Bearing maintenance

Yo-Yo Mods and Maintenance
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How are you cleaning it? Maybe you are using too much lube.

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23

not even using lube, just soaking it in isopropyl alcohol. It works better now.

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24

Okā€”I sometimes do this, but need to be very careful in drying the bearing as soon as possible.

I submerge the bearing in a concentrated soapy solution (liquid dish wash) to remove all the greasy stuff. Then I dry the bearing perfectly using tissue paper and air blower. Once this is done, I use few drops of thin lube or graphite powder lubricant.

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25

Any added benefits from the graphite powder? This intrigues me. :thinking:

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26

No cleaning, no lubing of bearings for unresponsive yoyos. I lube them for responsives as needed. Bearings are cheap enough and so few of mine have taken a dump that I am not spending time and money to maintain them.

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I have some bearings that I will use the Terrapin dry lube (which I believe is similar to graphite powder, but, seem to remember reading isnā€™t exactly graphite powder). The advantages of this product is it seems to last a long time. If applied right, the yoyo is dead unresponsive. It is a dry lube, so, no liquid to let things gunk up the bearing. The challenge of this product is getting the application right. You need a miniscule amount for it to work. That said, I do like it, even though it will not give you a silent bearing.

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28

Use compressed air to dry it. The kind in cans for use on computers works good. Use the spray tube to concentrate the blow.

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29

The powder lubes beautifully! It makes the bearing more noisy (which I like). I have seen that bearings spin more with this type of lube.

You need to clean any powder residual as it will stain the string (thatā€™s the down side for me)

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30

Great idea!! Thanks @jhb8426

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31

This is the one I use:

I got it in ACE home hardware:

https://www.acehardware.com/search?query=Powder+graphite+lubricant

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32

Just had a new bearing go responsive. Whatā€™s the best move from here to get back in action? I thought I read somewhere to hit it with a hair dry if you donā€™t have compressed air, is that a good idea?

Thereā€™s def something in there. I can feel itā€™s vibe in the string.

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The compressed air is used to either blow out too much lube or to possibly blow out any debris. A hair dryer doesnā€™t have enough velocity to do either. Cleaning it canā€™t hurt and may be all you need.

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34

It was mentioned to me that a lot of bearings ship out dry and that may be the root of my problem( my own ignorance I guess), is that something that can be confirmed?
Iā€™ve got some free time coming up and this is on my to-do list if learning.

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35

It depends on the company really whether shipped dry or not. For example, here are some descriptions on YYE:

Pixel bearing: Please note - Pixel Bearings come lightly lubed from the factory.

One Drop 10 Ball: Please note there is a slight break in period to the bearing.

YYE replacements: They are clean spinning so lube is recommended if you want to keep them responsive or prolong the overall life span. All bearings come pre-cleaned and are stainless steel for long spin and unresponsive play.

I have found if a bearing mentions needing a break-in period it usually means thereā€™s lube in it and the break-in period is getting the lube spread out inside the bearing.

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36

What about konkaves? I just purchased some from Duncanā€™s site.

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Iā€™m not sure if Konkaves ship lubed or dry. When you get them put one on the end of a pencil and give it a good spin with your thumb. If itā€™s noisy and spins forever then itā€™s probably dry.

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They fit that description. So I should be sure to lube my new ones right?

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39

if you want to skip the weird responsive loobed faze then just yous a air compreser to spin the baring around and work the loob in

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40

Yeah you can put a little lube in there. Just a drop. The One Drop V4M lube comes in a container with a nice long metal drip dropper thingy (technical term haha). It makes it easy to put just one drop of lube in the bearing.

Other bottles, like YYF or Duncan, are just a plastic bottle like eye drops, and the drop of lube is much less precise. If your lube is in a bottle like that I would put a drop of lube on a toothpick and then take the toothpick to the bearing to put how much lube you want.

After lubing put the bearing back on your pencil tip and spin it hard with your thumb for 30 seconds or so.

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