Canopy 3D Design Notes

With the Canopy line featuring dedicated aluminum, stainless steel, and polycarbonate yo-yos, I felt like there was an opportunity for a 3D printed design to join the lineup. Harrison was immediately on board with the idea, and I started work on the project as soon as I got back to the Bay Area.

This was my first time designing a yo-yo that I would release through another company, so I focused a lot on making sure the final product reflected the brand's image instead of mine. My goal was to maintain key design features of the existing Canopy yo-yos, like the hub spike and the profile shape, and to provide a play experience that stands out from the other yo-yos in the lineup, all while engineering the yo-yo to be printed with minimal chance of error and simple assembly.

I started learning how to design yo-yos solely within the context of 3D printing, which I feel puts me in a unique position in the yo-yo design world where machined metal and plastic are the primary choices for material. Over the years, I've formulated and relied on a set of techniques specific for the 3D printed medium and have been integrating them into my designs - you might be able to spot them on my yo-yos. I generally aim to avoid support material or post-processing when creating a yo-yo for production. For Canopy 3D however, I decided to adopt a new method of assembly to achieve the look I envisioned for the final product, which was well worth it.

With the construction puzzle tackled, I pulled on Harrison, Coleman, and Reuben when it came to figuring out how the yo-yo should play. I started with a shape that was similar to the Canopy PC, since I felt the material properties of polycarbonate would be more similar to an FDM printed product compared to the machined metal variants. From there, I made minor changes to the profile shape and weight distribution, sending screenshots to our group chat and integrating their feedback.

We would eventually land on our first prototype design just a couple of days after our first call. I printed a set of four yo-yos that same night, sending three of them to the Canopy team in three different countries.

Our first stab at Canopy 3D immediately bolstered confidence that this project would work. The yo-yo's weight was concentrated at the rim and sported a larger than normal diameter, giving it a high-power feel that was pretty typical among most modern yo-yos, but played exceptionally well for a 3D printed yo-yo. From here, we decided to try a smaller diameter for a comfier feeling in the hand and moved weight to the midsection to give the yo-yo a more nimble feel.

The second prototype was nearly perfect. Just one last tweak in its weight distribution and it was ready for production.

For a long time I've been sitting on this filament, wondering what to make with it; I've played around with it on a couple of small projects, but I felt like it perfectly fit Canopy Collection's nature-centric vibe and decided to run it for this collaboration.

Meanwhile, the great Mark Maslo designed the logo for the project, bringing Canopy's emblems into the third dimension. We found a local small business in Fremont that makes custom rubber stamps and decided to hand stamp each of the boxes with his art.

With everything in place, all that was left was to start production on Canopy 3D for its debut at the Pacific Northwest Regionals in Portland! Each yo-yo is printed, assembled, hand-tested, and tuned by me at home.