I have some nicer bearings that have shields on them. They play well until they don’t. Now a finger spinning a pencil only lasts about 8 seconds. Can I just soak it in the lighter fluid longer? Or do I really have to painfully remove those shields? I’ve done it before and sometime it feels like it sounds louder for some reason. I like that smooth sssss sound
I remove the shields with a sewing needle. I then soak the bearing to clean em and when Im done Ill roll a papertowel into a small point. Put one drop of thin lube on that point then dab it in the bearing. Works every time for me lol
I never take the Shields off. I just put them in a jar with solvent for like 20 mins, occasionally swirling the jar. I have taken them off before but ime it’s unnecessary.
I was doing this and found theyd still be noisy as hell. It takes me like 2 seconds to pop em off. Do it once, throw the shield right in the trash, and never look back 
Shields can also rattle a little causing more noise.
You don’t have to, but I think it gets a better cleaning if you take them off.
There’s a trick to getting the c-shaped clips off. One side is flat, and the other side is angled. If you slide a needle along the angled side then it should pop right off. If you’re having difficulty, then you’re likely trying to pop it off from the flat side. Check out this video, starting at 0:55
This is the best technique I’ve found for Yo-Yo size bearings
Fum fact- if the pencil test yields an 8-second result then you don’t really have to clean it. Anything 5 seconds and above ensures optimal lack of response.
So dose a Mask bearing or VIP beating from CLYW Pixel bearing etc make a big difference? They would also need to be shield and clean after a few month play right?
what’s this i hear about not needing to desheild a bearing to clean it?
the bearing doesn’t actually get cleaned if you don’t desheild it. If you soak the sheilded bearing in your solvent, then it will only make the bearing wet, and the surface a bit smooth. this reduces friction between the bearing and the bearing seat, which makes you think that it was cleaned but it actually wasn’t
btw don’t sue me i didn’t do research on this i just typed this info off the top of my head, so i could be wrong but this is my opinion
Well, I will save you guys by making this one of my shorter long-winded speeches. But that being said, I will mention a couple things for you guys to consider…
First of all, if you ever go shopping for bearings, you will notice a good number of the aftermarket bearings that have some sort of centering configuration on the outer surface, already have the shields removed. That alone should give you at least a hint on which way is easier to clean a bearing.
There are no doubt, good points and bad points to considering when having or not having shields.
Realize, that even though a de-shielded bearing is easier to clean, Depending on what string type you use, it can get dirty faster also. If you’re using a type of string that generates a lot of fuzz, that debris can get ‘into’ the bearing that much easier. But then again, because you already have the shields removed, it only takes a minute here and there to get them clean and running again…
If you run a bearing dry and it has no shields on it, of course, it may make more noise because the sound that inherently is made by a bearing is not muffled So nothing stands in the way of that grinding noise being amplified.
If you have a de-shielded bearing, and you are ‘lube happy’ the lube is going to migrate out of the bearing and wick up your string and seep into your response pads. If you use a Petroleum-based lubricant, sometimes that can affect the performance of your response pads, and/or how well the adhesive holds the pads in. Most adhesives don’t like petroleum based lubes. ……This is just another aspect of yo-yo maintenance. But…by Keeping an eye on a lubed bearing situation can be difficult for some people that have this dim-witted belief that you should live in FEAR of unscrewing your yo-yo. That is about as bright as buying a new car and being afraid to lift up the hood to check the engine.
Shielded bearing usually do a pretty good job of keeping the lube ‘in’. But they also do a pretty good job of keeping the micro debris in, too. As a bearing ages(especially if you run it dry and leave the shields on, tiny bits of bearing balls and race fragments, stay inside the shielded bearing and conveniently assist the bearing in grinding itself to Death.
As, Examine suggested, an Exacto knife can be an excellent way to remove shields. But that being said, using an Exacto can also be an excellent way to Lower your blood pressure by slipping and running the razor edge across your fingers. No matter how advanced you are at throwing yo-yos around, that does not give you any bonus points in how to use razor sharp tools like a Boss.
Here is the bottom line…
If, you play bearing yo-yos but you mainly play ‘responsive’ keep your shields on because you can get more controlled, consistent ‘responsiveness’ by keeping the lube where you want it.
If you play primarily 1A, unresponsive, use no shield bearings and just be prepared to learn how to maintain them.
Over the years, I’ve had so many people tell me, ‘I have trouble maintaining my equipment because ‘I’m Lazy’. Lazy is ‘not’ a reason. lazy is an excuse.
Properly maintaining your equipment in any sport, hobby, pastime, is part of the deal. No matter whether it’s a surfboard or a skateboard or a handgun or archery gear or ….uh, yo-yos, to have functional equipment, you have to be part of the solution.
Personally, most 1A yo-yos I have are unshielded and seldom run dry. I normally try to keep a tiny amount of synthetic lube in the bearing to minimize the bearing from eating itself alive.
…Nothing wrong with running a bearing ‘dry’. There may be a price to pay for a shorter length of higher performance. But that is the price you pay for that performance.
Yeah you’re wrong. I never deshield and never have had any problems. I know they get clean anyways bc you can see all the dust and stuff in jar when I take them out and the crunchy sound goes away. And they’ll go from responsive back to unresponsive, assuming the reason I cleaned it was because it went responsive.
You’re sued.
Also fwiw I had a convo with a national Yoyo master about this and they don’t deshield and also haven’t had any problems cleaning them like that. The stuff inside gets out the same way it gets in. The shields aren’t airtight unless they’re the rubber kind.
“you’re sued.”
lol
I feel like allot of maintenance is hearsay and improvised based on feelings.
It sort of feels like witch craft.
We all have the same tools and products yet have very different methods all leading to a similar outcome.
Shields need to be removed to clean the bearing properly.
This will help insure foreign particles do not remain in the bearing.
Once I received a bearing back from a customer having a problem
and after opening the bearing found a 3 inch long strand of hair inside
and the bearing simply needed to be cleaned.
Even with the shields on, dirt and string lint can get into a bearing.
Remove the shields and clean the bearing in a solvent.
If you look very closely in a cleaning phial after shaking around a gunked unshielded bearing you can see little flecks of dirt coming out of the bearing. Shields are effective but not impervious so as a result cleaning without deshielding is still effective. Deshielding just makes it marginally faster.
