I am constantly having an issue with my “used” bearings. After cleaning them I just cant them to spin like they use too. Compared to a brand new ct they spin time is maybe half or a 1/3 of the time. So here is what im doing, please please please reply if you have had better results.
Remove bearing, leave sides on if they are there.
Put bearing into mineral spririts. Leave to 10-15 minute, swish around every once in a while,
Remove bearing from solution dry with paper towel, leave wrapped if needed.
Test out bearing, lube as needed.
That is basically it, how ever they get LOUD and even with lube i can just hear a lot of scratching and rubbing.
I have never been able to get a bearing to act like new, or even close to new, at this rate id just have to buy new bearings, or play with shorter combos and tricks :c
Take the shields off as noted, blow out the solvent w/compressed air, very lightly lube. If you don’t want to lube, that’s fine. The noise is natural for a dry bearing. They will sound scratchy but that’s ok. I prefer to lube mine a bit.
To blow them out use the small cans of compressed air available at computer stores.
Agitate bearing in a liquid. This can be the same liquid as your solvent, but the point I’m making is that you need to shake, shake, shake… shake it off up! Just letting it sit there won’t move out the solid debris that accumulates
Let it sit in a solvent of your choice (I like acetone, but mineral spirits are OK, too, or Bio-Green). The point here isn’t to dissolve pet hair (though a strong solvent will do it!) but rather to break down any oils that are gunking up the bearing
Agitate some more. You’ve dissolved some oils, but that might have left other solids behind. Shake 'em out!
Use the canned air to blow out the liquids. Be careful here… don’t just blow acetone all over your house! Aim carefully at a surface that can handle it. Better yet, go outside and do it on some concrete…
LET IT DRY … people get impatient here. Sure you blew out most of the liquids, but let it dry anyhow.
If you’re fastidious like me, you will next do an additional “spinning” step with the bearing on a pen or chopstick or whatever. I don’t know exactly what it is, but after a few minutes of spinning, you can feel it working better than when you first started.
lightly lube if you are that kind of person (I am)
Put the bearing back on the yoyo and play it hard for a little while. I like to do lots of gyro flops which “lock” the outer races in place while the bearings continue whizzing around.
Small glass container, just wide enough for a bearing or two.
Lighter fluid (zippo), or any good solvent, yes they matters, some thinner are not “thin” enough to clean the bearing and leave oily residue. Lighter fluid is clean and non aggressive to most plastic.
Small clean screwdriver.
Method:
Put bearing in the container, pour lighter fluid just until the bearing is completely submerged.
Put the tip of the screwdriver in the middle of the bearing inner race, then shake it around so the solvent (lighter fluid) goes in between the balls. Normally this takes like ten seconds.
Take it out, spin the bearing with fingers, put on a tissue or simply spin it around more (sometimes lightly knock it on a clean surface) to let it dry.
If it’s still not clean, time for paper slip method.
So far these always work.
