Which Metal Spinning Top Spins the LONGEST?
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- Опубліковано 6 лют 2025
- Use my link foreverspin.co... and code hydraulic to get a free titanium stand for your spinning top!
In this video, we test and compare how long spinning tops made from different materials can spin. The materials include carbon chromium steel, cast iron, nickel, brass, bronze, gold-plated, stainless steel, tungsten, and M2 tool steel. Which one will spin the longest? Watch to find out! We spin all the tops to 4500rpm with electric drill and special top spinner tool that we machined with manual lathe.
Use my link foreverspin.com/?hydraulic/ and code hydraulic to get a free titanium stand for your spinning top!
Every time they say, "Welcome to the Beyond The Press channel."
I hear."Welcome To The Built The Press channel." 😂
Use a string on the top part. Then you can spin it up to high speed.
To be accurate you would need to polish each tip to the same grain structure and exact spin speed. A drill is not consistent cuz a number of variable.
Highest density => Highest initial kinetic energy
Solid gold would have had a good density and low friction.
@@pattheplanter Pure gold would come second.
We need a depleted Uranium top then.
True, but the frictional coefficient between the tops and the base will have a bearing too (sorry, not sorry)
@@lambdaproggold after tungsten because its softer and probably more friction. the harder the material, the longer the point stays sharp
Spinning tops are a deceptively simple engineering challenge. Look up the shapes of the record holders. The optimization is crazy.
Hide an electromagnet in one
@@ABoringTool you can enter in the unlimited league.
I have a bit of a hangup about precision dice, so bear with me. It's actually remarkably hard to get ahold of truly precision dice in terms of fairness of roll. Essentially, it comes down to a perfect centering of the center of gravity within the body of the die. Plastic dice can achieve this by shaping the die precisely and filling the pips with a resin exactly the density of the rest of the die (taking the pigment into account). Metal dice have a big problem in this regard, especially ones that employ drilled pips: it's impractical to fill the pips to maintain balance.
There are several ways to minimize balance problems in metal dice:
* dyeing - low durability
* engraving - requires deburring, so still entails material removal (if small), and can cause deformation of the die
* etching - entails material removal, if small
* anodization/selective oxidation - entails material addition, if small
TL;DR: don't drill your precision metal dice - they won't be fair dice.
The polished Stainless is so simple yet beautiful.
Wolfram for the W
Nicely done.
You win one nerd point for today, sir. Well done.
As interesting as the main channel video was about them getting crushed differently, I really wanted to see them spin first and so I'm so glad you did this.
made a top for physics class, it was HDPE at 4" dia, 2.75" tall with a ceramic ball ( .125" dia) as the tip, was spun up to 15K rpm and placed on a concave pyrex "dish" in a vacuum chamber, it spun for 4 hrs 22 min 16 secs.. at one point it got settled in to a spot and looked like it was just standing there, no wobble or axial movement or precession occuring. Might have gone longer but the ceramic ball wore a divot into the glass and became a source of friction on the tip... unfortunately, the top was dropped on the tip and shattered the ball making it useless. 3 attempts were made to replace the ball but the machinist wasnt able to get the new ball perfectly centered.
That sounds great. Pity the glass wore down, as well as the later drop. Really good low-cost version of this could start with a used/dry wide (>1mm) ballpoint pen for the tip. (Wider is more durable and versatile against surface imperfections....to a point.)
How fast and long does the top spin in 0 atm, 1 atm, 10 atm and 100atm?
And can you make an ideal spinning surface from very hard material? Maybe Rockwell C >55?
Or compare surfaces with different roughness measurements.
give it up for Wolfram!
would be cool to see weight vs spin time on a chart
Mind kindof blown. My money was on tungsten due to its density, but I was amazed how long cast iron lasted vs. denser M2. Google tells me that cast iron has a coefficient of friction of 0.4 vs 0.82 for tool steel! I'd never have guessed that!
Cast iron has graphite/carbon crystals throughout it.
@@napalmholocaust9093 I learned something new today.
Cast iron is rather dense itself, also very hard which is why it shatters instead of bending much like tungsten. So the tips likely resisted deformation as they spun. Had they had more strongly tapered tips so there was less friction it would have been more noticeable.
Density and friction are the greatest material variables here. In fact, brass and bronze are denser than iron and steel. Cast iron and carbonchromium are the most porous and assumably work up the most friction. Since the corresponding spin times don’t add up, I think the drill used to spin these caused the most inconsistencies.
I have a top with a synthetic ruby insert for the contact point. And one with a ceramic ball bearing for the contact point.
Wouldn't nylon be pretty good for the contact point?
