My M1 is finally on it’s way, but I wanted to get some opinions on cleaning the bearing. I’ve heard, yes and I’ve heard no. So I know there a lot of OneDrop users on here that have experience. So what do you say, “To clean, or not to clean?” That is my question!! ;D
If you really want or need to, you can. Won’t hurt anything, and happens often as this particular bearing regularly comes out of the factory a thickly-lubed mess. Look at it this way, they really care about their bearings getting to you in great shape.
So, yeah. If you get one of them in this shape, clean away.
Rock on man…thx again. 
I’ll throw it a bit and see if it feels gunked up.
Here is the thing about 10-balls, they are true Stainless Steel.
This is what I do with all my 10ball bearings once I get them.
1: Deshield
2: take 1/4 cup of filtered water
3: put 2 drops of a degreaser dish soap (Like Dawn) in the water
4: drop bearing in water and soap mix (yes, I am serious)
5: Swish around for 5 minutes
6: remove bearing
7: rinse with filtered water
8: put bearing on the end of pencil or chopstick
9: blow compressed air (air in a can) into the bearing to get out all the moisture
10: blot with paper towel
11: repeat steps 9 and 10 until bearing is dry
12: play without lube
13: win
Never had one go out on me. I don’t recommend this with any other bearing except ceramic kk’s and 10ball’s.
or
You could play it until it breaks in.
Is it possible to boil it? I really want to know because boiling seems to be a good way to clean things. If boiling is possible, wouldn’t it wipe away everything but the bearing itself? Just wondering.
Yeah, I guess it would work. In reality, it wouldn’t be much more effective than the normal cleaning methods, and is a bit more of a pain to do. Also, I’m not sure I’d want to expose a bearing to any amount of thermal expansion/contraction no matter how slight it would be from boiling water.
What’s wrong with white spirits? 
Yeah, I agree water would be the way to go. However, people still clean them with Mineral Spirits, and get good results.
Sweet, that sounds like a pretty good idea Chris. I trust your judgment. I would rather play em dry, but always afraid to ruin em. If I start hearing strange noises I’ll drop in a tiny bit of thin lube. I’ll write a post about how it plays dry.
Don’t be scared if it spins for a second or two. Break it in a lot. When Chris sent me my M1, it spun for very little, and I was scared. However, now I am satisfied with a 15 second flick