This is my latest finger top. Its tip is recessed, and it's a heavy top, (378 grams, lead flywheel). It is spun by multiple twirls of the fingers, for to build up speed. From time to time I take some rest then I spin it again, faster and faster. It can take two or three minutes, for to reach 2700-2800 RPM.
The tip friction and the air drag are low, so at this point the top, with this high starting speed, can spin by itself for more than one hour.
I developed this particular design by the years; my aim was to create a spinning top able to spin for the longest possible time, without receiving energy in any way from the outside, so my research was focused on reducing the frictions to a minimum, increasing the starting speed, and increasing the stability at low speed. Also I want my tops to be simple, so I don't use magnets, vacuum chambers or other sophistries, (well, in the past I made a top specifically designed for to spin in vacuum conditions, it spun for 4 hours... but I made only one in that way).
Some persons started imitating my tops, less or more closely; they even gave a name to this kind of tops: "Maxwell style tops". It seems that I started a trend. But the mine, with their distinctive shape, (which is due to the quest for the longest spins), are the original ones. They have the recessed tip, the dedicated base, (which is needed because the tip does not protrude from the flywheel so these tops can't spin on a normal flat surface), the long stem, the narrow knurl, the wooden core and the metal flywheel.
Video with the full 67 minutes spin:
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My previous 2016 record:
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Finger top spins 4 hours in the vacuum:
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Shrouded tops, (the shroud reduces the air drag and make the tops to spin some minutes longer):
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Music:
"Eternal story" by Rafael Krux (orchestralis.net)
Creative Commons 4.0 License.
