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Spinning Top Battle

Your challenge is to design a spinning top to battle with others!

A 3D printed spinning top.

Overview

No step-by-step instructions this time. You've built a bubble wand, a fingerboard, and a fidget toy from code blocks — now you'll design something entirely your own, within the size limits, and print it to face the other tops in class. The last one spinning wins.

Builds on: Mesmerizing Hex Fidget — every Codeblocks skill you've picked up in this unit is fair game.

You've got it when…

  • Your top is designed in Tinkercad Codeblocks.
  • It fits the size limits: no more than 40 millimeters across and 50 millimeters tall.
  • It has at least one feature you chose on purpose to help it battle.
  • Your .STL file is submitted for printing.

Collaboration & AI

Work: Your own design — that's the point of a battle. Researching other designs is encouraged; copying a classmate's isn't.

AI — AIAS Level 1, No AI: Design and build the top yourself. What the levels mean.

Your Mission

Do this:

  1. Research some spinning top designs on the internet. Try searching for "spinning top" or "3D printed spinning top".

  2. Create your design in Tinkercad Codeblocks.

    • You can equip your top with any features you think will help it battle other tops.

    Size limits

    Your top should not be larger than 40 millimeters in diameter (20 millimeters in radius) or 50 millimeters tall. A top that's too big for the printer doesn't battle anyone.

  3. Submit your .STL file for printing.

Stuck for ideas?

Think about what makes a top spin long and hit hard: where the weight sits, how low it rides, and what its edge does when it meets another top. Physics is on the team of whoever thinks about it first.

Turn It In

  • Your spinning top's .STL file, submitted for printing.

How It's Graded

This lab is worth up to 4 points. One score covers everything you turn in.

Score What it looks like
4 — Excellent Your submitted .STL is a top built in Codeblocks that fits inside the limits (40 mm across, 50 mm tall), and it has at least one battle feature you chose on purpose — you can point at it and explain what it does for you in the arena.
3 — Above Average A legal-size top is submitted with a battle feature, but the reasoning is thin — a dimension sitting right at the limit you never checked, or a feature you can't quite explain.
2 — Average A top is submitted but it breaks the size limits, or it's a plain cone with nothing chosen on purpose to help it battle.
1 — Below Average A design was started in Codeblocks but never became a printable top, or no .STL was exported.
0 — Failing Nothing submitted.