Spinning Top Mk.19 | 48 minute spin

This video documents my most recent and best-performing spinning top - Mk.19. I made this top completely manually without any bought-in components.
Mass: 377g
Diameter: 70mm
Height: 67mm
Tip material: conical HSS (permanent)
Base material: concave tungsten carbide
Best spin: 48 minutes and 1 second (started by hand with multiple twirls)
This top is not for sale
Iacopo Simonelli inspired my designs, check him out:
/ @iacoposimonelli7191
I will be making another brass-aluminium top with an altered design next!
Feel free to like, comment and subscribe :)

[@vaidik03]

This is insane! I never thought something like this would be physically possible. It’s a delight to watch such achievements. Well done and keep it up!

[@hiper_tops]

Thank you very much :)

[@veracoupe9431]

James, your achievement and presentation is brilliant. I have watched your experiments and progress with Spinning Tops over the years and it is very satisfying to see the latest and ,so far, the best outcome for all your efforts and tenacity. You will be a great engineer.

[@hiper_tops]

Thank you! That means a lot :)

[@Vaan4756346]

He IS a great engineer.

[@henrydickerson9776]

Ignoring the science for a moment, let's appreciate the sheer beauty of what you made

[@thequietpart_]

Not sure if I’m disappointed or relieved that the full spin footage isn’t included! Thanks for sharing your passion!

[@notvosswater]

Thanks algorithm, I didn't know I ever needed nor wanted to see such an impressive feat of engineering on something that seems so mundane to the average person. Excellent job.

[@stillededge]

🤣Pesky thing that algorithm...

[@rahulbetgeri]

Stumbled across this video accidentally… found it sooo fascinating as an mechanical engineer and so peaceful as well!!

[@hiper_tops]

I'm glad you liked the video :) I'm studying engineering at the moment!

[@sodium2195]

Almost midnight and I stumble over this video. You absolute madlad, that is the greatest spinning top I have ever seen. What times we live in.

[@hiper_tops]

Thank you!

[@kiefc_]

48 minutes is pretty insane

[@hiper_tops]

thanks :) still more to do though!

[@mozartantonio1919]

I would have never imagine so much interest and science dedicated to this topic hahhhahaha

[@user-qt9lw9vm8b]

Bloody brilliant work. Incredible, It's amazing watching you progress. I have never considered before your video that a spinning top is a battery, essentially a store of the manual input of energy. Keep it up, well done.

[@dougfoster445]

This actually blows my mind! 48 minutes is insane!

[@AnotherGlenn]

100 hours! This makes me feel much better about the time I "waste" pursuing my invention ideas.

[@jakemeyer8188]

How did a year go by and I not see this? Precision engineering in all its forms is to me the summation of both mankind's ingenuity and the ability to express it as art. A spinning top such as this is like a program, but the source code it is compiled from is knowledge and skill. And like any good piece of software, simply knowing what it is made from and what tools were used to make it is not enough to replicate it. It is compiled knowledge, rendered into an object that does a deceptively simple task extraordinarily well...and I love it.

[@hiper_tops]

Thank you very much! Many years of research have gone into this hobby haha

[@tinysim]

Very impressive spin time for a hand spun top.

[@hiper_tops]

Thank you!

[@Gaviid]

Very impressive is an understatement.

[@alphaacademy4006]

Fascinating design and presentation. I am deeply impressed with the amount of thought and work that has gone into material sourcing, design and production. The video is beautiful to watch, workmanship exquisite. I am still figuring out how you obtained the data to plot the decay curve. Absolutely brilliant, well done James!

[@hiper_tops]

Thank you! I measured the rpm of the top each minute using a tachometer :)

[@OrgBrent]

What amazing presentation quality! I especially loved the way you used the magnifying glass to show the spinning top a bit more closely.

[@stefaussie]

Unbelievable work by you, James; and a thing of great beauty too.