@@pattheplanter For low friction, sure, but for durability, it would be quite lacking. Despite producing lower friction, nylon is too soft to survive for very long. Even if you only ever spun up the top on near perfectly flat, hard surfaces like a pane of glass, it would still eventually wear down and deform, and spinning it on surfaces with imperfections like table tops, glazed tiles or metal plates would accelerate the degradation significantly.
@@resurgam_b7 I am old. I wouldn't need it to last very long.
@@pattheplanter Haha, fair enough 😂
I have a collection of them from forever spin. They are super high quality and their customer service is world class
Mass = moment of inertia = rotational emergy
but also the most friction force under the top!
@@Beyondthepress
But the hardness has influence on yhe size of the contact point and thus on the friction.
@@Beyondthepresslol sure, 😅 from 0.00001N of friction to 0.00002N
Yeah, I'd be interested in a pretty graph of model against mass, and model against time; comparing these two lines should show some predictable features (eg, tungsten being much heavier therefore running for longer) but also might show some interesting outliers - like, for example, cast iron running for a lot longer due to the mentioned elsewhere frictional coefficient. I'm also pondering how much effect differences in placement on the launch pad has - does it make a difference if you're 2mm to the left or right of center, for example? 2cm? how much matters, and how much effect does it have? Heck, what created the neat pattern on the launch surface? the science is fascinating. ;-]
@@Beyondthepress no its very low friction because its pretty hard and touches only on the rotation axis. The point stays sharper for longer than with softer high density material. Initial kinetic energy divided by Deceleration time gives the "breaking power". Geometry and surface should be identical so neglible. So we could work out the friction of every top by calculating the rotational energy at the start, if the spinning speed was consistent.
Fell down the top spinning rabbit hole once. The amount of engineering that goes into record breaking tops and the results people have been able to achieve is surprisingly fascinating, even without the "science maker five million" ;)
One thing I love doing with mine is to spin my heaviest one really fast and then spin my lightest one in the opposite direction next to it and just listen to the clicking of when the heavy one keeps the light one spinning. Mine are the stainless steel and the aluminium ones but I'd love to see it done with the Tungsten and magnesium ones
I made a pull string top in high school metals class, three actually. The all aluminum version was easiest to spin, but the tip blunted before it finished spinning. The all steel one was too hard to get spinning fast enough to stay spinning very long. The final version had a steel shaft pressed into an aluminum flywheel. I got that version to spin for six minutes and fifteen seconds. It won second place in the state high school machining competition.
I wonder if the tungsten top would have still won if they were spun manually. I know they won't all get up to the same RPM when spun manually, but that is how they are used. Not many people are going to be able to spin them all up to the same RPM with a drill.
There also seemed to be a lot of variation as they fell from the spin-up tool; not just the magnesium one that was DQ'ed. Seems like a two/three-point system similar to what pull-string tops usually use would be preferable, when nimble fingers aren't sufficient. Maybe something that only grips the upper tip like a mini RC plane starter would work, too, rather than encompassing the whole thing. That tungsten seemed destined to win, with more than double the weight of the iron/steel family.
Congrats on doing so well in school with what most people would consider too simple an idea. (It's the simple ones that really change the world.)
Nice!
I expected the tungsten one to go for the longest, becuase of the density - given they all where the same size and shape, their air resistance is pretty much the same, but the tungsten one has more mass (even if the surface is smooth, it still doesn't have zero air friction and at 4500 rpm they where most likely starting out fast enough for this to matter). Also, it's interesting how quickly many of them stopped - which indicates they were quite well balanced (the behaviour of the wobbling at the end also indicated they got down to very low speed before the fell over).
The tungsten one spun at the same speed but contained the most energy since it has the highest mass. Tungsten is also very hard, so friction also might have played a tiny factor.
4:40 My money was on Tungsten, but I was surprised by how long cast Iron spun. Thinking it has something to do with the graphite in the cast iron reducing the friction with the surface it's spinning on.
Ohhhh that stainless steel top at the 3:05 mark is trippy!
At 8:33 they had to cut out Lauri just standing there and thinking about all the cool things he could still do with tungsten :D
I would like to see a BTP Video of the fabrication & machining process involved to make the Foreverspin Tungsten Top ❗👍🏻😉
I hope one day I'll find someone who looks at me the same way Lauri looks at tungsten
It went pretty much as I expected, the only thing I was unsure about was the mysterious "gold plated" top, I couldn't guess which rank it would have because we don't know its density. I guess it's some kind of steel under the gold plating?
Almost all anodized products of this sort are aluminum, whether with matte or polished finish. It did about as I expected it to, for the low mass. Chrome/dip electroplating is much less common than it used to be in previous decades.
Other than aluminum and plastics, most companies will proudly tell you what material an anodized product is made of, if it's a steel or anything more interesting. More $. :)
(To be clear, I don't think Lauri knew, because it probably didn't say on the package. I'm not implying he held back info on purpose.)
