Quark - Reviews
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talking about the Quark top.
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The esteemed NPR broadcasting network covered the Quark top in a
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NPR's Talk of the Nation radio show - Ira Flatow
What goes around keeps going around and around ...
"Jim Lewis, known among computer buffs as the driving genius
behind the popular InfoSelect personal information management software,
appears consumed by the ancient quest for a perpetual motion machine.
The prototype is a sleek gyroscopic top that testers say will spin for
an unprecedented 15 minutes when started with a single flick of two
fingers.
The contraption uses a system of balanced air chambers and other tech
tricks to take a flicking and keep on spinning. At prices between $49 for
brass and $2,500 for gold, Lewis' Quark top is available at www.miclog.com.
On a holiday note, it also comes in a dreidel version, which is
guaranteed to drive kids nuts as they wait for it to stop while playing
the traditional Hanukkah game."
James Coates - Chicago Tribune
Quark High-Performance Top
"Description: That's right--it's a top, but unlike any you've
encountered before. The heavy brass rim is mounted low, and the mass is
concentrated at the outside. You do the final balance tuning yourself with
tiny weights and an included laser pointer. A twirl of your fingers sets
it spinning for as long as 15 minutes! The designer, Jim Lewis, is the
creator of the renowned PIM, InfoSelect. High-precision machining is his
hobby.
Cool because: You can initiate serious discussions about Mass
Optimization Horizons.
Downside: People will mistake your frequent explorations into the
physics of rotating objects as mere child's play. But You won't let a kid
anywhere near this technological treat."
PC Magazine / extremetech.com
Spinning top gets 15 minutes of fame
Quark toy will keep you entertained for hours on
end
The Quark top includes a mirror disc spinning surface and keychain-size
laser pointer used for precision balancing.
The pitch was one I hear pretty often — just give us 15 minutes of
your time. But 14 minutes, 35 seconds was all I needed to determine that
the new Quark top lives up to its advance billing.
INVENTOR JIM LEWIS claims the precision-designed toy performs 10
times better than practically any spinning top on the market, and
certainly it outperforms any simple wooden top or even the best toy
gyroscopes, which typically spin for up to 5 minutes. Without much effort,
the Business & Technology team here at MSNBC.com was able to get the
two-ounce metal-and-plastic Quark spinning on its tungsten-carbide tip for
more than 10 minutes on average, and several times we approached the holy
grail of 15 minutes claimed by publicity materials. Often the top would
wobble and appear to be on the verge of falling — only to straighten
itself and continue spinning for another 5 minutes or more. (The best time
we could achieve in intra-office competition was 14:35 minutes.)
TOP TINKERING
Lewis, president of New Jersey software company Micro Logic, said he
began tinkering with top designs in his garage after coming across a
discussion about them on the Internet. “I started thinking about how I
could build a top that would spin longer than the one you can get in the
store,” said Lewis, a software engineer who said he has “a little
physics” in his background — as well as a decent metal lathe in his
garage. The basic Quark model is made with a lightweight plastic core,
heavy brass flywheel and aluminum tip. Lewis tested more than 50 different
versions before settling on the final design. With its gold-plated brass
flywheel, aluminum tip and ABS plastic core, the design maximizes weight
toward the outer circumference while minimizing the weight of the central
core. The whole thing revolves on a precision tungsten-carbide ball
bearing a sixteenth of an inch in diameter.
In addition to calculating the proper “mass optimization horizon”
where the material switches from plastic to metal, Lewis came up with a
unique method for users to individually balance their new top using a tiny
laser-beam pointer, adding several minutes of spin time. He has applied
for several patents.
THE ART OF SPINNING
For initial balancing, shine the laser pointer at the top as it spins
on a mirror disk (included) and then watch the resulting pattern on the
ceiling. By adding and taking away tiny metal washers from holes on the
underside of the top, you can reduce the pattern on the ceiling to a small
dot.
The whole process took me about 20 minutes to achieve what I considered
“good enough” results. To improve spin times, I could rebalance the
top using even tinier metal washers included for fine adjustment. At
$49.95 for the entry-level brass version, the Quark is not for young
children but would be right at home in the executive suite alongside the
silver clacking balls and desktop dartboard. A tungsten version, which can
spin for more than 20 minutes, is $149.95, and a $2,500 solid gold version
is available on demand.
By Martin Wolk MSNBC
We're long past the era of the dot-com office foosball table, but toys
are still crucial to proper corporate function - in fact, Micro Logic's
Quark Top (www.miclog.com) serves as not only a hyper-nerdy desk tchotchke
but, if you play your cards right, as an office productivity enhancer. The
flywheel-weighted precision top, made of brass and tungsten carbide, is
designed to spin and spin and spin; if you really set about tweaking its
performance, using the included laser pointer, shims and weights to
perfect the balance and tilt of the mirrored spinning surface, it'll go
for about 15 minutes, making it a fine meeting timer. At $49.95, you may,
therefore be tempted to make this one an office-supplies expenditure. Good
luck.
Time Out New York magazine
Reviews copyrighted by their respective publications.