[@hiper_tops]

Thanks Sir :)

[@AlpacaLips39]

48 minutes, it’s a good thing Nolan didn’t know about this or I’d still be in the movie theater.

[@rachelcoupeful]

I love this video James and what a great piece of design that is also beautiful visually. Well done!

[@hiper_tops]

Thank you very much!

[@KwameCrawford]

Immensely high-quality engineering! This is truly a feat to behold. Well done.

[@hiper_tops]

Thank you very much :)

[@THESLlCK]

the zoom in with the magnifying glass was so so so cool

[@goose9141]

KZbin introduces me to new things all the time like this dude that makes precision tops.

[@klausnielsen1537]

What an achievement both in mind and metal! I like it!

[@TimWittwer]

Nice blend of theory and practice. Have you considered a retest in a vacuum and a mechanical spin up device for more constant initial conditions?

[@hiper_tops]

I have wanted to do this for a while, however I haven't had the opportunity yet. I might try asking my university. Iacopo Simonelli made an interesting video where he optimised a spinning top for a vacuum environment if you are curious!

[@Bansheekilr]

I was thinking a toroid shape to possibly reduce drag, but I guess if you’re using a vacuum then the shape doesn’t really matter. What about using even harder materials for contact points?

[@Mahalo_83]

⁠@@Bansheekilrwhy toroidal? Doesn’t need to produce thrust

[@guisampaio2008]

People did this already using a floating platform, it spins quite literally forever.

[@TranceFur]

Nothing spins quite literally forever.

[@iacoposimonelli7191]

Congratulations, the design of your new top is very elegant. I see that you also improved the quality of the finishing of the polished surfaces. The performance is also very good, as could be expected for a design like this.

[@hiper_tops]

Thank you! Yes this was quite the experiment regarding the square flywheel. It seems to me that rounding is indeed necessary - perhaps because our tops are relatively large in diameter compared to other external-tip edc style ones. I'll post the rpm data on ta0 soon!

[@pfrillele]

Cool,very well made!The best is that it looks as it would stand still!

[@hiper_tops]

Thanks :)

[@JackMott]

In highschool we had a top competition in physics class. I used a large vinylrecord with lead tape wrapped around the outside and a ballpoint pen stuck through the middle. won handily!

[@apock6115]

That's insane, very beautiful yet weird looking top. 😆🤩

[@mercylessplayer]

Amazing stuff! Looks like perfection made real

[@destiny_02]

This makes me question reality. You got yourself 100th subscriber.

[@hiper_tops]

Wow! Thank you for subscribing, glad you liked the video :)

[@SilentSalad]

That was beautiful, I teared up a little.

[@timothybohdan7415]

