Inspired by Kallisti’s work on the cool fidget toys I ordered some bearings with the intention of making some stocking stuffers. I started with a simple design I’d seen before, just a triangular design with bearings at each point and in the center. A friend at work actually beat me to it and made one the day before I got my bearings in the mail so I was able to use his design to work out the details like what size holes I needed to counter the kerf of the laser. I cut a couple of sample holes and finally got one that fit well on my third try.
Happy with the symmetry and the size, I decided to make something more seasonal. I took the same hole pattern and designed a snowflake with 6 points, 3 of which would hold weights. I didn’t want to waste bearings for weight (I only have 8 to work with) so I decided to use some old pachinko balls I had lying around (they were actually too big for my pachinko machines and jam the mechanisms). I took a quick measurement with the calipers and used the same kerf I’d worked out for the bearing hole and it worked pretty well.
They’re fun little toys. I tried printing a few more of the snowflakes and some of them cracked while setting the pachinko balls in them so I probably need to go a bit larger.
Ok, these fidget toys are so cool to me. I thought it immediately when I saw the ones @Kallisti made. I definitely am going to have to try some of my own. my 9yr old will really dig having some. She and her friends make fidget toys already out of random things… cut up rubber balls, etc. And use them in school and class, etc.
Nice job on creating your own! Where did you get the bearings?
For those who have 3D print capability and want to play with that while waiting for their GF to make laser fidgets, here’s an Instuctable that popped up in my email today:
My students are obsessed with them too…our 3D printer is going non-stop. It’s great advertising for our makerspace–we get a lot of students coming in to request one that say, “Huh, I’ve never come in here before!”
All part of my evil plan to lure them in to the library, ha ha!
Yeah my son wants to build a fidget toy recently. I, once again, almost let it slip that we’re getting a Glowforge and will build one then. But I caught myself. I told him to “Just play Minecraft or watch YouTube like a normal kid.”
… My 18month old demands wheels on the bus now by pointing at our phones or TV and grunting, then doing the ‘hand over hand’ motion you do for 'round and round’s. She can also unlock most phones, apple or Android, and we are really hoping accidently starting the YouTube app…
For the record I did build her a giant box of wood blocks. I even coloured them, and she has a ton of mega blocks.
Hehehe, I remember before my daughter learned to talk she was all charades trying to get her point across. When we couldn’t figure it out her little face would turn bright red from frustration and rage.
It’s amazing what songs our little ones will discover and cling to. My wife and I are in a Pirate folk band and are constantly singing sea shanties and celtic tunes to soothe my daughter to sleep. BUT she insists on singing “Ring around the rosy” by grabbing our hands and saying, “Ashes? Ashes?”. And you can’t just do it once and be done! 20 - 30 times later and she looks up, grins, grabs our hands “Ashes?”. sigh…“ring around the rosy…”
The 8-year-old listened to the same CD (well, fileset ripped from a CD after a while) of lullaby music for about 6 years at night. For the past year and a half it’s been the same harry potter audiobook. I’m sure that hasn’t done any kind of imprinting.
I consider making them fidgets, but have yet to see one that couldn’t also serve as a throwing star…
my 9yr old will really dig having some. She and her friends make fidget toys already out of random things… cut up rubber balls, etc. And use them in school and class, etc.
