I’ve also always felt lighter fluid was missing the mark; acetone to clean is the best I agree completely.
Mineral spirits + 3 in 1 oil is basically all you’ll ever need for thin lube, as well.
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If this is getting into bearing cleaning, I’ve gotten a couple little tricks for reviving old bearings. Hitting the inside of the bearing with a lighter flame I’ve found extremely useful for getting a completely seized up bearing spinning again, and dish soap + running sink water on full blast into the bearing works like a charm. If you go the faucet method you just need to dry it well, I just smack it a couple times against a sponge and run a paper towel along it. I’ve never gotten a rusty bearing doing this, and it’s helped get my most stubborn bearings back to life.
Acetone works well enough for cleaning out old lube or really tiny particles making bearings responsive, but if pet hair/your own hair/sand/whatever is getting into your bearing, then in my experience using acetone doesn’t really do a whole lot.
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Lighter trick = the best way to clear out hair of any kind lodged in a bearing!
Really it’s a combo of things depending on where your bearing is at, I totally agree. Acetone alone will not take care of hair.
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Bearing preferences are a lot like yo-yo preferences. People have their own opinions as well as it depends on the type of tricks you are doing and what appeals to you!
Right now I love semi responsive - so any of the 10-ball or OneDrop bearings are nice along with the CTX. These bearings tend to also be more quiet as well.
I know a lot of yoyo competitors seem to like the NSK bearings which seem to be pretty consistant and make the yo-yo dead unresponsive with very long spin times.
9/10 I am just rocking whatever the yo-yo comes with though. But I do like the bearings mentioned above a long with the CenterTrac and DS bearings. Difeyo Konkaves also have a special place in my heart since they were the original string centering bearings!
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i’d say check out mazal tops bearings for ceramic, really good stuff for the cost and varied outer race shapes, hybrids with stainless races and ceramic balls, etc. i mostly just throw whatever is in the yoyo and i still like concave bearings (+1 for the original Difeyo) but the flat center tracs seem to be more popular now. the OD 10 ball flat is probably the quietest i’ve played.
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Funnily enough this thread was directly inspired by my Mazal Top Rectifier, which comes stock with a hybrid bearing that spins forever.
My Fulvia bearing started to make noise and grind quickly after about 2 hours of play; all I did was de-shield it, acetone soak, then YYF lube it now it’s dead silent and spins multitudes of times longer.
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My favorites are DS and One Drop. MFD bearings are grooved hybrids, and I’ve had no problems with them, and no lubing these. I use One Drop taper lube and love it. I would most definitely recommend using lube in a climate with high humidity to protect the bearing.
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Whatever bearing comes with the throw, any bearing I can buy with the shields already off. Actually used to be pretty hard for me to de shield, not anymore. Still a step I’d rather not take. For responsive mr85, or an A size with those rubber shields(keeps grease in better)
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NSK are the best I have tried.
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I think those are the only ones I’ve yet to try.
Duncan Grasshopper GTX green and gold colorway finally on its way!
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Whatever the bearing is that came with the Shortcut has really impressed
Many times I simply find whatever bearing came with the yoyo is the right one, some suit a flat bearing, some a dif-e-yo etc, just like some throws feel better with thicker strings or thinner depending on the response.
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I’m finding as long as they’re cleaned and lubed properly, almost any stock bearing will be fine. In fact, in some ways they’re ideal because there’s less hesitancy in making a throw an EDC if it’s a “beater” bearing.
I get these Magic 10 ball gold bearings for like for $6/pair on Amazon lol.
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I went deep down this hole. for the most part if someone blinds you on the bearing you won’t know what’s in the yoyo. for that reason my favorite is the boss rage just because it has the shield off when you buy it.
I do like the sound of ceramic, didn’t notice a performance boost though.
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I’m pretty new so I don’t have a lot of input weight but I’ve tried a few different bearings and so far the YYC (NSK) DS gold bearing has been my favorite and the regular Concave NSK my #2
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I prefer the ones that make it to the dustbowl I live in without getting locked up.
You’d be shocked how many yoyos fly in crusted up and ruined simply because the bearing crapped out in transit, whether it be because of dust, the cold, etc. Or maybe I’m just unlucky.
I pretty much play what the yoyo comes with with the exception of replacing a few with a Difeyo Koncave. Most of my yoyos are YYJ, HSPIN, SPYY, Duncan and Difeyo, all of which I feel came with quality bearings. I have a few older Spintastics, Buzzons and Yomegas which have bearing sizes that are not particularly popular these days so they also have what they came with and seem to work well.
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That may very well be a contributor to the problem. I’ve heard from others who live near the ocean that the salt air causes them problems as well.
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