NarganYep! Got my Copper one yesterday as well. Love it! It just lazily spins, & spins, & spins. My Jefferson and Yakima are hyper-active children compared to the Columbia. It’s a delightful contrast.
NWTopsPhoto or video? I can do you one better and give you both a photo AND video I just took:
https://i.imgur.com/wFQmoPK.jpg
https://youtu.be/MTawgfrQzkI
It doesn't matter which mirror or lens I put this on. If I get a reasonably smooth initial spin and don't bang into the desk near the end of the spin, it'll stop like this. Out of the 10 tops I own, this and a Vorso Mk1 copper/ceramic are the only ones I can get to stop like this.
NWTopsThe Vorso top took days of work trying to balance it to get it to that point. The Columbia had a low speed flutter at first but all it took was a bit of time polishing some of it with a "Sunshine Cloth" and it just started doing this. No idea. I'm not complaining though.
DenisB17:35. No idea what the exact temperature was but it was on a bare (no oil) cosmetics mirror at room temperature which had to be between 66-70 degrees.
NarganI assume you could receive way longer spinning times with a lense and some skin grease. Probably the mirror is pretty abrasive which causes the flat spot that allows a standing stop.
glennacHmm. That wouldn't be good. I mean they do often come to a stop on mirrors and 20cm focal length lenses w/ Froglube oil. 50cm, no. I can't SEE flat spots on the tips but don't know how small they would be. Here: https://i.imgur.com/nuiWtw0.jpg
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EDIT: Sorry about not clearing the dust off first before breaking out the macro lens. :)
NarganIt's very difficult to see a flat spot on a reflective surface such as ceramic or WC. I saw one once on a white, matt Alumina Oxide ball, using a small 60x microscope (my fault: I spun it with a string in order to get higher rpm and longer spins - after that, spin time dropped from 18+ to 11-).
You can indirectly suspect a flat spot if your spin times diminish wrt to your initial ones, but this is unlikely to happen with ceramic in only a few days, unless you did something really wrong with your top.
From your video, it seems your top is well-balanced, as there's very little wobbling at the end of the spin; considering the design and the good balance, it should easily reach 20+ mins; if it doesn't, then you can suspect (and only suspect, not deduce) a flat spot.
Like Glennac, I tend to consider standing stops as not so positive signs in general (except for planetary spinners and their large balls), but there's always the exceptional possibility of a particularly good balance.
Thanks for all your support 🤘 Matt and Jen