I just got a new Cascade and a 10-ball terripin treated bearing for it. After about an hour of play the yoyo became very loud and later turned responsive.
I took out the bearing and tried to spin it and it seems like there is a bunch of junk in it.
The shields are there and in tact. I did not mistreat the yoyo or bearing in any malicious way. I also did not add any lube or clean it in any way.
I understand that bearings need to be cleaned but definately not this soon if it is brand new. This has happened with the last couple of bearings ive had and i am unsure why.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
First, keep playing it. I would say the bearing is breaking in, but it’s a Terrapin X so it shouldn’t be breaking in. The Cascade’s “bearing seat” should be clean so the odds are just that the bearing needs to be cleaned a tiny bit. Remove the shields and blow it out and try playing it a bit.
I haven’t had issues with Terrapin X bearings. In fact, I have one of those bearings and I’m going to be putting it in my Code 2 this afternoon if time permits.
You need some pixy dust.
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What is pixy dust?
Also I would like to say that this has happened to me on many different occasions and with many different bearings.
It should not be responsive at all.
Play it for a bit and if it does not clear up I will repair or replace it.
Sounds good I think there might me stuff in it so I will blow the stuff out and that will probabily fix the problem.
How can I better prevent the bearing from getting dirty so fast?
It depends on factors largely out of your control.
In general bearings tend to stay clean. There’s a lot going in favor of this. 1: The bearing is way inside the yoyo, and the open areas are covered by the bearing recess. This prevents most stuff from getting in as it would have a long ways to travel even to get in there. Then you have the bearing shields, which are designed to both keep crud out and lube in, but there’s only so much it can do. Regardless, the odds are in your favor that stuff will stay out that you want out.
Having said that, bits of hair from when my kid was playing his Protostar ended up inside his bearing. I won’t go int the spacer removal process, but after that, it was “pick out the larger bits, blow out the rest”, re-assemble and then his Protostar has been fine ever since.
Short of that, follow John’s advice. He knows his product and stands by it.
I’m really amazed at the number of people claiming bearing problems. I’ve been at this for a few years and have never experienced the bearing problems people report with some regularity now, nor have I previously seen them reported with the frequency I see now. So what’s the deal w/all this. Are you people destroying bearings, are bearings junk (I don’t think so) or is it that you just don’t know what you are talking about and every minor hiccup is a bad bearing issue???
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Let me ask a question that may help me a bit.
Assuming a C bearing, and you were to remove it from a yoyo and place it on a stick or pencil and give it a flick, what kind of spin times are you getting? I’m curious as to what sort of numbers you’re getting so I can compare my bearings to yours. You have significantly more experience than I do. As your bears are probably mostly older than mine, I can maybe see if quality has gone down.
I have quite a few of bearings I consider unacceptable and a few I consider junk. However, all my yoyos currently have a good working bearing in them. I’m also cleaning and treating some bearings right now, so I kind of what to see what sort of benchmark I should be aiming for. I’ve been shooting for 24+ seconds on a flick.
Clean the bearing seat. Often times there may be a residue there that can screw around with your bearings. Also, if you’re constantly unscrewing the yoyo, bits of string and stuff are much more likely to get themselves stuck in the bearing. Is the bearing shielded?
Facepalm
The bearing that has this issue on the pencil flick has a max of 10 seconds if im lucky…now that i think about it none of my bearings have flick times near 24 seconds.
I put back the stock 10ball the Cascade came in and cleaned the bearing seat and so far am doing okay. I will try to blow out all the stuff in the terripin bearing once i can grab some compressed air and see if that solves the problem.
You’re probably better off just cleaning it.