Simple 5 Minute Spin Top From a CD, a Marble or a Wood Button Plug and Glue - Great for STEM Night, Free / Almost Free & Fun!

Simple 5 minute Spin Top from a CD, a marble, and glue. Options galore for thinking out-of-the-box. Great for your school Maker Space & GT program. Recycle those unwanted CDs, DVDs and related media. How long will your top spin?? My best time is the orange marble CD with a time of 1:30.

CDs & DVDs Free from your library. I got a grocery cart full of unwanted books & movies on CDs & DVDs from my public library.

Walmart Toy Mendous Marbles 50 count

Walmart Glue - E6000 Clear Permanent Hold Craft Glue.

Disposable Exam Gloves, Face Protection, and or Safey Glasses reccomended.

You don't want to get this glue in your eyes or on your skin. Especially if you are working close to children.

Optional supplies:

Home Depot 1/2" Wood Buttons 50 ct.

Recycled Plastic Lids from Coke Products - Free

Golf T's - Use full size or cut in half with Tree Trimmer Scizzors

Bamboo Skewer for use as a glue applicator

1 We will be gluing so cover the table with a paper or suitable disposable cover. Newspaper, cardboard, or whatever you have.

2 Have some paper towels handy.

3 Come up with a drying rack. I used the trays from the nursery. Just clean up as needed. FREE

4 Glue Applicator. I used a bamboo skewer to transfer the adhesive from the tube to the deisred location on the CD

5 Have a good source of light. Without good lighting, more mistakes will be made.

6 Latex exam gloves are a good idea to keep this stuff off of your fingers.

7 Eye and or face protection is an automatic when working with strong adhesives.

Use a skewer or stick to collect the glue and place it exactly where it is needed. The E6000 glue has proven to hold up well to multiple tests by my quality control team. Try to rake off the glue all around the hole in the CD where the marble or wood plug will fit. A thin layer will dry faster and be stronger than a thick glob. The plant tray comes in handy as a drying rack. Allow 24 hours to dry. The marbles are glued with the top of the CD in the UP position. The 1/2" diameter wood buttons are glued on the bottom of the CD. Sometimes they fit perfect and others need to be checked to make sure it is centered in the hole. This is a slow drying glue. Let it cure for 24 hours before use. Replace the lid when not in use.

The CD + Marble will spin fine but a bottle lid can improve the product.

Small lids will spin faster and longer than large lids. I used white with marbles and red with wood plugs.

A golf T can be shortened and used with a seperate "Launcher" & string for extra long times.

Students need to try out several tops to determine factors that will have long spin times.

1 Construction Materials

2 Construction Techniques

3 Operator spinning techniques

4 Testing surfaces

5 What else makes a good spinner ?

Enjoy making some tops and share your sucess in the comments.