Ok, I have a YYJ Atmosphere, works pretty good but it could be better.
Anyways, my problems.
First, whenever my flowable silicone falls out I put some more in, and every time I re silicone it with flowable, it becomes responsive for a while. I don’t overflow but I do fill it to the top.
My other problem, I have heard that a unresponsive bearing lubed with Thick lube (3 in 1 in my case) will never be unresponsive again, even if you clean or add thin lube. And for my atmosphere this theory is true. It’s not 100% unresponsive, about 80%.
My bearing is also running a little rough but cleaning doesn’t help very much. It’s enough to sleep long but not smooth and long spinning with a flick.
Patently untrue. Think about it… lube is just a substance coating your bearings. Assuming the bearing isn’t otherwise damaged (the lube itself won’t cause any damage), if you thoroughly clean it, your bearing will be as unresponsive as it can be.
There’s no magic ingredient in 3-in-1 or any other lubricant (at least, one made for metal) that will change the properties of steel.
When you re-silicone, obviously care must be taken (silicone in bearing seat, etc). Let’s assume that you did a PERFECT job and it’s ONLY in the groove, at the level you want it at (flush or ideally less than flush).
With few exceptions, a new silicone-based response (whether pads or flowable), will have a break-in period. The only thing to do is suffer through it. The closer your silicone gets to flush with the channel, the more naturally responsive it’s going to be (break-in period or otherwise), so you could apply it a bit recessed (or even more recessed if you’re already doing this to an extent) and see if that helps… but you’re going to have to break it in one way or another.
Be warned, though, if it’s “perfect” right out of the tube, that’s probably a sign that it’s been done wrong rather than right. If flowable plays perfectly with no break-in, it’s probably going to start to get slippy pretty quickly.
Regarding the rough bearing, nobody can say. We can say “sounds dirty still” until we’re blue in the face, but we have to take YOUR word for it that it’s as clean as it can get. If you are truly convinced you cleaned it to an ungodly level of clean and it’s still rough… get a new bearing! No amount of maintenance can fix a bum bearing. These are mass-produced commodity items, and there are going to be some bad ones. You might have a bad one. Replace it and save yourself all this headache!
[quote=“Bcmaddog,post:5,topic:50177”]
Grooved have a small groove in the middle, like a Trifecta or Crucial Grooved. Center Tracs are more on the “concave” side of things (though they’re actually flat through the middle). When in doubt, just refer to them collectively as “profiled”.
In general, a profiled bearing will make the yoyo less responsive on a sleeper or breakaway. But due to a bunch of complicated factors hardly worth going into, you can actually find yourself binding more tightly with certain profiled bearings.
I personally think Center Tracs have the best of both worlds (should generally be less responsive through play-- not just on sleepers), but KKs are probably affect responsiveness even more. There are arguments (probably valid) that they can muck up smooth play with multiple wraps/layers, but I think all bearings are worth a shot to see if they suit your play style.
Cheapest bearing you can get here is YYE’s bearing. The best not-too-expensive flat bearing in my opinion is the General-Yo AIGR. YYJ’s “Speed” bearing is darned good, too.
I would like to add a voice of support to everything GregP has said here (always one to provide some wisdom it seems ) and would recommend Buddha bearings. Seem to play very efficiently for the price, especially when bought in multiples.
Parts is parts. Keep in mind that responsiveness is 95% controlled by the condition of the bearing rather than the type. If it’s cleaned and lightly lubed (or none) it will be unresponsive. If it’s over lubed or dirty it will be responsive.
What? I mean, when I fill the groove with flowable it becomes responsive (for a longer than usual period) and I think part of it is because the string is running against the fresh response making it pop back up. So if a say “Koncave” bearing centres the string, that means it is not touching the response. Won’t that make it less responsive.
Another thing, what makes a yoyo spin longer? Does it depend on the lube or lube type? Do you get more spin on a dry bearing? Does a de shielded bearing make it spin slower because it is prone to more dirt? Because I don’t get more than 3 seconds spin time with a flick. What about a OD 10 ball?
Here is something strange, the bearing in my atmosphere spins 8 seconds in my PGM. And my PGM bearing spins 3 seconds in my atmosphere. I have cleaned the bearing seat. I wonder what els it could be.
) and would recommend Buddha bearings. Seem to play very efficiently for the price, especially when bought in multiples.