We used to make them and race them at work (instead of doing work) , a lot of time spent mirror polishing the contact point, a light spray of silicone and running a hard metal on a corian surface all seemed to help
Really need link to the music. Awesome tunes!
I liked the tunes
Gridded - Microscope
Gridded - Han
Are the ones in this video.
That was fun to watch. Really enjoyed the music as well.
Before watching the video, I would guess tungsten; it's the densest, so it will have the most rotational momentum assuming all the tops are spun to the same speed.
Also, how on earth do you machine tungsten into that shape? What kind of tools do you use to cut the metal that usually is the tool?
@@BloopTube I figured it was something like that. Still seems a bit counterintuitive though. Like trying to whittle with a wooden knife 😂
For your dice project you should consider using something other than dots for the numbers.
Right from the thumbnail I had my money on tungsten since its high density would have the best angular momentum.
You can create create a low drop rig to make this without human error. love the vid
tungsten's heat properties and density absolutely carried it. Brass is no slouch in terms of density but it has exceptionally bad thermal properties compared to steel or cast iron.
I would think the denser metals having a higher mass would then have higher angular momentum. And you might have introduced some precession lifting up the drill. Not sure if that would make a difference or not in this case. A drill press might make it more consistent.
would be interesting to see a chart of weight and time together.
Lauri and Hanna, this is a very amazing test. Thank you for the content
Maybe in something like a glass top, I've also found things can spin for a long time if suspended upsidedown by a magnet
I know it should depend on the material dentisy but you can't really guarantee it's uniform for turned stock
The magnet barely holding on at less than 1G net would be great, as it would certainly have less friction than a normal top....levitation, of course, being ideal, but hard to pull off. That aside, vacuum chambers do wonders for tops, getting air friction out of the way and leaving only the balance, speed and any tip-to-surface friction.
That was super cool how the three stopped at almost exactly the same time
Actually, that race was properly exiting.
That was awesome thanks guys ❤😊
Before watching this video, I guess tungsten, the hardest and densest metal of the lot. Greater mass in the same volume at the same rpm results in more kinetic energy than those of lesser mass.
Tungsten
Can you make a top that whistles or hums when spun? Maybe cavities or some other shape machined into them that will sound like a light saber when it gets up to speed?
The heaviest has the highest torque and energy if volume, friction (and so on) is equal, so it depends only on density. Wolfram or Tungsten is the one here with 19,2 g/cm3
Amazing. I want the entire set!
This is going to be super satisfying.... Especially if they spin them w/ a power tool, Nevermind I just heard about the Sciencemaker 5 million, this is gonna be good. 👏🤣
I've paused the video to bet on bronze. It's hard so good tip for low friction and it's self-lubricating if that makes a difference.
I would really like some metal dice other than the standard cube shape, made from different metals. There are e.g 20-sided, 12-sided, ... (a standard set for tabletop pen-and-paper games). They should be actually usable (rounded corners, not table-busting sharp ones).
Time to retest in vacuum conditions so they can't fly away at higher speeds. Also, I want a full dnd set of tungsten dice hahaha
Use a string on the top part. Then you can spin it up to high speed.
I knew it would be tungsten just based on how dense, therefore heavy it is in comparison to the rest. The most inertia of all of them. I knew the gold would drop out deceptively early because of how soft it is. The tip would deform/erode more quickly (even just the plating), increasing friction and slowing it down. Solid gold would outlast a few others, but not tungsten.
Tungsten was the winner and that makes sense, but it was interesting how stable the brass top was. …until it wasn’t.
The mass of each is going to be different. That is what matters most in the spinning time.
That brass one was pretty dang stable, but I knew it didn't have the mass to keep going.
The dice holes need to be different sizes as too not load the weight of the cut sides unequally, the will not be random with same size drill holes for each numbered side. Try spinning them on a curved cut and polished ruby crystal as with gears inside a watch
Haven’t watched this… and despite being in the comments I’m actively not looking at other ones so as not to spoil my guess… but on a whim I’m just gonna guess either brass or bronze. I dunno why… I just know lots of instruments are made from brass not just because of the sound, but because some instruments need to be so perfectly balanced and proportioned, and brass has historically kind of been the ‘go-to’ choice for that… and I just feel like all the other ones are either too heavy or too light to get a decently long enough spin from.
If I’m wrong, ignore this, and if I’m right, g’head and feel free to tell me how super wicked badass and kewl my thinkings are.
Dude what a cool video. Nice guys
i wonder how much longer they'd spin with different lubricants and which lubricant provides the longest lasting spin.
Wow, that cast iron top was stable as could be.
