Just Wondering… What length axles do you prefer?
I didn’t know there were options!
I would think that an axle that goes all the way to the end of the female threads, and then just shy of the end of the matching female threads on the other side (a smidgen of wiggle room so that the bearing is never loose).
Sure, one side might have 1mm more bearing than the other, but I can live with that. Trying to tune a REALLY floating axle would be a nightmare anyhow. I don’t know how people do it.
I don’t think I’ve ever used other that what the yoyo came with. Always seemed adequate to me so why mess with it.
Titanium axles are kind nice because they’re hard to warp.
the reason I ask length is, well on my C3 Token, the axle gets stripped easy, people say its from a short axle right? But other yoyo’s have that size axle and do fine right?
Anyways, I’m about to prototype a throw, and I didn’t know if you guys would prefer longer than an 8 mm axle.
Oh, ok. I guess everything I have hasn’t had a problem that way. They’ve all fit right from the start. My feeling would be you need at least 3/16 inch in the thread on either side.
yeah I’d agree. I have an idea to fit that with an 8mm axle, If anyone is interested I can post pictures.
Ah, yes… the Token has an axle that is too short. No idea why they did that to an otherwise decent little throw.
If you figure out a way to rectify the Token’s “short axle problem,” I’d definitely like to hear about your success.
I like the YoyoFactory 12 mm axles. They are not too long, or too short.
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Anything titanium or with a helicoil.
I feel the longer the better, as long as it’s not sticking out of the hubs. That said though, my delicious has the absolute shortest axle I’ve ever seen, but it still stays together fine.
(unrelated, I just opened up my crucial to take pics of the axle, and a response pad fell out! guess it’s been a while since I’ve used it. haha)
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I feel like it’s possible to drill each side a little deeper and throw in a little longer axle.
I like the axle hole to have not threads at first, like the side effects have, or like a fhz style.
Imagine if all manufacturers used side effects? Wonder if there’s enough room in the side effects form factor (ie. taking out the tapped threads) for a Spin Dynamics helicoil insert…? 
Every yoyo that supports side effects could then also get helicoil inserts…
There is so much potential in the SE design…
I have a mg with helicoils, love those things.
what are helicoil inserts?
Basically threaded inserts. Instead of tapping the threads directly into the halves to accept an axle, you tap for (or otherwise affix) an insert with threads.
In the case of Spin Dynamics, they use stainless steel inserts, which should ideally wear longer and resist stripping. The axle is generally made of a metal of the same hardness (or could be softer) than the stainless steel; whereas often an axle is stronger than 6061 aluminum, meaning that for your typical 6061 metal yoyo, you’ll damage the harder-to-fix aluminum rather than the axle.
very interesting. how do the inserts stay in?
Generally the hole is tapped for the OD of the insert, then the insert is screwed in. They are actually used in a lot of non-yoyo related application. It’s a very old solution to the thread stripping problem. In fact I nursed my old lawn mower along for another 5 years by using helicoil inserts for the head bolts.
hmm that’s pretty cool, though, with the extra machining costs to do that… I think I’d rather have the usual system and just buy another axle, especially if you get them in bulk and an axle is 5 cents.