Thread: The Luce by 3yo3

In a world...where large yoyos , one yoyo, stands to challange them.


The Luce by 3yo3. Oh yeah. Its on.

First Impressions

I got this a week ago, and have had time to throughly examine its play. Being somewhat new to delrin yoyos (I have owned a Gung Fu before), I didn't know exactly what to expect with this yoyo. As it sat in my hand one day after school, I first noticed its size. Its a lil' un. Landon told me it was basicly the Cosmo, but a little smaller. I didnt expect this! The diameter is very slightly larger than a G.5. But its as wide as the Cosmo. Which is as wide as a VK. So picture in your mind (a posh country club. Reference this I will give you a cookie.) a very undersized yoyo with the width of many full sized yoyos out there today.

Specs:

65 grams
1.85" diameter
1.5" width
4 mm
bearing size: .5" x .25" x .187" (OD x ID x W)
response: recessed silicone
material: delrin (black or white or mixed)

Well... Sounds fun!



Machining

Landon hand lathes these things. And hand tunes them. Which by itself is awesome. You can see and fell the lines of the machining process by rubbing the rims with your finger. It feels hand made. Which is nice.


This is actually when it is spinning. Seriously.

Play

Well...on the first throw, you immediatly notice a slippage problem. It means that the string does not bind tightly with the response. If you wind it all up, hold the yoyo, and pull the string, it all falls out. This also causes that "bounce" at the end of the string in a breakaway. For most people..this is a problem. It makes for some rough unconsistant play.

Overall Problems

Overall, this yoyo isnt very stable. As I mentioned before, it slips, it wobbles a little on anything then a perfect throw. This is caused by the bearing set up he USED to use. The bearing's inner race sits on the axle, not a bearing seat. Fourntuatly, Landon does not use this method anymore. He beef cakes all his yoyos now. In his own words, from another forum:

[QUOTE]...the potential for wobble that may be caused by the bearing set up- C bearing riding on the axle. Well I've addressed that too, using bearings with a these dimensions (ODxIDxW) .5"x.3125"x.15625" So, they're still the same outter diameter as a C, meaning play and feel is just the same, but with a larger diameter inner race, so I can mount them on the plastic of the yoyo halve, rather than the axle. The overall gap width is still .16", so to attain this, I beefcake these bearings. I know this may be a problem with some of you guys, as quite a few don't care for beefcake. Well I've also got bearings that are .3125" in width (dubbed the GIRTH), which is the same width as the beefcake set up (.15625 + .15625 = .3125). So direct replacement, with no need for shims is possible![/QUOTE]

I have yet to try a beefcaked Luce. Soooo I dont know if it is solved yet. (I have tried a beefcaked Cosmo [I own one] and it rocks hard.)


You can see the teflon tape on the axle, where the bearing sits.

Suggestions

(Please note: I replaced the silicone from clear to white)
This yoyo would be sold for me if the slippage was fixed. There are three ways I can suggest to fix this:

1) Make the gap smaller.
2) Widen the response recess.
3) Become a Zebra (just joking. Hehehehehehehehe-- seriously.)

See, the ring for silicone is very thin and close to the bearing. 60 maybe 70% of the string does not grab the rubber. This causes the slipping. I would suggest the 2nd one above number one. It would solve all the problems. People like bindable yoyos. He could do this is all his yoyos. Although I have only had a MAJOR problem with it in the Luce.

I also suggest to Landon to make the yoyo thinner. It will make it more stable on the string. Maybe... 4mm thinner.

Comparisons







Summary

To sum it all up, its close. Close to being a fun little yoyo. It has so much potential, that with just a few tweaks, it could be one of his most sought after yoyos (besides the Cosmo). Because its delrin, I can be dyed and customized to your hearts desire. He also has another delrin yoyo, which is basicly a delrin version of the Cosmo. I have yet to try this one.

------------------

Less than postive this review may be, I hope my suggestions help Landon create the lil' buggah that could.

Peace,
-Kyle Dixon, Team 3yo3

The reference is from "Boombox" by The Lonely Island.

Also, that thing's gap is HUGE!

Overall, this yoyo isnt very stable. As I mentioned before, it slips, it wobbles a little on anything then a perfect throw. This is caused by the bearing set up he USED to use.

Isn't the wobble caused as much by the fact that it is a small diameter and wide body? I've noticed this tendency with wider yoyos in the past.

This thing isn't hollow. We're not even talking about weight distribution here.
It just can't be stable. A fresher bearing seat doesn't do anything.
Far too thin response area as well.

love the look of this wheel.

would like to C what you think about it once they got all the kinks out.

if 3yo3 can smooth it out i might be interested. i love the feel of delrin (they kind of remind me of the way that a wooden yoyo feels in your hand. not that cold feel of metal).

