TopSpin App
The main TopSpin page explains the public Android app, the current 1.0 setup workflow, and what RPM, decay and relative vibration can show.
Open TopSpin pageWorkshop notes and technical stories
Desire3D Insights
A growing collection of practical notes behind the work: spinning top design, TopSpin measurement, Top Builder, vibration sensing, CNC machining, casting, and the earlier projects that shaped the workshop.
Featured insights
These pages connect the design, measurement, physics and workshop sides of Desire3D. Top Builder explores a design before it is made, while TopSpin and the live results database bring real spin behaviour back into the loop.
TopSpin Community Results
Real submitted runs grouped by top name, with RPM, spin time, decay, relative VIBES and the original result screenshots kept together.
Browse community resultsTop Builder
Design a spinning top in the browser and compare how shape, dimensions and materials affect estimated mass, moment of inertia, centre of gravity and rotational energy.
Open Top BuilderSpinning Tops: Art and Physics
A clear overview of precision tops as designed objects: material, balance, tip geometry, surface, and the appeal of calm motion.
Open spinning tops insightScience of Spinning Tops
A plain-language article about angular momentum, gyroscopic stability, precession, vibration, and sensor-based testing.
Open science insightApp Design and Testing
How TopSpin turns phone vibration into RPM, decay and relative VIBES, including harmonic-aware tracking, practical validation, and the current result-sharing workflow.
Open app design insightMetal Casting Journey
Notes on brass, bronze, investment, burnout, vacuum casting, ingots, failures, and repeatable workshop process.
Open casting insightLegacy Projects
Earlier Desire3D projects in robotics, electronics, PCB making, wind power and RepRap 3D printing, preserved as part of the workshop story.
Browse the legacy archiveCurrent workshop threads
These are no longer just placeholders for future articles. They are active parts of the same loop: make something, measure it, compare it, then change the next version for a reason.
Known-speed validation
A 5400 RPM mechanical hard drive provides a simple independent rotating source. TopSpin repeatedly settles near 5407 RPM while table disturbances remain visible in VIBES rather than pulling the RPM trace around.
Read the app testing notesCommunity run data
The live TopSpin Results page groups repeated runs by top and keeps the source screenshot with the measured values, making comparisons easier to audit and revisit.
Open the results databaseDesign, then measure
Top Builder lets shape, dimensions and materials be explored before metal is cut. Real tops can then be checked with TopSpin, turning design estimates and workshop judgement into a useful feedback loop.
Experiment in Top Builder