The only area that needs to be of a hard metal is the tip that touches the surface & the surface material. Harder materials will spin the longest. Probably the cast iron spun second longest is because of the carbon acting as a dry lube. If you take the nickel top and add a tungsten tip it should spin a lot longer. Using a glass plate as the surface would also help. Some of the points on the other tops make have different profiles causing more friction than others (ie blunt tip will have more friction).
I built a titanium and Mallory metal top in high school as a project to see which spin longer, I had to take time to balance them and in my test the heavier metal spun the longest every time but they were hand spun so not as accurate
Of course, the Tungsten top will spin the longest. It's the heaviest 😁.
It's also very hard. So I'd say that it's a combination of mass and hardness that's providing the best result.
I suppose the substrate they're spinning on would also make a difference
Nice video❤❤❤
This video is Top Shelf. 😉
No surprise at all, but the big question is how did you machine the tungsten though ?. Ordinary carbide inserts ?.
Now we need to compare this to solid gold and solid osmium tops.
Gold and lead should perform fairly similarly to each other, but we don't have either here. Gold is heavier, but lead is softer, so I think that would balance out in this test. I expect they'd start great due to high mass, but the tips would wear quickly and not only drag on surface imperfections, but leave smears that would add to drag the second time the tip came around to the same spots. Maybe they'd do as well as brass, in general? If they had a steel or harder tip, this would be a very different story. Should be up there with tungsten.
Osmium is brittle and very hard to work with, so it might have to be suspended in some other carrier, at which point the other material's properties might be more important.
My gold plated top spins for up to five minutes with a good spin and on a glass surface
Very cool!👍🏻
My guess was the cast iron and tungsten would be longest. Guessed right for once! :D
I bet an attachment that is not as deep, but only grabs the tip might release them more easily from the drill?
My money was on the Tungsten from the beginning, dense and heavy mass.
Try different tip materials with the same body.
Tungsten was clearly superior because of the density.
But would it still win if the others have an equal mass?
Geez why are they dancing
The stainless steel one was still moving in a funny way
0:59 = pigeon on steroids mating call. Oddly, it wasn't what the power spinner sounded like. Like he said it would, wink.
I was on the edge of my seat for BRASS
Make a spinning top out of osmium to see if it is even better than tungsten. Might be pricey...
Was rooting for Brass, with it's sturdy spin, but then it bailed out on me.
Now make the top 3 the same mass and spin again
What I'm seeing is, Nickel is best...
...for checking if you're still dreaming.
makes sense, cast iron is heavy as hell, but tungsten is the densest metal on earth.
Nickel spinning top is the shortest spin and tungsten spinning top is the longest spin!!!!
I expect microscopic galling between dissimilar metals vs the steel plate. Spin time can't independent of material.
Man I was thinking why dont you deep draw press a cooking pot :D
Show us something useful hahahaha :D
I thought that the cast iron would spin the longest. Less friction between the relatively soft metal top and the hard metal base.
🎉🎉
Tungsten was my favorite to win 🎉
I'm surprised that nickel dropped out as early as it did.
Ok cool i was right its tungsten
This is due to its hardness reducing the friction as if sliding 2 panes of glass over each other as well as its sheer mass
Weight is different if all solid and all the same size, but different materials...
The heaviest one will last longer, P - for physics. You've missed depleted Uranium. This one inside of the vacuum or Helium bath will outpace all others and will spin nearly forever.
Tungsten is denser then Uranium. Plutonium is slightly denser (only about 20 grams of which exist in labs). Rhenium, Platinum, Iridium and Osmium all have higher density then any radioactive element that we know the density of (like, maybe those crazy high count elements would have higher density if they could exist long enough to cool down and solidify, but they're so radioactive even if you could instantly create a kg of the stuff it would instantly vaporize itself anyway)
I wonder what it would take to make a depleted uranium spinner.
How are the dice made so that they are equally heavy on each side?
with a side with 6 eyes, logically more material is removed. so this side will automatically be lighter than all the other sides with fewer eyes. How is this compensated for?
wow i thought the cast metal would been first out
Would having the rim of the flywheel portion of the top increase the spin time?
I guess you accidentally left out the word tungsten. I think that would improve the non-tungsten ones. If I remember physics, you want the most mass moving fastest to store the most energy to keep it spinning. So it is probably best to put as much mass as far out on a rim as practical, and have a low friction contact point. The rest of the top probably isn't super important except for making sure it is strong enough to hold up to use.
I wonder if eddy currents from a rotating magnetic field would be a good way to spin them up. Uhm, kind of like type of motor commonly used in house fans, or maybe instead BLDC motor like. Might be able to cheat and keep it spinning indefinitely that way.
She should sing something, sounds like she has a nice voice for it.
My favorite element won!
Tungsten because it's is by far the heaviest (=> more kinetic energy) und probably also the hardest (=> least friction).
Would a drop of light oil make them spin longer or shorter?