I’m pretty much new in yoyoing, but I find it extremely fun and I try to learn new stuff every day.
At first I was using one very very very cheap (most likely Chinese) butterfly yoyo and after a lot of playing with it I managed to do every trick from YYE tutorial from the most basic ones to some of the advanced section. I know there not so tough for you guys, but it took me time and practice and I’m very happy I learned them. With this joke of a yoyo I even manage to throw sleepers that last for almost one and a half minutes (I’m not so sure that’s a big deal, but anyway
Later on I decided that for the more advanced tricks it’s time to get more serious equipment and I got me a DM. I like it very very much, I haven’t played with so much models or brands, but I really like this one. The problem is that I’ve been playiong with it almost a week now and I can’t throw a sleeper that lasts longer than 50 seconds - I almost dislocated my shoulder on that one :D.
The problem consists that even if at first the yoyo spins straight and the string is at the middle of the bearing with time it (yoyo) starts to slip to the side and tilt. After a little longer theangle of the tilt gets sharp enough for the string to start rubbing against either of the return systems and it’s not much longer before the sleeper fails miserably…
I don’t know if my throw sucks or if there is something else but I don’t like the idea that I can throw a 90 seconds sleeper with $0.40 Chinese plastic joke and I fail to get at least a minute of the DM.
For a couple of days now the sound of the spinning bearing has changed, it’s a lot quieter now, so I guess the bearing is starting to break in, but my sleepers still suck!
What causes the tilt that kills mi sleepers so early? How can I fix this? A konkave bearing maybe? Something else?
Sooner or later I guess I’ll get that KonKave, but for the moment I just wanted to know if this is normal for beginners or of there is something else I’m missing.
The thing that bothers me about sleep time is that I know it’s possible to squeeze even 5 minutes (maybe more) and since I was doing a minute and a half with some random toy it makes me mad to not be able to get at least 2 minutes with the DM. But I guess, as you sad, I need some more practice.
Thanks a lot!
If someone has other propositions, please share them with the new guy
Just practice your throw. Also, wear in your bearing a lot. Your new Dark Magic’s bearing probably isn’t worn in enough, so just play with it a lot and eventually it should start to spin longer.
Yeah work on your throw is the first thing. Also, unless the string is absolutely perfectly centered around the center of the weight of the yoyo (nearly impossible because even .0001 centimeters off would not be the same point) it will tilt, just the farther away from that point the faster it will tilt. Even a konkave won’t completely fix this, but it will help. Also, watch this video to show how to fix that tilt before it gets too bad on a throw.
while your still a beginner, don’t worry too much about sleep time. Practice tricks as best you can and you will find that your throws will get better and better. Even 30 seconds is a decent amount of time to be doing tricks. Keep practicing, and don’t get discouraged by things like sleep time.
Welcome to YoYoExpert! I hope you enjoy it here in our forums. You won’t need a konKave bearing, as it centers the string, yes, but it doesn’t straighten your throw.
Bottom line is your bearing might have something stuck in it. Clean it, and tell us what happened.
well if something is stuck in your bearing how will that cause your yoyo to tilt? A konkave bearing centers your string, not your yoyo, and a good throw should take care of those problems, when i first started i get like 20 second sleepers cuz my string was all the way to the side, now i can get probably 2-3 minute sleepers, just practice and you will get it
When it stops, and the body is spinning, the friction can cause it to have a heart-attack. But not a heart-attack, just going crazy in general. Might I say, a spaz-attack.
I don’t know if this is the same as what happend to me but…sometimes you can buy defective yoyos like myself and the DM. When I bought it, it only spun for 20-30 seconds so I practiced and got 40-50 sec. BUT my mom bought me the same yoyo by mistake and I took it out and I got a 2 MIN. sleeper so I threw my old one(3 weeks old) and still 50-60 sec. You can also clean the bearing. I dont think theres anything wrong with your throw 'cause if you could get 1 min with a cheap yoyo its def. not your throw, try a new yoyo ,a new bearing, or clean the bearing. Hope I helped .
Thanks to everyone for the help! I’m practicing all of the earlier tricks (mostly the one I learned in the intermediate and the first advanced section of the tutorials) all the time. I can say I’m getting better by the minute. With the cheap yoyo I’m doing most of them very well, but I’ve get used to the responsiveness of the yoyo. The unresponsiveness of the DM was a little bit frustrating at the beginning but I’m getting used to it pretty fast. I’m sure that spin time will come with practice. I was worried about the tilt, because it’s the main reason my sleepers are dying so young. I watched the video that Apetrunk posted, I figured that myself, but how can I fix a tilt in sleeper, where there is no additional string around the axle to affect the balance?
As for the KonKave, I’m not expecting from it to make me the best player ever just like that, but to help me with the balance loss.
It’s worse whit one of the earlier tricks - split the atom and occasionally with mack 5, after some overhand spins the yoyo turns almost sideways and sometimes I can’t even bind it back to my hand.
Well, to fix the tilt from a sleeper just throw it up on a front style trapeze, like if you were doing a bind, or a braintwister mount and do the same thing.
I agree. You seem to be caught on that yoyo instead, and seem to want everything in that yoyo on your Dark Magic. You must realize that they are totally different yoyo’s and will not play the same.
However, this is something I forgot to mention. When I got my Dark Magic, I had a hard time throwing it straight. But I had to practice my throw a lot to adjust. I had the same problem as you, just on a different level. After I practiced, I could throw my Dark Magic fine, so just practice
Also, for the tricks that you are doing where the yoyo tilts and stuff, you might be feeding too much slack in the string - have you tried adjusting your gap?
I’m sure that I’ve gotten used to the cheap yoyo and that’s a major factor, the thing is that for some reason I expected from the DM to get a sleeper that if not longer at least the same as what I’ve gotten out of the previous yoyo. I guess that’s a mistake
The good news is that my spin times are getting longer by the day, my new record is about 1:15, which is about 25-30 seconds longer then what I could got of it at the beginning, so practice and persistence starts kicking in. My throws are getting straighter and the that thing that Apetrunk showed me on how to compensate the tilt with a mount is helping me a lot.
And I’m pretty sure that the bearing hasn’t broke in fully just yet. Regarding that, is there some clear sight that the bearing is finally broken in so I’m sure it happened? Like a sound or an absence of any sounds at all? Major difference in spin times? Something else?
Oh, and my gap is as tight as possible, at first was as loose as it came out of the box, but was too unresponsive and I couldn’t bind it.
Samad, I’ve read somewhere that you can get a 5 minute sleeper. Does your yoyo tilts in any way during those 5 minutes and you have to stabilize it or you just throw it and sit, and wait? I’m just wandering if it’s normal for the yoyo to start tilting after some spinning or if it’s thrown right it’ll spin until it loses it’s momentum by itself (because of friction and stuff)?
You won’t need a konKave bearing, as it centers the string, yes, but it doesn’t straighten your throw.
But not a heart-attack, just going crazy in general. Might I say, a spaz-attack. 
