Hey guys today i decided to put down my yyf metals and play with my plastics. I Went to pick up my dm2. I looked at the rims, and they are horribly dark and corroded. It just looks disgusting, and im hoping to find a way to clean it. I used a wet paper towel and it cleaned it, but it still looks darkish gray. I REFUSE to play with an ugly yoyo the same way i refuse to hold an ugly baby. Help me!
metal polish
If you’re playing with an ugly baby on a string, you’ve got some serious issues!
I mean, use a rope. Common sense, man!
But on a more serious note, I get where you’re coming from. Some yoyo colorways are just horrific in my opinion.
I have a Dark magic II as well, but at 4 months in my possession, it’s too new to tarnish yet. A little metal polish will take care of that. It’s going to be much nicer than using fine grit sandpaper or a scotchbrite pad to remove it. My only issues is I don’t know how the polish will affect the plastic, but other people are doing this so I suppose if you apply the polish to the rag, you won’t nave to mask off anything. Then again, maybe the polish has little to no effect on plastic.
Have fun. This shouldn’t take you too much time to fix.
If you don’t know how to fix it, send it to me. I’ll fix it up for free. Just pay 5$ for shipping.
You can fix it yourself. Do you have a lathe, drill, or drill press, and polishing compound? If so, put some polishing compound on a rag and spin half on a drill, drill press, or lathe, and polish the rims.
It should have no effect. All your doing is polishing the plastic.
U had urs for 4 months and its still in a good condition? Ive had mine for way less than that and the rims look almost black! I think ill just go for the metal polish cuz it seems like the easiest and least risk of completely wrecking my yoyo. Thanks guys!
you don’t really need metal polish, you can use a sponge with a green back i think its called scotch bright.Just use the part that’s green and rub the metal part. Doesn’t take very long maybe bout 5minutes.
Baking soda + a damp paper towel.
A poor mans metal polish. Works wonders
Also, It’s completely safe for the plastic too.
Tried the baking soda, and the sponge. Neither worked well. I’m just gonna tell my dad to get me some metal polish. Hopefully that will work!
Well, in the 4 months, I started from an hour a day of practice, and after about 2 weeks, that dwindled to about 10 minutes a day, or roughly an hour a week. Then I stopped due to having to focus on work related stuff. Then it picked back up to about an hour a week, but right now I’m lucky to get even 5 minutes a day as I’m preparing for back to back events, then a two week break and more prep for a 4 day festival. It hasn’t been 4 months of as heavy of usage as I’d like to be using it.
I’m not sure what is causing your DM2 to tarnish so rapidly. In the meantime, the baking soda method works because the baking soda acts as a mild abrasive as well as being above to remove oxidation. But it’s going to take some “elbow grease”. The scotchbrite method can scratch the metal, but most often, it won’t. I use Scotchbrite pads and some De-Oxit to clean contacts in my audio system and cable connectors(especially TRS) all the time with no problem, especially for guitarists who don’t take care of their stuff. Metal polish never gives me any hassle, but it typically takes me a bit longer than I have time for, because usually when I have to use it, I’m usually under a big time crunch, so it’s just bad timing. However, for the effort you put in to properly use baking soda or the scotchbrite method, the same time is sufficient for the metal polish method.
As far as a lathe and polishing compound, you can use an AC powered drill if you don’t have a lathe. The hardware is to help speed up the process. You can use polishing compound on your own, it just takes a bit more time. You can also use the lathe concept with the scotchbrite idea as well.
Got any photos?
Hmmm I used a wet paper towel and it did remove most of it. I play 4-5 hrs a day so that might be part of it… This all seems like too much work. I’ll figure it out myself
Moise,
We have metal polisher. Its in a can labeled Brasso in the garage on the shelf by the garage door. Brasso is really good for brass but should work on aluminum; its in fiberous form and is easy to use.
For everyone else, its really a waste of time to polish the metal weight rims on the DMII, it’ll carode again rather quickly. This is due to the poor quality aluminum used. YYJ probably used such a low grade aluminum since its not a structual part and its very cheap. By the way, any metal polisher will eventually dull the shine on plastics. Aluminun corrodes very quickly (faster than steel) but actually maintains it shape longer (doesn’t flake off like steal) because of a difference in aluminum’s oxide density; it creates a protective surface which inhibits further corrosion. Unfortunately aluminum’s corrosion (aluminum oxide which is actually white) is porous and ugly and absorbs dirt around it (turns black). Higher grades of aluminum stay shiny longer. These properties by the way, make aluminum very difficult (& expensive) to paint (paints actually don’t stick very well to aluminum and anodizing is costly).
Toothpaste is a good metal polisher and will be easy on the plastic parts. In case you’re ever lost in the woods, you can use toothpaste to polish the bottom on a coke can to such a high gloss it can be used to focus the sun’s rays & start a fire, like a magnifying glass.
Thanks dad 
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The baking soda works, it just takes a lot of elbow grease.
Also, the above posts are pretty dang awesome. Father and son.
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Seems like if we just put a sealant on the aluminum on the bi-meats, we’d resolve the problem, or at the very least, put it off a good long white.
I’m sorry but 6061 T6 aluminum isn’t cheap quality. They know what they are doing. The problem is in the acidity in your son’s hands. That is what’s causing the aluminum to tarnish, not corrode. There is nothing wrong with it.
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Polish…
Lathe, don’t need no stinkin’ lathe.
Just rub it on, rub it off.
As icthus said, it’s probably the skin oil on your hands. I see this all the time. Some people just look at an aluminum yoyo and it tarnishes (not corrodes). Others (like me) rarely have a problem. The ones I use every day never tarnish. A couple that I haven’t used in a very long time have a light tarnish on them.
Neverdull is my go to polish. Love that stuff.
Brasso (plenty of days in the Military using that stuff) or toothpaste. Rub on, rub off.
I will say that tooth paste isn’t very good at all for a polish. It will remove tarnish though.