SUGGESTION: As a retired professional engineer (P.E.), I have several suggestions for you: (1) Use magnets to elevate the Mk.19 top and thus eliminate the physical contact point between the spinning top and its stationary table base. Although a physical contact point creates only a small amount of friction, its elimination might be significant enough to matter. However, I don't know if magnetic drag is a thing. (2) I wonder if the shape of your torus could be more aerodynamic if its shape was a true doughnut shape instead of having a squared outer edge. The surface area of a circular outer "edge" would have less surface area per unit of mass than that of your Mk.19 top. The overall mass would be reduced, but you could increase the diameter of the top to offset the loss of mass moment of inertia, albeit at a tradeoff of increasing its surface area. The optimum shape of the outer edge might also be parabolic or some hybrid of curves surfaces. Perhaps you know some friends in at NASA, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), or the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), who know how to use finite element analysis to optimize the shape of the top. (3) Reduce the length of the grip surface on the spindle. I noticed that you only use the top half of the serrated spindle when winding the Mk.19 top. Thus, you can probably eliminate 50% of the serrations located, i.e., the ones located in the middle of the spindle, since you don't really use or need them. The unused serrations in the middle of the spindle only add aerodynamic drag. Since you can take as long as you desire to wind the top, you don't need serrations in the middle of the spindle. You only need serrations near the tip of the spindle. (4) Shorten the spindle. I'm not sure why you made the spindle so tall, other than for stability purposes, perhaps. (5) Fabricate the Mk.19 top out of a denser material, such as lead (or osmium, if you can find it. Ha. Ha. LOL), which would allow you to maintain the same mass moment of inertia but while using a smaller diameter top, which would significantly reduce the top's surface area and hence its aerodynamic drag. (6) Coat the surface using a super slick material. I am thinking that polished brass, although smooth, might not be as smooth or as "wind resistant" as other materials. You could use electroplating to apply a different material onto the outer surfaces. Although I am not a metallurgical engineer, I would also recommend that you consider the use of non-metallic materials as possible candidates for the cladding, e.g., graphite is a well-known super-slick surface. (7) Bevel the table base so that the top can tilt further from the vertical gravitational axis without hitting the table base, which will extend your timed runs a bit. (8) Eliminate the air gap between the inside of the torus and the spindle. OK, this will add more mass, but who cares? You are not bound to keep your top within a prescribed weight limit. The huge amount of surface area between the spindle and inside edge of the spinning torus adds a significant amount of surface area, and this inner edge is moving at quite high speed. (9) Use a string, or a pair of oppositely wound strings, to conduct the initial spin-up. Have you ever played the game "Battling Tops?" If so, you know what I mean. I suspect a pair of long strings being pulled rapidly - dare I say violently - in opposite directions could launch the top at a much higher RPM than that accomplished by just using your twiddling fingers. (10) Travel to the highest elevation place on Earth you can find to reduce the atmospheric pressure, and hence reduce aerodynamic drag. OK, you don't need to travel to the summit of Mt. Everest, but the tallest mountains in the U.S. offer elevations of 14,000 feet or more. The atmospheric pressure at 15,000 feet (depending on the air temperature) is approximately 8.3 psi, which is a 43% reduction in atmospheric air pressure. Wait for a low humidity day, and then run your experiment. The reduction in air pressure will reduce the Mk.19 top's aerodynamic drag significantly. Good luck. -tim

[@hiper_tops]

These are some good suggestions Tim thank you! About (1) I see this as cheating a bit which is the main reason I don't use it. It should help however eddy losses may become a significant drag factor. For (2) this is the most interesting optimisation challenge for me and something I am still working on. Getting the optimal mass, radius, height and curve for a given material is hard! (3) I'll do this next time but it won't have a very significant effect because of the small radius here. (4) A longer spindle makes it easier to spin with multiple twirls. However with how well-balanced these a turning out to be, I agree it could have been shorter. (5) See my latest video! I used 80-20 tungsten copper alloy. My next top may be 90-10 (6) I'm no expert so would have assumed only the surface finish determined how slick it was. I'll look into it! (7) True but the limit to how far Mk.19 could tip was mostly determined by the underside which I didn't want to contact the spinning surface. (8) I did this with Mk.21 and will likely continue to (9) String could get it a lot faster but I like starting with my fingers haha (10) A bit of a dodgy technique but maybe if it helps break the hour barrier I would try it lol. Although no mountains around me

[@sarcasticguy4311]

This is what we've come to for KZbin. Watching a top spin for 45 minutes.

[@onidason3128]

Bloody hell this needs way more views. This is extremely sick.

[@hiper_tops]

Thanks :)

[@techristopher8077]

Very Well Done. Beautiful work too.

[@chadc1982]

Esthetics of top are mesmerizing. Perhaps reducing area and depth of knurl, interrupted cut (or, bands) along with a lay to the pattern that doesn't "cut" into the air around it might increase time in spin. I look forward to you breaking 60 minute spin!

[@arthurgere2562]

This video convinced me that engineer ASMR was a real thing

[@ruthstonehouse4152]

Loved the top and equally impressed with your choice of music.

[@hiper_tops]

Thank you haha :)

[@nickmueller7850]

brother wonderful creation. What is the music?

[@anthonytaylor8672]

Hes talking about a top like it's a exotic sports car. Well done. It sucks you right in.

