So, today two of my throws started becoming responsive. Swapped out the string boom! No joy. Ok, time to clean my ceramic bearings. Shields off acetone…after about 3-5 minutes took them out and spun them. Clean the bearing seating in both my throws. Spin the bearings some more on a pen or what not. Spin some more…some more…some more…am I still spinning? YES! 10 minutesish later check to see if they’re dry… They are GTG! pop them in…no Joy…Losing hope in this activity as I just bought the dif-e-yo ceramic not two weeks ago and after the cleaning it’s by far my worse bearing. My standard yyf flat can spin longer. I’m devastated, however my terrapin 10 ball delta isn’t too bad but I do feel like it’s lost quit a bit of spin time. I’m frustrated and on the verge of just purchasing more…Does anyone have any positive advice ??? to add to this?
Noooooo you’re not supposed to clean ceramic bearings!!! Cause that acetone will strip the ceramic off! rookie mistake I guess you know for the future now. Also if you EVER fell the need a ceramic bearing needs cleaning just put a little lube in it.
Sorry abby, but that’s just plain and simple B.S.
I have heard similar speculatory non-sense about Acetone and Ceramic, I however can confirm that Ceramic and Mineral Spirits do work harmoniously. Maybe try cleaning it in a different solution.
I’ve cleaned my kk ceramics in acetone three times and they still run fine.
Terrapin X suggests acetone I believe, so that should be g2g. I also use paper slip method on my Delta Ceramics, just gentle and all that, no cramming, almost not enough paper in there to actually be effective so it’s gentle on the ceramic. Love mine, I’d buy one for all my throws if I felt like the bearing could be better in it.
Well there you have it, LeDave has said that it does work. The only problems I have heard with Ceramic Bearings is in Lighter Fluid, even then I have never tried that so I don’t know for sure. Most of these cleaning issue threads that arise always seem to be user related and I bet if the Bearing was sent to the Manufacturer they could revive it in less than 5 minutes usually.
Ceramics are impervious to most any solvent we use including mineral spirits, acetone, lighter fluid, lacquer thinner, alcohol and most anything else you can get your hands on, some of which may be harmful to you.
How about some Peanut Butter? I can get my hands on a whole box of it… It’s a little chunky but it’s greasy, slippery and a little oily!
a ‘BOX’ of peanut butter? what are you from mars?
The entire reason ceramic bearings even exist is to work in harsh chemical environments… a very slightly better spin is a side effect. You could clean them with basically anything… you are far more likely to damage the steel casing than you are the ceramic coating.
And for the billionth time people, JUST USE YOUR BEARINGS. I promise you cleaning it the 5,000th time isn’t going to make you any better.
Kyle
Full ceramic bearings are used in food and medical situations, ceramic hybrid (steel races, ceramic balls)
are used because they last 5 times longer then steel balls do. Down time costs a bit in manufacturing situations. Well worth the extra cost…
After cleaning with Acetone, rinse in the sink with cold water while spinning the bearing. Then let it dry. I can almost guarantee it’ll make a difference. Just try it. 
Well, this turned out to be an interesting thread on Ceramic, a good read none the less. Do you think it would make for better life span, spin time, and performance to just make the whole Bearing out of Ceramic? Instead of a Hybrid. Because you’re exactly right, most of these quote on quote “Ceramic Bearings” are just Hybrid part Ceramic/part Steel. I guess the most important part is Ceramic but, thinking about Ceramic ran on Steel Races, it seems like there could be better Races without producing a huge leap in price. The Ceramics to me seem to be the best for a Daily Throw, as they last very long and require cleaning less frequently. They only ended up being manufactured on Steel Races, I believe, because most Bearings are Steel and it was accepted as the norm.
Hybrids (and full ceramics) have a huge variety of uses. They’re also used where you have high heat, when electrical arcing is a problem, where higher speeds are required, where no lubricants can be used (ie space), and (probably most commonly) where weight is an issue. In extremely high speed uses (ie jet engines) centrifugal force of the steel balls becomes a problem… so the lighter weight ceramic works well.
Not worth the cost for yo-yos. Yes their coefficient of friction is slightly lower, no it doesn’t make that much difference for us. We don’t deal with any of the problems they were designed to solve.
Full ceramics are extremely fragile… they work in yo-yos, but they also break very easily… and by break I don’t mean you need to clean it again, I mean actually physically break into pieces. High quality ceramic bearings run in the $100+ range (cheap Chinese versions can be had now for around $20) and will give you no significant bump in performance over any other yo-yo bearing.
Kyle
I’m with you Kyle, back in the late 90’s when the craze was setting sleep time records the Cold fusion with a steel size “A” bearing, sleep times of 7 and 8 minutes were achieved. Of all the throws i have only 1 has a ceramic. But i did just order 3 ceramics D size for my trainwrecks and rex to see what the buzz is about. only because options for that size are limited
Scott
Just to reinforce what Kyle is saying: I bought one of those cheap $20 full-ceramics because “hey, curiosity!” and for the most part it sits in a parts box not installed into any yoyos. Ditto for my hybrids, actually. In play, they didn’t feel like improved bearings.
There’s no appreciable benefit, yet (the ones I own at least) there is more noise. Why introduce a negative with no tangible positive?
Let’s suppose the spin time is improved after all: Even if you managed to get noticeably more spin time, I’ve never seen a crazy-long combo that didn’t make me think, “I wish the yoyoer would take a metaphorical breath here.” And I can almost guarantee that when I’ve seen those crazy-long combos, they were performed with steel bearings anyhow.
Right, even if there were a huge improvement (there isn’t) we wouldn’t need it.
What we use bearings for is SO FAR below what they are designed to handle that we’re spending a lot of time worrying about specs that don’t apply to us. If a yo-yo spun at 20,000 or even 100,000 RPM then we could talk about performance benefits of other bearing types… or if they needed to spin non-stop for weeks at a time… but they don’t.
Kyle
I guess I better understand now…So basically the only true benefit is: Maybe the Ceramic Bearing will be a little bit more longer lasting, need less frequent cleaning, and maybe a little bit better spin. Which, if that is what we’re getting at, makes sense. My Ceramic does tend to play a little smoother than my Steel Ball Bearings but, it is ALSO very much louder.
This all draws back to my idea of: The NSK’s have the only noticeable difference which justifies the additional cost.
The best thing I can say about the Ceramic is that they do last a long time. Well, it’s been interesting learning about all the different types of Bearings… All I want is one that will do up to a 5 minute combo without a hilt, IF required. If you think about it, that has to be the pinnacle of 1A is a good Metal 1A Throw that will allow 5 minute combos. I even read articles about how Magnets and Electro-Magnetism with future technology may allow Yo-Yo’s to have up to an hour spin but what would you really want that for? Lol
I’ve got yoyos that are 10 years old or more with steel bearings that still play as good as ever. Seems like they last pretty long to me. Quite frankly I don’t understand all the problems people seem to be having w/bearings these days.