I just used flowable silicon for the first time
After it dried, i tried out my yoyo and it was wicked responsive. I tried playing with it a bunch to wear it down and it did to an extent, but its still too responsive.
The first side I put the stuff on it came out really rough and just not good cause i messed up while smoothing it and tried to fix it while the other side is nice and smooth.
Does the silicone need to be perfectly smooth? ie should I redo the side that came out bad?
The sili should be smooth. I also never fill up the recess all the way.
Use a guitar pick or something to create a smooth concave finish.
Make sure you don’t get any sili in the bearing seat… this will cause problems.
Allow it to set for 24 hours on a nice flat surface. This will ensure a smooth and level finish.
Two things -
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Make sure the silicone is as smooth as possible. Even one small badly shaped bump can grab the string while it’s spinning and make the yoyo very responsive.
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It’s critical to make sure that there is no silicone in the bearing seat area. Even a small bit of silicone rubbing against the bearing will slow it down enough to be responsive.
James is right on the money. The first few times you silicone a yoyo will be a bit messy but once you get the hang of it, it will be glorious.
Yuki
silicone should be smooth but if you put it right up to the bearing seat the you start to get a responsive Yoyo try going slightly under the bearing seat to keep it unresponsive but still has that response to it.
Sometimes my yoyos are responsive for weeks.
And for flowable you do not smooth it out. it will smooth itself out.
Lol they’re responsive for weeks because you don’t smooth out your sili.
No, for Flowable it smooths itself out.
For Flowable it’s a few days break in.
For adhesive or gasket masker it’s about 5-7 days depending on how you do it.
The problem here is to just keep throwing it.
I use the red gasket maker and after smoothing it with a credit card (I press really hard to get a small concave) it dries smooth (24 hours). Rub away excess and throw. 100% unresponsive.
When I do flowable silicone, I never have any issues.
Put it in, wait 5-10 minutes, take a glossy finished business card to smooth it over and remove the excess, wait 24 hours and it’s done, good to go. I remove any excess, double check the bearing area, and remove any that may be in there, and it’s time to replace the bearing, re-assembly the yoyo, add a string and it’s play time.The silicone cures flat and smooth and for me, I don’t notice a need for a break-in period.
If this was true, no one would smooth over sili.
I use flowable, and all I do is put it in. If you don’t over fill it thats all you need to do. just pour it in it levels it’s self off and your done. Been doing it this way since 06’ish. I like my silicone flush so I just pour it in let is level for about a min, then maybe add some if it is not full. I don’t wipe it around or do anything. Just set it on a level serface and let it level its self, just like flowable silicone is designed to do. Most people like it reccessed a bit, to do that you just have to put in a little less silicone.
for gasket maker i use just about anything with a flat edge to cut off the excess. I put it in both sides then remove the excess.
In my experience (Siliconed with rtv 30+ times) it only takes > 30 minutes to break in. It’s completely unresponsive from the start, but is a bit over-reactive.
With a good tube of flowable, smoothing out the silicone to make it flat is redundant. It will go flat all by itself.
HOWEVER, this is only a useful fact if you can fill the recess with the proper amount of silicone perfectly without spilling. This is not easy. As such, most people will overfill the recess and then smoothen it out, making the silicone nice and flush.
Break in time for silicone varies wildly. It depends on many, many factors - How flush the silicone is, how thick the string is, what material the string is made of, the tricks you do, etc. It’s difficult to pin down. It should be in the half hour to three day range though, depending on how much you play. The silicone won’t get any less response if you don’t play with it.
A common misconception is silicone makes a yoyo responsive. This never happens unless the silicone is like, 2mm above the surface of the yoyo. More than likely some silicone got into the bearing or bearing seat.
Flowable silicone and gasket masker adhesive ect are completely different!
If you put your “FLOWABLE” silicone in the groove its supposed to just sit wherever you put it, it smooths itself out.
If you put water on one part of the groove is it going to need to be smoothed out or is it going to float around and even out on its own?
On its own, that’s the way Flowable is, it’s more liquidey.