Introduction: Homemade Fidget Spinner

About: An electronic hobbyist and a tech-savvy. Love to know and publish good electronic projects. I use some popular microcontrollers like raspberry pi, Arduino, linkit one, and also some basic ICs to make my projec…

Do you get stress out while working or you fidget a lot when you are sitting idle? If yes, then you definitely need this homemade fidget spinner which can help you in overcoming your stress and can also acts as a great toy for killing time. This spinner also helps you in building up concentration and in relaxing when you are tired. With this cute little spinner, you can also do some tricks. Your siblings and friends would be fascinated when they see this spinner in your hand. You can also buy a spinner from the market, but those spinners are sold above $1 and are made up of plastic whereas this spinner is made up of wood and the build cost of it is around 0.42 dollars or INR 30.

Telling about the materials, this spinner is completely made up of wood and the ball bearing used is made up of stainless steel. The three nuts that you see in the photo are iron nuts and are used as weights to rotate the spinner. When you provide some energy to the spinner, it starts rotating at a place and keeps on rotating until it Kinetic energy becomes zero. This spinner takes around half an hour to build and is rated 3 out of 10 on difficulty scale.

Here is a video on how to make this spinner and how it works. Please like this video and share it with your friends and family and also subscribe to my YouTube channel Tinkerer's Lab.

Step 1: Gather Parts

These are the parts and tolls that you require to build this spinner:

PARTS:

  • Ball bearing (Diameter: - 1inch and height - 10mm)
  • 5mm thick nut and bolt (X 3)
  • 10mm thick nut and bolt (X 1)
  • Plywood (10mm thick)

TOOLS:

  • Drill machine
  • 25mm and 5mm drill bit
  • Hacksaw for cutting wood
  • Dremel for sanding
  • Screw driver
  • Plier

MISCELANEOUS:

  • Kerosene oil
  • Container
  • Ruler
  • Pencil
  • Compass

Step 2: Refurbishing the Ball Bearing

When you will buy the ball bearing, it will probably come with its inner mechanisms soaked in grease. This grease protects that small metal balls, present inside the ball bearing from rust but also slows down its speed of rotation. Since we require a highly efficient ball bearing, we need to get that grease out of the ball bearing. For doing so, you would need some kerosine or diesel oil.

Start by removing the upper lid of the ball bearing with the help of screw driver and plier. After it comes out, pour some kerosine oil in a container and drop your ball bearing in it for about 5 minutes. After that take it out and wash it with soap water. Once done, you will automatically notice the difference. The ball bearing starts rotating faster when soaked in kerosine oil.

Step 3: Make the Shape of the Spinner

Now we are going to make the base of our spinner. For that I am using a 10 mm plywood. I started of by drawing a 9 cm long line on the plywood base. Now get a compass and set it to 9 cm length. From the end points of the 9cm line, draw an arc. From the place where these arcs meet each other, draw a line to end points of the 9 cm line. An equilateral triangle of side length 9 cm will be formed. Name the vertex of the triangles as v1, v2, v3 and the sides as s1, s2, s3.

Now set your compass to a length of 4.5 cm. From each vertex of the above made triangle, draw an arc on the corresponding side of the triangle. Name these points as m1, m2, m3. The place where this arc will cut the side will be the midpoint of that side. Now from that midpoints to the opposite vertex, draw a line (that is, draw a line from m1 to v1, m2 to v2 and m3 to v3). The point where all these lines meet is called as the centroid of the triangle.

From the centroid, cut an arc of length 3 cm on each median. Name these points as n1, n2, n3. Now you have successfully marked all the measurements and it's time to move to the next step.

Step 4: Drilling the Holes and Cutting the Wood

Start by inserting a 5mm drill bit in your drill machine and make holes with it, on points n1,n2 and n3. Replace the 5mm drill bit with a 25mm drill bit and make a hole at the centroid of the triangle. At at distance of 5mm from the midpoint m1 of the side s1, drill a hole with the same 25mm drill bit. Do the same with other midpoints and sides. The final result that you would get would be something like the picture attached above.

Now cut the triangle from the plywood base using a hacksaw or through a jigsaw machine. Smoothen the edges of the wood piece with a Dremel tool and sanding bit. Use some wood varnish to give your spinner a good and shiny look and also to protect it from termites.

Step 5: Attaching the Ball Bearing and Nuts

Now the main body of the spinner is ready and they only thing left is installing the ball bearing. Take your ball bearing and insert it in the big hole present in the center of the triangle. You can use some glue to stick it but I advise you not to do that because, if by chance your ball bearing gets rusted by the forces of nature, you can easily replace it. In the other three holes, insert a 5mm nut and bolt. Fasten the nuts tightly so that they do not come out when the spinner is being rotated. At the center of the ball bearing, attach a 10mm nut. This nut will help you in holding the spinner from pivot point.

Step 6: The END!

Hope you liked this project. If you have any query about this project, comment down below. Here is a video on how to make this fidget spinner. Please like the video and share it with your friends and family and subscribe to my YouTube channel Tinkerer's Lab.

Woodworking Contest 2017

Participated in the
Woodworking Contest 2017