# Kinetic Tetherball desk toy



## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

This kinetic toy is based on an old Japanese toy. I first saw them in a video on YouTube where a guy was showing off some of his toy collection. When I saw it I thought "I can easily make and sell those". The one shown in these pictures is my prototype that I used to tweak the measurements, weight and so on.

Then I went to work and churned out a batch of 40, which I'm selling as 'kits" needing only minor assembly. I've shown this to a lot of people so far - including the Lakeland Woodworkers Club meeting last month (we actually have another meeting tonight) and no one's seen anything like it. But everyone who's seen them LOVES them. 

I figure they should be an easy sell at about $16-17.50 or so at the shows and online. Have one set up as demo and they'll sell themselves. At least that's my hope. :laughing:

























You can see it in motion here in my build video:






If any one is interested in making one, I have links in the video description to the plans/patterns I drew up.


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## bradford (Jun 14, 2014)

That is pretty cool.


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

Bradpotts123 said:


> That is pretty cool.


Thank you.


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## Al B Thayer (Dec 10, 2011)

Steve
Thanks for sharing. Why is it that we love to watch these kind of things? When I was a kid it was the steel balls clacking back and forth hanging on strings.

Best of luck on the sales. Glad to see you posting again.

Al


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## Smith Brother (Dec 9, 2012)

Can't wait to see your EASTER BONNET, and DON'T forget the high heels. No Speedo's though, hehehe. 

Dale in Indy


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## Smith Brother (Dec 9, 2012)

To set the RECORD STRAIGHT, I kid kind of hard, my last post #5 was just that. Steve knows I am a BIG FAN of his WORKS. We even swap E-mails from time to time. 

I inserted the "hehehe" to let you know of my having fun with Steve. 

Dale in Indy


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## mengtian (Nov 8, 2012)

I could not find the link for the plans in the video. What part of the video are they?


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## rayking49 (Nov 6, 2011)

Steve I showed that video at work the other day, and the fellas were mesmerized. Ha! I bet you'll sell them well!


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## cps (Jun 21, 2013)

smithbrother said:


> To set the RECORD STRAIGHT, I kid kind of hard, my last post #5 was just that. Steve knows I am a BIG FAN of his WORKS. We even swap E-mails from time to time.
> 
> I inserted the "hehehe" to let you know of my having fun with Steve.
> 
> Dale in Indy



I am glad you clarified....I thought you had a thing for guys in Easter bonnets and high heels. :icon_smile:


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## FrankC (Aug 24, 2012)

Al B Thayer said:


> Steve
> Thanks for sharing. Why is it that we love to watch these kind of things? When I was a kid it was the steel balls clacking back and forth hanging on strings.
> 
> Best of luck on the sales. Glad to see you posting again.
> ...


Those things were a nightmare for me, fellow brought a half dozen into my shop, they sold that week-end, he returned the next week, said he had to leave town and offered me a fantastic deal on his remaining stock. 
What I didn't realize until later was that after a couple weeks of use the strings would cut through the epoxy attaching them to the ball bearings.
Had to give refunds for most of them and guy that sold them to me was long gone.


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## Al B Thayer (Dec 10, 2011)

FrankC said:


> Those things were a nightmare for me, fellow brought a half dozen into my shop, they sold that week-end, he returned the next week, said he had to leave town and offered me a fantastic deal on his remaining stock.
> What I didn't realize until later was that after a couple weeks of use the strings would cut through the epoxy attaching them to the ball bearings.
> Had to give refunds for most of them and guy that sold them to me was long gone.


I can't imagine where you would need to use epoxy on this toy. Epoxy isn't good for everything.

Al


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## FrankC (Aug 24, 2012)

Al B Thayer said:


> I can't imagine where you would need to use epoxy on this toy. Epoxy isn't good for everything.
> 
> Al


I was referring to the one with the metal balls that you mentioned.


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## Al B Thayer (Dec 10, 2011)

FrankC said:


> I was referring to the one with the metal balls that you mentioned.


Oh

Al


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

Al B Thayer said:


> Steve
> Thanks for sharing. Why is it that we love to watch these kind of things? When I was a kid it was the steel balls clacking back and forth hanging on strings.
> 
> Best of luck on the sales. Glad to see you posting again.
> ...


Oh yeah, the Newton's Cradle. Those are pretty cool. And thanks.



smithbrother said:


> Can't wait to see your EASTER BONNET, and DON'T forget the high heels. No Speedo's though, hehehe.
> 
> Dale in Indy


You are a silly, silly man. That's why I like you. Well, that and your adorable polka dotted mini skirt. It brings out the glimmer in your eyes. :laughing: 



mengtian said:


> I could not find the link for the plans in the video. What part of the video are they?


The links are in the video's text description. You'll have to view it on YouTube to see the video description. You can click the YouTube logo at the bottom of the video player on this page to take you to the actual YouTube page.

The links take you to scanned images I uploaded to Photobucket of my build notes and drawings.

Here, I'll just post the links here for you to make it easier on you.

http://s65.photobucket.com/user/WoodworkerSteveFrench/library/Kinetic%20desk%20toy_Tetherball . 

You can view or save then print the pages. They should be actual size patterns. Though the dadoes of the two base pieces may be slightly out of scale (because the think the scan may have come out a tiny bit larger than 1:1) so just measure to be sure. Or simply cut your dadoes to fit. Let me know if you have any more problems.


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

rayking49 said:


> Steve I showed that video at work the other day, and the fellas were mesmerized. Ha! I bet you'll sell them well!


Cool! Thank you for sharing it with others. And for letting me know their response.



cps said:


> I am glad you clarified....I thought you had a thing for guys in Easter bonnets and high heels. :icon_smile:


It's ok. He's just referring to the video where I randomly clips to myself wearing different goofy, silly head gear and hats for comedic effect. While I wore neither bonnet nor Speedos nor high heels in the video, I know he's only kidding around. Either that or he really wants to see me donning that attire, to which I respectfully decline because my Speedos are still caught up in the ceiling fan! :laughing:


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

FrankC said:


> Those things were a nightmare for me, fellow brought a half dozen into my shop, they sold that week-end, he returned the next week, said he had to leave town and offered me a fantastic deal on his remaining stock.
> What I didn't realize until later was that after a couple weeks of use the strings would cut through the epoxy attaching them to the ball bearings.
> Had to give refunds for most of them and guy that sold them to me was long gone.


My son has one that he dropped and one side of the strings broke right there where the strings are epoxied through the loops on the balls. They instantly got all tangled up. They didn't break there from being used in his case, they just snapped from the force of the ground collision. 

But man, that epoxy sure does make it hard to replace the monofilament lines.


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## Smith Brother (Dec 9, 2012)

Just hold the EPOXY up near one of your WORLD FAMOUS HATS, it will scare the epoxy out. hehehe

Dale in Indy


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## burkhome (Sep 5, 2010)

Awesome! Loved your camera work as well.


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