How to "Balance" a Top so it Spins Smoothly

Injection-molded-plastic is not the most uniform material when it comes to density, and this is the reason why many tops just don’t spin smooth right out of the package. Fear not! You can balance hollow plastic tops fairly easily (as long at the cap comes off). All you need is a small blob of sticky goo and some time.

The goo I speak of is Blue-Tac. It is also known as Stic-Tac, E-Z Tac, etc, and is mainly used as a poster-to-wall adhesive. You can find it at drug stores, office supply stores and supermarkets. It comes in several colors, but the blue stuff seems to work the best.

First you need to determine the cap-to-body position that gives the least amount of vibration. Spin the top and note how smooth or rough it is. Then take the cap off, rotate it 180 degrees and replace. Spin the top again. If it is not smoother, return cap to its original position, and MARK IT SOMEHOW. Occasionally, for some tops, that is all that's necessary to balance your top. In the vast majority of cases however, the top will still need balancing.

Break off a small piece of blue tac the size a little smaller than a pea. Roll it into a ball. Stick it on the underside of the cap, close to the rim, pretend wherever you stick it is the 12 of a clock face. Spin it. if it is worse than before, take the cap off and put the putty at 6 o’clock. Spin it. Better? Keep testing different spots until you find the sweet spot. After you find the sweet spot, take some putty away and see if it is better or worse with less weight. If worse, put what you removed back and add a little more.

There’s a lot of trial an error here, but feeling the top getting smoother should motivate you to finish the job. Once balanced, the point of a perfectly balanced top should be absolutely still when spinning on a hard surface or on the palm of your hand. In fact, if the top is perfectly balanced, you will definitely feel a pronounced eerie lightness to it while it is spinning on your palm.