[@ksp6091]

I would love to see how long this could spin with a motorised start at higher rpm's !

[@choke666]

What a great way to top off the day. 😁

[@michaeldavison9808]

What an elegant device.

[@hiper_tops]

Thank you :)

[@Nooticus]

This is insane… how are you this talented and skilled and only doing your A-levels… DAMN?!?!!

[@Nooticus]

Also the Bach background music, great choice!

[@hiper_tops]

@@Nooticus Hahaha thank you :) Going into second year uni this October!

[@Nooticus]

@@hiper_tops abolutely crazy talented! i just finished my second year!

[@Schnorbitz]

Would a dimpled surface finish like a golf ball help mitigate the air resistance?

[@yelyab1]

Is the air flow attaching itself to the smooth surface of the fly wheel? Golf balls use dimpled surfaces to make the air not attach to the ball by disrupting the flow at the surface. A totally smooth golf ball will only travel about 2/3 the distance of a dimpled ball. Is it possible to form an air bearing in the shaft?

[@NR-rv8rz]

Surely the score grip marks on the spire will result in drag and reduce the spin time? I get that it's needed for grip so it can spin up though. And, have yo considered using a finger clicking technique when it gets up to speed with the tip of the spire between your thumb and middle finger just before they connect?

[@123marijn321]

What if you get it up to speed with a string? it may last a whole lot longer then, or wil it lose that high speed very quickly?

[@MattH-wg7ou]

That is beautiful! Id buy that for sure.

[@jackaffeldt]

Air on the G string was perfect.

[@wilmaterna4667]

hey man this is awesome ! keep grinding those gears in your head!

[@hiper_tops]

Thanks :)

[@guytech7310]

You can try it in a vacuum jar\container to see how much losses from air friction. Spin it up, apply the vacuum and see how much longer it spins.

[@KalijahAnderson]

Would it still be a top if the center of mass was a little bit below the inset tip?

[@lengerer]

It would be interesting to see what performance increase you would get by only removing the roughness on the top of the spinner point while still being able to spin it up to the 2000watt or whatever that number was you mentioned

[@swecreations]

Very cool and well-made video!

[@flkin8]

If you guess that air friction is significant, try placing a glass cup on top of the spinning top. The air inside will gradually spin along with the top and reduce the drag.

[@andrewphillip8432]

Unfortunately thats not how fluid dynamics works

[@recklessroges]

That is beautiful. Have you tried spinning it up in a vacuum chamber and then quickly pumping out the air to verify your conjecture about drag? Is there a surface pattern that would act the same way that shark skin does with water?

[@robertstevensii4018]

Something about this checks all the boxes.

[@S-I-T]

Such a beautiful looking object.

[@hiper_tops]

Thanks :)

[@weekendwarrior5303]

What if you dimple the surface to reduce air drag? Like a golf ball.

[@mentilly_all]

👏 lovely video and work

[@nomadben]

Magnificent video. I love watching hobbyists like you push engineering for a specific goal to its limits. I don't know what the world record is for the longest spinning top, but I can't imagine that you're very far off.

[@hiper_tops]

Thank you! Iacopo Simonelli has made a top spin over an hour in the right conditions but the "rules" are lenient at best (Guinness allows for batteries which I disagree with - hence the record is 27 hours)

[@nomadben]

@@hiper_tops Wow, yeah, there should definitely be a separate category for that.

[@jimbrown9885]

Beautiful piece.

[@andrewclarkehomeimprovement]

Would the knurled point be a significant factor in air drag creating micro turbulent flow off the edges?

[@hiper_tops]

No as the radius is very small there so the air flow is much slower in comparison to that around the flywheel :)

[@jamesdath5475]

Great video. I would definitely look to employ a mechanical spin if you can to remove the unnecessary variables of a 2mins finger spin and indeed increase launch speed.

