Some yoyos have them, some don’t. Why don’t all yoyos just have no spacers? For example my Asteroid has spacers and they are a major hassle! But my Cafe Racer doesn’t and well it’s basically the same thing but with no hassle. So what is the point???
Protects the yoyo. If you put a threads in plastic, it’ll probably break pretty quickly.
It also widens the gap. Some spacers can be replaced with larger or smaller spacers, which makes your gap wider or smaller.
Plastic bearing seats don’t work well so most plastics need spacers or some other alternative like the solid spin system.
All of the above…
In most cases with a plastic yoyo the spacer is really the bearing seat. Some manufacturers prefer to make the bearing seat a metal insert rather than mold the into the shell. They call it a spacer for convenience. The FHZ on the other hand comes with both a metal insert bearing seat and a set of washers, which really are spacers used to increase the gap.
A true spacer is just a thin washer between the shell and either the bearing, or the bearing seat if that is a separate piece.
here are examples of true spacers (otherwise known as shims)…
http://img369.imageshack.us/img369/1999/shim01kd5.jpg
http://img369.imageshack.us/img369/3473/shim06lm1.jpg
http://img376.imageshack.us/img376/1945/shim07yf0.jpg
Spacers are used because they are more durable than the plastic itself, and so the gap width can be changed, YYF uses spacers in their yoyos so they are more smooth. Yoyojam bearing seats are durable enough with the brass insert so that eliminates the need for spacers.
[quote=“captinev98,post:1,topic:36571”]
What makes them a major hassle?
I’ve seen others complain about spacers in the past but never understood why they’re an issue.
[quote=“theTopo,post:7,topic:36571”]
It is hard to remove the bearing for deshielding and cleaning.
Let’s be clear about this, they are BEARING SEATS, not spacers.