Give your yo-yo a blast finish using your dryer

Yo-Yo Mods and Maintenance
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I thought this was super cool! Check out the before and after pic:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Btj5xFah9ra/

Details on how it was done:

Sure thing! I used Whink Rust/Stain Remover to remove the anodization on each half with the pads/bearing/axle removed by submerging each side in it in a glass jar for about 15 seconds.

The stonewash was pretty easy. I put in some cheap pads and a bad bearing to protect the important parts, and assembled the yoyo. Then I took a plastic jar with screw on lid, enough small aquarium stones (washed to remove dirt) and added them while damp to fill the jar about half way, tossed in the yoyo, and closed the container. I wrapped the container in a couple of towels, taped it up, and tossed it in the dryer on the no heat setting with some loose towels for about 2 hours. Washed off all the debris, replaced the pads and bearing, and itā€™s good to go.

You have to be careful to not stonewash for too long, or you can end up with a more shiny appearance, kind of defeating the purpose of the treatment.

I wouldnā€™t do this with an aluminum yoyo b/c the softer metal will likely get some serious dings/dents from the rocks. Titanium works really well to keep it to only small surface scratches that look great in the end.

I actually think this would work fine with an aluminum yo-yo, if you stick to smaller, less dense ā€œrocksā€. Maybe even sand?

Iā€™m really intrigued by the idea of putting your aluminum yo-yo in a plastic container, partially filled with sand-ish stuff, wrapping it in a towel or two, then letting the dryer run on ā€œno heatā€ mode for a few hours.

You just created your own blast finish!

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Well, his choice of a username is very fitting.

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Itā€™s funny how the blasted version looks like such a different yo-yo ā€“ even though itā€™s obviously identical ā€“ because you can see the shape better, the shiny isnā€™t reflecting everything all over the place.

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Tumblers are actually pretty cheap. You can get one for $40-$50 from Harbor Freight, could mess around with different abrasives then.

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But as he pointed out

Yeah, Iā€™m not looking to spend 100$ on something Iā€™ll use a few times. This worked just fine for me :+1:

If the dryer works, itā€™s free, and easy to experiment with. I expect it WILL be noisy thoughā€¦

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CLONK

CLONK

Just doing the laundryā€¦

CLONK

DING

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When I stone wash, I do it by hand for a few hours a day over a weekend. I usually end up inhaling about pebbles worth of stone dust when finished.

Yesā€¦Iā€™m crazy.

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I think I have some raw aluminum yoyos lying around. But more interestingly, I have a bag of very fine brass wire (the scrap from an EDM that I run at work). I wonder what would happen :thinking:

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What anodization? This is a Ti Hawk, correct? I didnā€™t think they were anodizedā€¦

You can see the one he Stonewashed has been sparked.

I might try this on my Ricochet.

But then it might be difficult to get the sand-ish stuff off your yo-yo, and youā€™ll have to be a bit rough with your cleaning. After that, your yo-yo might become a little sand-offish! :nerd_face:

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I am a dad, and I approve of this dad joke :+1:

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Seems like that sort of finish would turn a yo into a real string eater.

Itā€™s still pretty awesome. Reminds me of my old YYF VK, had such a rough bead blasting that even nylon strings would end up actually breaking after a few weeks.

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You would need to mask off the response areas and the axle holes for sure. Iā€™d probably do it with hot glue to make sure nothing gets in there!

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Tried this with my trusty d__runner. Turned out ok, but I definitely used rocks that were too large. Should have gone with aquarium stones instead of garden rocks. All the small details stayed polished.

I masked off the entire guts with hot glue around an already-bad bearing. (Lots of water still leaked through the glue into the bearing, making it even worse!)

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This is awesome!

But I have a question, why use water at all? I think sand plus some slightly larger-than-sand rocks should suffice?

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Did doing this cause any vibe issues?

Iā€™ve been considering partially filling the cups of my ti cadence with river sand (sand with tiny pebbles) and home blasting just the cups but have been reluctant as I didnā€™t want to induce vibe in a smooth Ti.

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The instructions above said to leave the rocks just a bit wet.

None whatsoever, even though the applesauce container fell out of its towel for a bit in the dryer. Pretty sure the applesauce container has some vibe now, though.

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OK when you guys say ā€˜aquarium rocksā€™ do you mean the brightly colored gravel, or the decorative glass-lookins stones?

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The tiny rocks, not the glass.

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Dope. May try it this weekend.

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Iā€™m gonna do this either tonight or tomorrow with my ā€œheat bronzedā€ Vayder.

Do you think sand would be better? Iā€™m not sure aquarium rocks are gonna be small and fine enough?

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