[@MrFerrariF360]

That’s incredible. Would be wild to see: smoke against black background to visualize airflow. My guess is there’s a lot of drag in the knurling. Next: do it in a vacuum chamber. Might also want to get a mechanical method to spin it up to a set rpm to allow for more consistency in measurement. You’re clearly reaching the edge of what’s possible so either way great job.

[@hiper_tops]

All good suggestions I would like to try!

[@CHMichael]

Did you try if dimples lessen drag?

[@jostromp7380]

Are there coatings that reduce the drag? Or is smoother always better? I can imagine there could be some sticking of air to a smooth surfaces like with a golfbal. But Im not certain because that is a totally different situation.

[@hiper_tops]

Yes it is difficult to improve beyond a smooth surface because these tops slow down considerably over their spins. about half the spin duration would be above 800 rpm at which point turbulent boundary flow would occur without the need for dimples. In that regime, the dimples would only increase drag.

[@sungear]

I really like the plots. Very interesting.

[@hiper_tops]

Thank you!

[@tonyonemontana]

Would a toroidal shape minimize drag?

[@gwalkeriq]

As a quick test, you could use a glass base (you can buy a small concave lens or mirror) I think you see that steel on glass is quite slick and does not require any special materials.

[@hiper_tops]

True! HSS on lubricated glass has a very low coefficient of friction - perhaps slightly lower than the carbide base I used. However, my tops are rather heavy and spin for a long time. As a result, they have a habit of 'drilling' into bases. If I used glass, over the course of just one spin, the top would create a microscopic dimple. This increases the contact area and results in vibrating etc. Thats why I used tungsten carbide. It is so hard, the top can't drill into it. If I make a lighter top, or a top with a ball tip, I will perhaps try glass!

[@gwalkeriq]

@@hiper_tops I thought that might be a problem too. I guess it's time for diamond. 😉

[@hiper_tops]

@@gwalkeriq One day hahaha

[@nicschne]

What about a ruby tip like Swiss watches use to reduce friction

[@Oldtanktapper]

@@nicschne I think the carbide actually comes in slightly harder than ruby/sapphire.

[@hopmajibhohepeajibho7595]

Can it detect Earth spin? Almost an hour if spinning should be enough to actually detect some declination

[@justinlewis2466]

Fantastic work, chapeau! If the top were bigger, like maybe twice the diameter, would it spin for longer, or shorter?

[@edstud1]

Awesome achievement!

[@FlyGuy2000]

It would be interesting to invert a bell jar over the top once it gets up to speed and pump it down to a reasonable vacuum and compare the results on the graph.

[@wabio]

If trying to reduce air friction.....what about making one with a smooth tip and using a rubber glove to spin it? I wonder if adding a carbon coat would reduce friction. Chris at a Glimpse Inside carbon coated his wood table saw and the reduction in friction seemed remarkable.

[@gi295]

Incredible production quality, how is this channel so small

[@hiper_tops]

My upload schedule is non-existent due to how long each top takes to make XD The KZbin algorithm doesn't like this. Thank you for the comment!

[@jasonchatham4170]

What if you did some sort of dimpling (micro or golf ball style) in order to reduce surface drag?

[@armstrong360photgraphy]

I’ve just come from watching an Adam Savage video where he talked about a Mythbusters episode in which they added golf ball style dimples to a car to see if it reduced drag and therefore improved fuel efficiency. So I had the exact same idea after watching this.

[@ngsq12]

Wouldn't a dimpled surface like a golf ball allow for reduced losses from air friction?

[@91loganator]

Great video! Instant like for Bach

[@hiper_tops]

Thank you haha

[@JustWasted3HoursHere]

Excellent work! Extremely stable too. I'd like to see you use a drill with a special attachment to get it spinning initially at an even higher rpm. This should give you several hours of spin time I would think. Also, some sort of indicator applique (not machined, to maintain smoothness of the material) would make it easier to see the spin rate as well. This, inside a vacuum chamber would be crazy.

[@hiper_tops]

All good suggestions and things I would like to try in the future!

