Okay, so I am currently enraged with yyf. I go and pay 35 bucks at my local toy store for a protostar, and at first it works great. I play with it for half an hour, when something gets caught in the bearing. I ride my bike to my house, eat lunch, then pour nail polish remover into a jar. I get a pencil ready, a paper towel, all the things you need to wash a bearing. I have done this many times, and of coarse, it always fixed the bearing.
Well, I open the protostar, and I CAN’T wash the bearing, because the spacer is jammed into it. I can’t just switch bearings either, because I need the spacer which is stuck on the bearing.
Sort of unrelated. Be careful you’re using 100% acetone and not ‘fortified’ nail polish remover which contains water, gelatin and vitamin e oil among other things. The ingredients will be on the bottle.
No need to get mad at the whole company over a single yoyo that you might have gotten yourself at fault. Follow the instructions above and I’m sure you’ll be fine.
I’m seeing where the original poster comes from. I’m a little wary (just a bit) of YYF plastics now because this has happened to both my old Protostar (I have another Protostar now where the spacer and bearing have yet to be stuck. I hope I don’t jinx it!) and my PGM.
The fact of the matter is when a product is that new, it should be fine for awhile. As consumers, we need to hold ALL manufacturers of EVERY industry – not just yoyos – to a higher standard (or else we will always get products that act up on us). I write video game reviews once in awhile, and it would be absolutely unacceptable if a video game stopped working a week after you buy it. It shouldn’t be acceptable with any product.
It’s important that we address things like this. More importantly, its important that we learn from them.
That said, my experiences with my old PGM and old Protostar haven’t completely shut me off their plastics as I’ve gotten both a Northstar and Protostar a sweeters in trades since then. I knowingly gave them another chance, and they have been fine – not to mention that almost every YYF metal I’ve owned has been fine too.
Sorry, at this risk of pulling a Studio42 (love ya, buddy!), I’ll just say that the moral here is that we shouldn’t dismiss the OP as an irrationally angry person or as someone who was too lazy to look up a solution to a problem because these things do need to be addressed.
Right back at ya! If we’re here to help, then it’s always good.
I just assume that anyone asking for help should get help if we can help. I also get tired of the same questions time and time again. Recently, this whole Protostar/YYF Plastics spacer+Bearing thing has been a frequently repeated target. Even forum rules suggest strongly that people read and search the forum to look for answers before posting up questions. While I agree with this in in principle, often times it’s not only easier, but also faster, to just post up a new message thread.
Always spread the yo-yo love. If you CAN help, please DO help. New people need more help than others. I’ve not even been throwing a year at this point and I get tons of help from here as well as GIVE tons of help. Share, learn, be giving. Think community.
And to the OP: congratulations in getting the spacer off. Many other YYF’s do this, and many YYF metals are super tight to the bearing seat. It’s just something YYF does. It isn’t bad, it isn’t good, it just is. It’s best to arm yourself with some tools. I carry a small screwdriver, a pick-type tool and a few other items to get me through difficult yo-yo situations.
The funny thing was at CalStates, someone asked me for a pair of pliers to remove a bearing and I just bought a pair of pliers the day before for that exact purpose. I left those pliers at home and he had to use my multi-tool to remove the bearing. At any rate, I took time out from my setting up the sound system at CalStates to help a stranger that I could provide assistance to. I wasn’t thinking community, I was thinking “I’m not gonna need to yank a bearing out of my own yoyo during CalStates”. Lesson learned: be prepared to help others. I’m putting those pliers in my case in just a little bit.
Not that it matters, but I have a YYF Protostar, Northstar, PGM, Die-Nasty and picked up a Starbrite cheap at CalStates. I also have a ONE and a WHIP. I enjoy these yoyos. If I have to deal with bearing stuck to spacers issues on the applicable yoyos, then so be it.