Cleaning bearing video’s VS real life cleaning bearing

I’m fairly new to the YoYo world and don’t know much about it at all. I have problems with cleaning my bearing and as a good student I’m looking for help. I first used Youtube but when you keep reading you will know why I probably need your help.

My first yoyo is a shutter and I really like it for learning tricks (also because I watch Gentry his video’s and it is his Yoyo). Now he made a video about cleaning his bearing. And I thought to myself I need to try it. So, I bought some mineral spirit and performance YYF lube.

I followed his tutorial (first mineral spirit let it dry out and spin it for a bit) then a small drop (not even a drop) of lube. He said after 10,15 min of playing it should be back to unresponsive, but it didn’t.

The weird thing after a while (1,2,3 hours of playing on and off) it started to be more unresponsive then response, but sometimes when I play it for a while it starts to be response again (I test it with a plastic whip).

Even now it has been 2 weeks since I cleaned it and It sometimes jumps to be responsive again, I leave my yoyo alone for a while and pick it back up and it is back to fine.

You probably thinking you used to much lube! or my bearing wasn’t dry before i applied the lube, ….

Here started my testing: I bought some concave bearing. When they arrived, I tested the spinning on a pencil, it was crazy they spun for a really long time! Then I applied to one of them some lube (I applied it with a needle and put as little as possible on the needle you could see a small droplet) I tried spinning it again and it didn’t spin even for 30 seconds.

I lube another bearing tried even less and it was the same(bit better but no loooong spin time). So I cleaned them with mineral spirit and left them to dry and kept spinning then I even went with a paper towel in the bearing and you could see it wet up. After spinning it for like 5/10 min straight it spun like it did before (fresh from the package) but didn’t applied the lube yet.

I know now that I don’t need to lube my bearing when I buy a new yoyo. And I know now that I don’t need to lube it when there is nothing wrong with it. But I have some cleaned yoyo’s that need lubing now otherwise I spin then dry (and that is not good).

I watched a lot of video’s about lubing a bearing and everyone does it similar but still different. But they all say after 10min of playing it you should be fine and that is not the case for me. I even watched “the brandon vu” on youtube and he could lube and not be responsive (I have the same lube and I put the same amount)

But I learned some things as well:

  • after cleaning let it, drying on a paper towel isn’t efficient enough. I need to use compressed air to speed up the process unless I want to spin it with my hand for 10/15 min

  • removing and reapplying the shields all the time is not good the bearing. Now I have 2 less working bearing with shields. because I bend then a little while removing/reapplying.

I know the amount lube really dictate on how much you need to spin it before I becomes unresponsive again but it is just weird that even after 2 hours my shutter is sometimes responsive (with a really small amount of lube in it)

My question is if someone has had the same problem in their starting carries of yoyoing and how they fix it. Or tips when I lube it with a little as possible should I compress air it as well (I don’t want to because I’m scared I will blow out the lube)

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Regarding the bent shields - take them off and throw them away. Not needed.

Lube - use very little. With the shields off, hit the bearing with the compressed air to remove the excess. Or, don’t lube in the first place.

Cleaning - shields off, dry with compressed air.

Have you checked the videos here: Useful modification & maintenance guides -- clean, repair, tune, fix yoyos - #17 by yoyojoe

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And after the cleaning with mineral spirit do i still need to lube it ?

It’s up to personal preferences. I never lube my bearings, but some people do.

I use 100% acetone to clean I find it leaves the least residue and is easy to find. Look for 100% acetone nail polish remover that does the trick.

Leave shields off - the bearing seat encloses the bearing anyway.

After cleaning I used to use the tiniest pinprick of thin lube just touched to the bearing but a few months ago started just blowing them dry with canned air and leaving them dry. I have had zero issues doing this.

I keep the acetone in a sealed jar and just drop the bearing in and swish around for 30 seconds or so. I have a bamboo chopstick I use to fish out the bearing and then I spin it good on the chopstick. Back in for another wash and then fish out with the chopstick and blast with canned air for a few seconds til it spins clean. Easy peasy.

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