Hey guys. Yesterday, I was yoyoing at school. A person who I’d never seen walked up to me and gave my prized (sucky, but prized) DM a good hard kick. >:( :o ??? He then made a break for it. So now, my DM is acting up…
It’s responsive and sleeps for about 6 seconds. I tried changing the axle, cleaning (and lubing) the bearing, and substituting the response pads. Nothing worked. I am desperate for a way to fix it, because I’ve got a pretty tight budget. Please suggest anything. Thx.
You haven’t tried swapping the bearing. If you can, put in another C-sized bearing and see where that takes you. Just as a test, take it from another yoyo that you may have.
You should also NOT lube the bearing for now. Re-clean your bearing. What are you using to clean your bearing? Mineral spirits or acetone or lighter fluid? I recommend acetone. Anyhow, spin and blow that sucker dry, then try it. You might find a problem in this part of the process.
If you’re near me, I’d try to do more for you but that’s not an option on the internet.
I’m in the Sacramento area, in case you’re nearby. You can PM me if you want to have it handled that way. If you’re not 18 or older, bring a parent or two. All work will be done while you wait and in front of you.
If you must order a new bearing, the YYJ Speed bearing shouldn’t set you back more than $8 and YYE can do first class postage to save you money on shipping.
Another possibility I failed to consider is:
Perhaps your solid spin axle system is messed up. If your gap has gotten smaller, that would be another area to look for. You’ll need to use epoxy resin to properly cement it back into place.
Studio42, I just tried exchanging the bearing with a size C Spec from my Shutter. No luck. :-[ And the gap hasn’t gotten any smaller. But, I noticed something: I put the functional (and very clean by now) Speed bearing in one half of the yoyo, and it spun just fine. But in the other half, it revolved less than a half a turn. So, the problem is probably in the bearing seat, but I’m not sure what it is.
I tried to clean out the bearing seat with a brush and a safety pin. No luck. So, I’m as confused (and annoyed) as ever… Thanks, though.
OK, so it sounds to me like your DM2 got kicked hard enough so the bearing seat/axle seat got knocked out of whack.
Compare the two halves. That center structure INSIDE the yoyo where the bearing sits is the solid spin axle system. Best you can tell, compare both sides to each other. On the questionable side, spin it around a full 360 while looking at it from a low angle under some decent light. Odds are something isn’t looking right there. See if that solid spin axle will move. Take out the cap on that side too, you’ll need to examine under there as well.
If something like this happens again you need to go tell someone, yoyo’s are expensive and he shouldn’t get away with that. I hope this kid isn’t bullying you, if so you deserve better and don’t have to take that, I hate bullies to no end. I hope your yoyo isn’t broken and hope you can still bring it to school. Best of luck man.
After fixing it
Go out and find this dude
Lighter Fluid as lube for a yoyo!? Could your bearing or string get burned because of how fast the yoyo is going while the string is touching the bearing? Or can smoke start to rise from it?
I think that since their isn’t much friction coming from the bearing, it shouldn’t smoke or anything
Although I’ve never heard of anyone using lighter fluid as a lube before, seems kinda strange
No, those are all solvents for cleaning a yoyo bearing. And also no on the bearing or string burn question.