[@JustWasted3HoursHere]

@@hiper_tops Excellent. Your top spins so smoothly that it literally looks like it's just sitting there, stationary, on top of the pedestal. note: I noticed that the MK 20 actually spun for "only" 41 minutes, so it looks like the path you're on with MK 19 is the right one.

[@hiper_tops]

@@JustWasted3HoursHere Yes, it is hard to tell what factor is superior for Mk19 though haha

[@JustWasted3HoursHere]

@@hiper_tops Exactly. I can't imagine how many iterations you'd have to create to narrow that down. A possibly very expensive process!

[@rachelcoupeful]

Hi James. We've been watching again and are curious to know how you measure the rate of decay i.e. how are you able to measure rpm and hence able to plot the data entries on the graph.

[@hiper_tops]

I use a tachometer to measure the rpm! This requires me to put some reflective tape on the spinning top. Then, the device shines a laser on this tape and counts the reflections. This is a tedious process, as I take measurements manually every minute for almost an hour!

[@MarceloJost]

Why saving weight with aluminum if this would decrease the angular momentum?

[@panyarou]

What's the name of the classical music piece playing in the beginning?

[@y0uRF4t3]

have you thought about using a jewel bearing like a watch does? that fine point of toolsteel against synthetic saphire / ruby whould probably reduce friction there even further.

[@hiper_tops]

I would love to try a polished piece of concave synthetic ruby as a base but it is hard to find such a thing of the correct size and geometry!

[@wizrom3046]

Ruby point needed! You can buy ruby engineering tips for measuring equipment, not that expensive and are very precise ground and already polished. Or maybe a ceramic ball bearing ball, even cheaper.

[@memorobles7857]

What if you machine grooves into the external surfaces of the top to try and trap a layer of "lubricating" air to reduce friction? I imagine smaller models, or even external "skins" might be used to test this mechanism.

[@hiper_tops]

Yes I agree! Just need to find the time haha. I am doing some research into riblets which may be the most realistic aproach!

[@Chevsilverado]

Maybe I misunderstand but why does the model “if tip friction didn’t exist” decay faster than the actual data?

[@zamb0nio]

have you tried spinning it on a flat piece instead of the custom made tungsten spin dish? curious as to how long it would last.

[@hiper_tops]

I have not because I suspect it would slowly wander on the surface and fall off. If anything it would spin for slightly longer on a flat surface

[@pompeymonkey3271]

Marvellous! :)

[@dougreid1951]

Fun - have you met the synthetic ruby bearings used in watches?

[@iamalongusername]

I wonder if the surface was dimpled it would lower air resistance

[@Meowface.]

I’d figure an aluminum central portion with a cast lead outer ring A nice compact weight section to maintain momentum

[@ionee184]

This is such a lovely video

[@hiper_tops]

Thank you :)

[@divyajnana]

Beautiful!

[@Scottietheyoung]

Simply Beautiful

[@DaskaiserreichNet78]

The precision of this top is amazing.

[@hiper_tops]

Thank you!

[@Wintergatan_2]

Awesome explanation 🙏

[@stepparentingmadeeasy]

if you used tungsten for the flywheel could you increase the performance?

[@hiper_tops]

You're correct! It's just difficult to machine and hard to find at such a large size. It's something I'm working towards though!

[@stepparentingmadeeasy]

@@hiper_tops can’t wait to see that.

[@cmdrredhawk]

Would adding dimples to the surface reduce drag? Like a golf ball?

[@hiper_tops]

The dimples would reduce drag at the start of the spin when the top is spinning rapidly and the edge is moving fast like a golf ball. However, the top slows down exponentially - quickly losing rpm. At lower spin speeds (the majority of the spin), the dimples would increase drag. So overall, they would not be beneficial. Let me know if you want a bit more explanation :)

[@mihailmilev9909]

Amazing. If u didn't post a comment on some video I would've had no idea about this, which was just what I was looking for.

[@hiper_tops]

What video was that haha