Dreamcraft's Second Design : "SES" Prototype.
When I started Dreamcraft, the whole goal was to design throws that I felt were something that could fill a gap within the market. There were things that I wished were designed for years and felt like waiting for someone else to design the ideas in my head would never work out.
This next design is something that I've been cooking since last year. I fortunately had the chance to play several steel designs last year thanks to (@pizzatyrant/Lido) Jordan at DXL which led me to really become engrossed with the idea of maximizing steel to it's full potential. My favorite out of the bunch was the Steel Bowl 303 and the third version of the Geisha from YoYoBarista. Both for completely different reasons with the Bowl 303 being light and floaty, to an extreme. The Bowl 303 felt like it performed way better than what it should have, despite it's weight and floatyness. It has this extremely unique hollow feel to it like a grail or Bowl does, but with somehow, more spin time. The Geisha was one of my favorite throws I tried last year, it's a bit difficult to describe but it really pushed my interest into steel as an optimal material to design yo-yos out of. It's similar to the Bowl in the sense that you get what feels like, a lot of performance while maintaining this sort of hollow feel in play that only steel throws seem to have.
I feel like, within the yo-yo market, certain standards are set, and a lot of designs fall into these standards. One of these being weight. I think that having a lighter yo-yo is fun, but at the same time, I can appreciate the weight of something heavier with more performance in mind. I find most yo-yo's release don't pass the 68g mark. I think this is indicative of the community at large finding their preference. People will speak their mind, and speak with their wallet. If the yo-yo is listed past their target weight, usually they're not going to give it a chance. I think within the realm of steel, being more expensive to manufacture put's even more pressure on a heavy design.
The issue here is, how heavy is too heavy. Collapsar, Hades, Kiwi, there's only a handful of heavy weight throws to try. Often times, these designs feel what I could describe as "sluggish" on the string. Sometimes, not willing to move, almost being too stable in play to the point where it doesn't have the same agility as something lower at 65g.
To me, I can't help but think that the most important thing to how a yo-yo feels in play is that weight is relative.
Regardless of weight, something can feel heavier or lighter than it's listed weight based on where the weight is distributed.
This is why I want to push a Steel design that's ever so slightly heavier than other options on the market along with making it the size and shape of a midsize throw. Having it too small or too big net a lot of issues within the realm of designing a yo-yo. My goal here is to balance the dimensions of the yo-yo. I allow myself to work within these constraints then design without worrying about how much it weighs yet. After the design looks correct to me based on the weight distribution then I trim it down to reach my target weight.
The goal with steel is to design something that plays and feels unlike any other monometal you can currently buy on the market. The steel designs I played were so fun, but I also felt like there were specific things that I would want to change on them. One of them being that, many of them actually felt way lighter than I had assumed. In fact, on most of them, I had wished they were a little heavier or had a little more rim weight. All I could think was, if this plays this good with this weight, how much better would it play with a little bit more weight on the rims? Steel throws feel what I could only describe as "Hollow" even if they're listed at a higher weight, they almost feel floaty in that sense.
So to give it a little boost in performance and presence on the string I felt that adding more rim weight would really benefit this design.
The next is dimensions. When choosing steel, dimensions are important due to it's density. Right now I know that I could go smaller and achieve even more performance by taking the weight I cut and slapping it on the rims. The issue here is how small becomes "niche" and something that falls into the category of "fun sized" but too small to be something you play daily. I feel like 50-54 range is where I want this throw to sit, and 50 being on the more extreme end. Right now the design is currently sitting at 54mm diameter by 43mm width. The width isn't too much of a concern for me, but the diameter drastically changes the way the yoyo looks, plays, feels, and distributes weight. I think 54 is where yo-yo's feel like they're "normal" sized, while going sub 54 starts leading into smaller designs even though 50 was the norm in the past. 54 is where I feel like is the perfect diameter to make the yoyo feel like a full sized yoyo, but allow me to push the weight to the rims by not going to 55-57 diameter. Right now, I'm considering dropping it to 53mm, but I don't want it to feel too small in your hand. One of the objectives is to reduce the diameter as much as possible while still retaining a "full sized" yoyo feel in play and in your hand. In essence, I'm trying to stretch the minimum and maximum I can go.
The next thing was the shape of the yo-yo. For me, shapes have all been done before and there's nothing unique about Asora's shape, or this steel design either. It's a straight forward no frills or thrills shape that feels good in your hand.
This 3D printed version helped to give me an idea of how the yoyo would feel in the hand. This is an important aspect to yo-yo design that could often be over looked. Sending in yo-yo designs is something I take with caution and getting it right the first time is important to me. I have learned a lot from designing Asora and have put that new knowledge towards this steel design.
When designing the shape I was considering a slightly concave inner catch zone but I personally did not like the look of it. This also added some issues with the steel design in how thin I could get the walls.
After messing around with the design for a while I finally came to the finished design and specs.
Diameter : 54mm
Width : 43mm
Weight : 72g with Ultra Lights
Bearing : Size C
Side Effects : ??
Estimated price based on the quote from FPM - $220
There's a few things to take into consideration here.
One is that the SE design adds ever so slightly more center weight than a tapped axle. I suppose, if I was shooting for the maximum amount of performance, this would be the route to take. However, I'm more interested in having a design that can adapt to what the player wants. I truly love Side Effects and feel like they add so much more creativity and customization to everyone's yo-yo.
Lowering the overall size to 53mm and putting more weight on the rims is a possibility but I'm leaning toward my current iteration to maintain a full sized throw.
Target weight, anywhere from 70-72 is acceptable for me with this design. I'm leaning toward the heavier option right now so that if it is indeed too heavy, I can take some off, if it's still too light, we can add more rim weight.
Choosing a tapped axle design to reduce cost on the buyer's end by going through another manufacturer.
Yo-yo values are somewhat of an anomaly to me. On one hand some throws could be considered too cheap, on another some could be considered too expensive. Ultimately it's up to the buyer to determine whether or not the price is worth it for them. Ideally, I'd like to make a cheaper option for everyone, but that's also giving up Side Effects. If I went with another company, the chances of vibe or any other issues is increased. With FPM we have peace of mind knowing that they've tackled an SE design and a Steel design in the SS Koi.
Lastly, this is a prototype. I will not claim this or that, we're shooting from the hip, blind, upside down, while on a boat. If we hit our target, we can boast about it after the fact.