Plate Regenerations

Spintop: Spintastics HP with sidewinder plastic tip

Description: You regenerate by tilting the plate so the top "falls" and friction with the plate makes the tip roll regenerating the spin of the top. By lifting the plate in a direction that rotates at a rate that matches the precession of the top its spin can be continuously regenerated while the top traces circles.

Advice: The tip cannot be sharp: it needs to be somewhat rounded.
In the video I used a very worn tip. It is usually easier to do with a small top and a big tip.

You generally want it to make the circles in the direction of the precession. However it can be done in the opposite direction by rolling the tip on the side facing the outside of the circle (much more difficult).

Notes: The Guinness Book of World Records certified a spintop duration record established in this way with a LSX top (2 hours, 52 minutes, 11 seconds).

The top doesn't actually lose height because you are always raising the plate at the location of the top.

History/Etymology: A US patent for a top using this kind of regeneration was granted to L. S. Martin in 1965. In the patent he described a spinning base in the shape of a bowl but the concept is the same. It was re-invented in 1975 by Ed Rubin, a spintop collector and hypno-therapist. He made a production top for this purpose named LSX.

I gave it this name because I mostly used a plate as the spinning surface.