Ultraspinners Modulator MKII, Aluminum

We’ve heard it before, and you’ll continue to hear it from me. The Modulator was ahead of its time. An aggressive and innovative spinner that is based on two fundamentals: orbs, and modularity. We’ll cover these separately later on. This spinner is extremely comfortable, which you can probably tell just by looking at it. It isn’t perfect, and it’s perhaps a little clunky, but it’s a fantastic spinner that does a lot right, and it gives us a lot of reasons to love it. Aluminum isn’t for everyone, and I can sympathize with that, but this is one spinner that really shines bright in aluminum. The lighter weight means that it’s very easy to maneuver comfortably, and the anodizing job is beautifully done, with vibrant colors that feel very smooth to the touch. It’s a complete package. It’s probably the most “balloon animal” spinner of the bunch, and it’s also one of the oldest.

This spinner is all about ergonomics. I’m not familiar enough with it to be able to say that this was the intent of the design, but one is definitely led to believe that to be the case. The spinners is almost literally a few spheres that have been fused together. If someone were able to precisely weld (not sure if that’s the appropriate term, but you know what I mean, dammit) metal balls together, the result would look nearly identical to this. It feels absolutely amazing. It’s like having a few marbles in your hand, but being able to spin them in addition to the tactile satisfaction that metal orbs provide. It’s everything that my fingers want. Okay, now make your best joke about me liking the feeling of balls in my hand. Go ahead, I’ll wait for you to come back.

For those of you that showed restraint, but were still chuckling to yourselves, I tip my hat to you. You probably have what it takes to keep a straight face when someone farts in a meeting. I definitely do not, and speaking from experience, I cannot. Anyway, if the experience that the ergonomics affords you fidget-wise wasn’t enough, perhaps the most intriguing aspect of this spinner comes from its most interesting features: modularity. Modularity is something that has been tried many times, but has seen little success. It’s a lot of work; very much more so than just a solid spinner body. However, it’s highly appreciated and notable when it’s done right, and has the potential to draw a lot more attention, even if it doesn’t necessarily mean better sales numbers.

The right amount of modularity coupled with excellent execution makes for a spinner that can suit the needs of any spinner tastes you may have. Some modular spinners have interchangeable arms with multiple slots so that you can change arm configurations, as is the case here. This means that you can have a bar, tri, quad, etc., depending on the spinner design, without having to purchase a separate spinner. It’s able to keep things fresh, and each configuration provides a slightly different experience. It’s a breath of fresh air to be able to choose whether you want to fidget with a quad, bar, or some other configuration that you can come up with that you enjoy. It’s nice to have that flexibility. Other modular spinners only allow you to change the weights for a single arm configuration. That’s okay too, and probably a little more successful in general because it doesn’t shake things up as much, but it’s not as cool.

Intricate machining obviously makes things more difficult. In the machining process, you need to make sure that each piece is nearly identical in weight and shape. With small pieces, it means that you need to be more precise, hold tighter tolerances, and generally you have less leeway than you do with a solid body spinner. There’s a reason why it’s not done more often, but it’s cool as hell when it’s done properly. This spinner is on the better side of the spectrum, with near-perfect balance. The complete package makes for a spinner that you can just rip with, and the feeling is amazing in-hand when you really get it going. It’s one of the few “quads” that I still have in my collection. At one point I considered selling it. Now, I can appreciate it more and realize just how stupid that would have been. Very happy to still have it, and would be devastated if I would have gotten rid of it. There’s simply nothing like it.

If there’s one gripe I have, it’s that the spinner’s bearing came retained with red Loctite. Yes, you read that right. Red. Loctite. If you don’t know what that means, let me try to explain it a bit. Loctite is a substance that we use to “glue” our bearings in, usually with slip-fit spinners. Slip-fit spinners are a bit looser with tolerances, and that’s why an adhesive of some sort is necessary to keep the bearing held in place. Press-fit relies solely on friction, unless you’re like me and use Loctite with those too. There are different types of Loctite, of course, and some are stronger than others. Blue Loctite is meant for temporary applications, so a lot of people did and still do use it for retaining spinner bearings. I’ve graduated to using Loctite 641 (bearing retaining compound) since then, and it’s by far the superior Loctite to use with spinner bearings, but that’s besides the point.

If you haven’t guessed already, what’s the opposite of temporary? That’s red Loctite. It’s meant for permanent applications. Permanent. P-E-R-M-A-N-E-N-T. So my question, quite frankly, is “what in the actual fuck, Ultraspinners?”. That was meant to be a light-hearted question/joke, but semi-serious at the same time. Was the intent to never have the bearing changed? Because that’s effectively what it does. That bearing was a BITCH to get out of there. I had to boil it, soak it in acetone, and resort to very physically-exhausting methods to get it out.