two-piece brass and aluminum is an exercise in both. Making a good two-piece top is also exceedingly difficult. I retired the design for over a year and spent hundreds of hours prototyping to maximize consistency and performance. The tolerance level on both the spindle diameter and bore of the ring are necessarily held to +/- 0.0001 inches...basically the minimum tolerance the lathe is capable of. Holding this tolerance requires inspecting every 5 parts to make sure the machine is on size. Over the course of the day, the machine will drift up to .002 inches as air, machine and coolant temperature changes. You'll note this is 20x the allowable deviation. Making parts this precise comes at a cost. If you'd like to geek out you can refer to this article on "The High Cost of Tight Tolerances" on the CNC Cookbook blog. Even with all this effort, the simple act of mating two separate parts together always introduces some amount of error and imperfection. What most makers won't tell you, is you might get a "perfect" top...but you might not. It's become clear that performance falls within a statistical distribution and making every top absolutely perfect simply isn't a realistic expectation. That said, the new two piece top should (on average) spin even better than the original, and that's why I'm bringing back. This is as close to perfection as my current skills, knowledge, and equipment allow. Materials: The C360 brass used in the ring is a Zinc/Copper alloy. Brass is heavier than anything but much more exotic metals. Brass is a "free machining" material, which means it machines VERY consistently. Materials are rated for machinability on a 100% scale. C360 brass sets the standard at 100%.Tougher materials resist cutting which wears the tools faster and leads to less uniformity and "out of tolerance" conditions. The 6061 aluminum spindle is strong, light weight, and raw machined aluminum. I normally nickel plate all of my aluminum parts, but it's just not necessary here. I also really like the contrast of the "cool-colored" aluminum next to the warm brass. Contact Point Options: For complete information, please see the "contact points" tab on this page. Of course the ruby is the ultimate in performance and awesome...can't beat that combination. It's a little bit fragile if you compare it to a Mac truck, but a little bit of knowledge and care will keep it spinning for a lifetime. I mean, it's nearly as hard as diamond and those are "forever." >>> Broken contact balls are not covered under warranty. NEVER drop the Lambda top onto a tile or granite surface or the ball may shatter. Contact points can be replaced in tops that have hollow spindles (all current models)...assuming there isn't other significant damage to the top.