Originally Posted by crackout

This thing isn't hollow. We're not even talking about weight distribution here.
It just can't be stable. A fresher bearing seat doesn't do anything.
Far too thin response area as well.

It did for the Cosmo. BIG difference.

Originally Posted by jhb8426

Isn't the wobble caused as much by the fact that it is a small diameter and wide body? I've noticed this tendency with wider yoyos in the past.

Yes. Its why I suggested all these changes and not just one.

Originally Posted by Isaac

The reference is from "Boombox" by The Lonely Island.

YES. *gives cookie*

Axle setup looks somewhat iffy.

-Adam

Hey guys- Landon here. Every yoyo from about 2 weeks ago has a silicone groove the same dimension as an 888's groove, so that really helps the slippage issue, as quite a few people were having difficulties with it slipping on the throw. And as for the wobble, they spin true as can be, but just because of the width to diameter ratio, its rare to get a strait spin without bumping it with your finger. Thanks for the review Kyle!

Im getting one soon, oh and heres what landon also said about the beefcaked/girth system "I've actually switched BACK to the old set up- there were WAY too many problems with the beefed/girth- such as the plastic "nub" the bearing rides on snapping off, bearings not ever being smooth/broken in, and also it cost more to make, as there were 2 instead of 1 bearing."
So yeah, no more beefcake, and hes chucking my luce up on the lathe to widen the silicone on it for me, so it should be good, ill write up a quick review when i get mine.

^^ I doubt having the girth bearing or whatever or a beefcaked setup has much to do with the bearing post snapping off of the yoyo. That design works great on metal yoyo's, but with plastic, it's just too thin to be strong enough to prevent breaking off. I've seen several delrin yoyo's with that type of bearing post snapped off which makes the yoyo useless. A metal spacer/seat design is the best option IMO.

I really like the way the Cosmo looks for the simple fact that it looks like ice or glass. Very cool. My hat's off to Landon for turning these out by hand, and for putting them out in numbers. That's no easy feat. However, the hub area is a major turn off for me. It's not aesthetically pleasing at all and it just seems to me that it would cause the yoyo to be a bit more unstable than a yoyo with some sort of weight distribution. It's not rim weighted, it's not center weighted, it's not evenly distributed per-se...it's just everywhere. It's odd and I dont really know if I care for that kind of oddness.

Take that with a grain of salt though as I've never thrown either of them nor have I thrown anything with a design like that.

Originally Posted by Luke Vader

^^ I doubt having the girth bearing or whatever or a beefcaked setup has much to do with the bearing post snapping off of the yoyo. That design works great on metal yoyo's, but with plastic, it's just too thin to be strong enough to prevent breaking off. I've seen several delrin yoyo's with that type of bearing post snapped off which makes the yoyo useless. A metal spacer/seat design is the best option IMO.

I really like the way the Cosmo looks for the simple fact that it looks like ice or glass. Very cool. My hat's off to Landon for turning these out by hand, and for putting them out in numbers. That's no easy feat. However, the hub area is a major turn off for me. It's not aesthetically pleasing at all and it just seems to me that it would cause the yoyo to be a bit more unstable than a yoyo with some sort of weight distribution. It's not rim weighted, it's not center weighted, it's not evenly distributed per-se...it's just everywhere. It's odd and I dont really know if I care for that kind of oddness.

Take that with a grain of salt though as I've never thrown either of them nor have I thrown anything with a design like that.

Luke- ya its definitely a strength issue in the bearing seat cracking off, and I'll go broke refunding useless yoyos, ya know? As for the weight distribution- they actually spin for a good while once the bearing is broken in, around like a FHZ spin time. The reason that I didn't cut out any core weight is because of the acrylic's density. It weighs right around 65-66 grams as is- if I'm to take out a bit so it is weighted, then you've got something around 55 grams, and theres almost no one out there who likes that weight unless they're looping. Now if you check the Savanna, which has a higher density(delrin), you'll see there is weighting, and it still weighs 65ish grams

And also, on the few weight ring'd Cosmos, there is side cut outs as well

The cut outs are at a negative 30 degree angle, so thumb grinds are possible as well. Get a load of this chart, good info on densities of various materials
http://www.thelenchannel.com/1density.php

Thanks for the criticism though, I like to hear everything so I know what to do for a better yo

I think that was a very honest review, with some really helpful points for both the buyer and creator. I also think that was a very good reply from yoking.