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Fidget Spinners: Why Being Interesting Can Do More for You Than Being Useful

betterthansure.com

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Re: Fidget Spinners: Why Being Interesting Can Do More for You Than Being Useful

#61

Post by cortesoft »

milkytron wrote: post #49
falcolas wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Three skate ball bearings in a 3D printed frame. They're fun, and you can make them pretty easily. And they can spin pretty quickly for a handheld, printed device.

I believe it's actually four bearings. One in the middle and one for each of the three arms.

There are a lot of different designs.

Re: Fidget Spinners: Why Being Interesting Can Do More for You Than Being Useful

#62

Post by vosper »

blhack wrote: post #7

I HIGHLY recommend that anybody who has family or friends who are interested in these things (kids i mean) just take a few minutes and build one. They're super cheap, and super easy. Go to your friendly local makerspace if you don't have the tools to do it yourself.

Unless you're going to enjoy building one, and have bearings and parts lying around, then you're probably much better off just buying one. Plastic ones are like $5, aluminium (better, don't break) are < $10. They'll probably be much better than anything most people can realistically make - better balanced, for sure (again, unless you're going to enjoy making one - not trying to shit on anyones DIY fun).

Re: Fidget Spinners: Why Being Interesting Can Do More for You Than Being Useful

#63

Post by cortesoft »

Retr0spectrum wrote: post #11
lunaru wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have instructions for this that you've used with success?

Step 1: Drill a hole in the centre-of-mass of any object/material. Step 2: Insert a bearing of the correct size, aiming for an interference-fit. If the hole was too big, apply glue.

Step 1: Build a fidget spinner

Re: Fidget Spinners: Why Being Interesting Can Do More for You Than Being Useful

#64

Post by jasonkostempski »

emef wrote: post #2

Anybody tried a fidget spinner? My wife has adhd and likes the idea but we haven't ordered one. Are these interesting for 5 minutes and then shelved? or do they have some lasting appeal?

I happened to be playing with one when this article popped up in my RSS feed. It's my sons but it's on my desk because I tried repairing the cracked frame with super glue, for about the 5th time. It still works with the cracked frame and the repair didn't take this time because I mindlessly starting playing with it while the glue was still drying. We've had 3 around our house for about 2 weeks and everyone that lives or visits, in age groups from 60's down to 10 months have fidgeted with them almost every time they come across one.

Re: Fidget Spinners: Why Being Interesting Can Do More for You Than Being Useful

#65

Post by zanecodes »

At the risk of sounding like a fiddly-toy-elitist, I have to say that I prefer practice butterfly knives. There's a wide variety of tricks to learn and it takes some hand-eye coordination. Of course, they're also louder, and tend to freak people out until I point out that it's not sharp (and probably a while afterwards too).

Re: Fidget Spinners: Why Being Interesting Can Do More for You Than Being Useful

#66

Post by cicero »

blhack wrote: post #7

I HIGHLY recommend that anybody who has family or friends who are interested in these things (kids i mean) just take a few minutes and build one. They're super cheap, and super easy. Go to your friendly local makerspace if you don't have the tools to do it yourself.

I've made a few for kids at my school on our 3D printer. There are models on Thingiverse.

Re: Fidget Spinners: Why Being Interesting Can Do More for You Than Being Useful

#67

Post by mhalle »

Seems like lots of people dismiss spinners as a fad or silly. They are a fad. But I celebrate the fact that they are generally simple mechanical objects that feel good in the hand. Not a doll, not a cheap molded plastic toy (ugh, Shopkins), not an electronic lump of stuff that will eventually leech into a landfill. (Yes, I know there are LED spinners, but that has it's own simple coolness.)

I have enjoyed having ball bearings, bearing races, and random bike parts to play with over the years - I don't see this as all that different in concept.

School disruption is another matter. Our kids can only share them at recess.

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