Ever Lube Your String?

Now, that is not a colorful metaphore.

I literally want to know if you ever lube your string. I have a Yoyojam Classic and it came with (naturally) a brand new string.

When I first got the yo-yo, I couldn’t get it to respond very well despite that it’s designed to be a responsive yo-yo (though you can convert it to be non-responsive). I got some advice to lube it, and lubing it seemed to work, but only briefly.

As a result, I wound up lubing it over and over again. Over time, the string became somewhat saturated with the lube (like when a candle gets wicked when the wax or oil saturates the wick). After a while, I didn’t need to keep lubing it all the time. It just seemed to remain responsive.

Well, three weeks into it, I had to put a new string on (that original string was damn near indestructable!). Now that the new string is on, I’m having to constantly lube my yo-yo to keep it responsive again.

So it got me wondering if lubing my string might save some time and some lube. Is it possible that lubing a string increases responsiveness for the yo-yo? Doe any of you ever do this?

Don’t lube the string

Yes, and no…

I’ve applied wax to the string on a fixed axle looper. Just the right amount makes it spin longer, while a slight bit more makes it very grabby. Decided it’s not worth the effort. I’ve never intentionally lubed a string on a bearingized yoyo.

Probably not good to get it on your hands :P. Oh, and most people say unresponsive, not non-responsive (just a side note)

Lube is supposed to make things slide smoother, which is the opposite of what you want. Are you using thin or thick lube? Thin lube will make it responsive for a short while, but that isn’t what it is made to do. Thick lube is made to make a yoyo more responsive, and the effects lasts longer. http://shop.yoyoexpert.com/product/410/YYF-Performance-Oil

Another thing, yoyojam advises against getting lube on the pads because it could cause them to pop out sooner. I don’t know if its true, but it seems like you’ve been fine so far, so maybe it isn’t.

No. Just use thicker lube on the bearing…

Maybe learning to bind would save you a lot of trouble…

Lube is what makes the bearing become responsive, right?

I’m using 3 in 1 oil. Is that considered thick or thin?

Good to know. And actually I haven’t been lubing my string so far. It just wicked up a little bit of the lube from the bearing over the past three weeks of use, so it kind of just soaked up some of it along the way. I wasn’t actively trying to lube the string, and it didn’t happen for very long, so I don’t think I’m a good test of whether or not it makes the O rings pop out.

[quote=CaliBuddha]Maybe learning to bind would save you a lot of trouble…
[/quote]
I can bind. I know at least four different binds. I still want my yo-yo to be responsive though. I honestly don’t ever do anything that requires my yo-yo to sleep for over 10 seconds. Sometimes I just want to do a simple around the world - which to the best of my knowledge cannot be done with an unresponsive yo-yo unless you move into a bind after you do the Around the World.

I’m still at the point where a simple Around the World is a trick I like to do. So I want my yo-yo to be responsive, and I just wanted to know if lubing the string might help it grab onto the O ring.

I’m pretty sure 3in1 is thick. How long does it last before you have to lube it again?
Also, I think yoyojam was referring to thin lube and silicone pads, so I guess it doesn’t apply to you.

move into more advanced tricks, try the intermediate and advanced tutorial section of this website.

And there’s thin lube and thick lube. Thin lube conditions the yoyo while still keeping it unresponsive, thick lube makes it more responsive. 3 in 1 is thick lube.

In that case, over-lubing the bearing should be all you need to do. Are you putting the lube inside the bearing, where the balls are? If so, that should be good for a while whether it’s thick or thin lube. Over-lubing with either should make it responsive.

A few hours. Bear in mind I play with the yo-yo pretty much non-stop if I’m given the opportunity. As time went on with my first string however, I went two days without lubing it, which is why I think that the lube the string was wicking up was a factor.

I’m working on my Brain Twister this morning, actually. I do some of the intermediate stuff. Not a lot, but some.

Yeah, that’s where I’m putting it. I just am trying to figure out why with a brand new string I have to do it so frequently compared to my old string that I barely had to lube at all. Honestly, that’s the only thing that changed was the string, and the difference was sudden and pronounced.

One other factor is that I went from whatever kind of string was on the Yoyojam Classic that came in the box to a Duncan 100% cotton string, so that might be a factor, but I don’t think the type of string alone is enough to explain the substantial difference in performance I’m getting. This led me to question whether or not the string wicking up the lube had been one of the factors in getting really good play from my yo-yo even though that string was ancient in yo-yo terms (three weeks of pretty constant use). That thing would NOT break! It didn’t even start to fray. I’m pretty sure it was either a 50-50 string or 100% polyester.

Something just doesn’t sound right here to me. If you are correctly applying your lube, whether it be thick or thin, it should never “wick” up your string like you are describing. Are you de-shielding the bearing and then applying a drop of your lube directly onto the ball bearings of the bearing? If it is seeping up or otherwise transferring onto your string something in your application method must be incorrect it seems to me.

true. If it’s getting on the string, that means some of it is not on the bearing. Thick lube should last more than a few hours. Maybe you should try some real yoyo thick lube.

Well, I’m using a lot of lube. More than I should, probably.

Yes, the bearing is de-shielded. I put the luber directly into the bearing, but sometimes the drops are large and they dribble over the side of the bearing. There’s definitely some spillage and seepage going on because I’m pretty constantly applying a lot of lube.

That’s probably true.

But I kind of liked the result… Or at least I really enjoyed how my last string was playing. It was just… Filthy and old, and it stank (3 in 1 oil is pretty pungent). So I changed the string. It was still playing really well though. For me at least.

Yeah, maybe. Maybe the 3 in 1 isn’t cutting it. And it stinks, so I might get some real yo-yo lube. The only other person I’ve spoken to face to face about yo-yos though (who knows what they’re doing I mean) has the same kind of yo-yo I do, and he said he has to lube it every four or five hours of heavy play too though.

Wax on the string is okay, lube is not.
I would recommend you (again) to start learning unresponsive, it’s not that difficult, heck I personally think unresponsive is easier for most yoyoers. If you wanna stay responsive anyways maybe find another yoyo that is more “responsive friendly” like Freehand Zero or Velocity, or something else with A sized bearing. I think that yoyo (Yyj Classic) was designed with string tricks in mind, and naturally wide gap to handle more string layer, thus it’s not really suitable for responsive play (in my opinion).

(On a fixed axle) In moderation. Too much and it gets grabby. And actually I didn’t find it much of a benefit. Smoothing the axle is more beneficial.