This all started in late 2021, when my brother mailed me a brass free-floating mag slider for Christmas. I clicked it once, twice, three times; and about the third it pinched the ever living **** out of me. So I placed it on the fridge; and there it sat for about six months.
However, with my birthday rapidly approaching, and with the knowledge we would be seeing each other again, I thought “I better give this thing another shot” feeling a bit guilty for having such a strong refrigerator magnet.
And all be damned, within about fifteen to twenty minutes I could not put it down; thus starting my newfound hobby, somewhat begrudgingly. How could something so simple have worked its way into my mind? Almost a child’s toy had been occupying my free time for the past three or four weeks.
So we did meetup on my birthday; he took me out for a huge sushi dinner. And of course, as the hand rolls, beer, and sushi started flowing the subject did come up. And I said “You know, we could probably make something just as cool, if not way cooler on your 3D printer.”
Beginning our almost maddening descent into finding the perfect slider. And by find we meant WE were going to find it, ourselves. We would print CAD models, play with them for a few weeks, break them apart to recover the mags, and start over.
This went on for about another six months. We were up to version eight; but we had a point system, 1.1, 1.2, and so on. If the basic concept was not good we’d go to the next whole number. All while never purchasing another fidget past that first brass four click free floater.
It was fun! But looking back on it now I can see how we both have that obsessive quality instilled upon us, or possibly cursed with, by our parents and our bloodline. We both know, under the right conditions, we can do pretty much whatever we want.
By now it’s the end of 2022 and we had evolved this concept into something past a free floater. We wanted to walk our dogs, holding the leash in one hand, and fidgeting with the other; while taking in the view. We wanted a bit of randomness. We felt that the same repetitive move got old quick. And we wanted to click this thing in the way we wanted to play with it.
How dare an inanimate object, much less one that we created, dictate a strict rule set to us.
And so we discovered how to blend magnetic with mechanical; birthing the magnetic track and ball detent.
Now we were onto something. And we were happier than pigs in slop; until one day my brother says “Hey, you know... we could probably sell these things.”
I mean of course we can sell these, we can do whatever we put our efforts to. So we started CNC prototyping. which presented a whole new set of challenges.
I’ve been a maker since 2015, so machining thing to my specifications was not the issue.
In the 3D printer days we would just sand down the sliding surface until it felt right. We would do crazy things like pack little wads of paper napkin on top of the magnets for a dampening effect. You can laugh if you want, we did; but it’s not all that crazy if it works.
After three different rounds of CNC prototyping we finally had a real life embodiment of something that was just cobbled together with glue, paper, resin, and ideas. It was an intense balancing act between magnetic force and the effect of the dynamic magnetized ball track. We stepped through iterations in 0.0005 inch increments on some features. And finally we had our concept embodied in a real life, legitimate, CNC machined fidget. Circa March 31st 2023.
That being said we would like to thank all the makers and all the enthusiast that came before us.
We recognize that without you all we would not have been inspired to go down this maddening path. And a special thanks to the TOP three. Although we have not purchased your products, we were rooting you on; and still do. Why would we want to contend with giants? Without that knowledge of your achievements we might not have chosen to carve out our own little niche in this amazing space.
Love and respect,
❤️🦅
Matt & Jason