this is why I don’t use grease at all. i only use thick lube, which provides enough friction to slow down the outter race of the bearing, but allows the yoyo to spin really nice. all my responsive yoyos are a nice, reliable tug response. not a crazy snappy response. the deep state especially felt super slow with grease, with thick lube its a whole new animal.
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I actually have 5 full size C bearings set up starting with black moly caked in so thick that it auto returns, then moly and oil, thick oil, thin oil and dry. I try every single one in a yo-yo that I’m feeling out. So I’ve played it with every manner of lube in the bearing. Just doesn’t appeal to me the same. It does not feel like the same yo-yo in any way shape or form playing with the dry bearing and shims. That is only my experience. It will differ from many, and some will call it wrong without ever even trying it for themselves. This is just the nature of people. So I share my experience with those who are interested. I will agree that thick oil gives the best results when using lube, thin gets unpredctable and dry is of course unresponsive, but as great of a difference as there is between grease and thick oil, that’s also how great the difference is between using thick oil and no oil at all. In no way am I discrediting the use of lubricant.This is only “my” preferred” method that I wish to share with others. Just a different road that leads to a different part of the same town.
Not to mention getting to know interesting new people. 
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honestly i’d love to try this mod and see how it feels dry but still responsive. the only yoyos ive ever had that did that were the RCS gamer lite with a half-spec C, and the RBC (which was originally lubed, but i never relubed it, just let it get as dry as it could and it always responded nicely). both of those played very different than my yoyos that required lube to respond the way i wanted
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Playing my RBC this way is what put me on this path. They made it where it would still respond very well with a dry bearing. So far I’ve applied this to a few throws and I’ll highlight them here soon. 
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My hesitation in doing this has been that I shake…and I don’t want to make a mess. 
I did order flowable silicone and it’s been here waiting for me to make the leap
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Sorry for disappearing, had some life happening there for a few minutes. I have a few things more to document with this project and hope to get to that all this week. I also said I had some other modded yo’s I’d share as well. Today there is doctor…lawyer…blah blah. So I’ll just give a few impressions of the Deep and Deeper States with the YYE shims.
So I had a bunch of strings I’ve tried out since starting back and I had moved toward liking the feel of a thicker string and so part of my initial reaction to using these shims was that; with the thicker strings I like, they made both yo’s very pouncy on string tricks. Yes “pouncy”. Ready to strike at a moments notice.
So I started trying some thinner strings and stopped at the MYY poly strings. These are the first strings that dazzled me with the new technology of polyester but I’d not used them on anything in a while.
Anyways, with the YYE shims and MYY strings these both play pretty darn amazing. I think a lot of people would be very happy right here. And there are thinner strings out there that a person could try still to adjust the response to their liking, if thicker strings are not a must for you. They kinda are for me so I’ll be making more custom shims for mine.
With that being said, I feel like with some care these YYE shims could live a decent life. As I stated earlier, I don’t think they’ll hold up to constant dis/reassembly too well. But with care they could last. They’re also dirt cheap so a person could build a supply. Hopefully not wiping out the supply for the rest of us… At the very least, they provide a very easy way to try this setup in your Deep/ Deeper State.
So I plan to leave at least one set of the YYE shims installed and give them a longevity test. This will, of course, take time so that is to be continued. As for the other stuff I’ll be hopefully working it in this week.
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This weekend, I did the Shorter axel in the side effects, 1/2 spec bearing, and the 3D printed shims from YYE on a Deep State.
Like your experience, with medium string, “Pouncy” is a good description.
I will be giving it a shot with slimmer string soon.
Have fun
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This makes me want to find some shims in my pile o’ junk and see if I can get a similar result with my deep state cause I really don’t love the idea of trimming down a side effect. Maybe if i had some spare from a trade i didn’t care about or something I would be more willing to experiment but for now ill live vicariously through yall.
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So I hadn’t gotten to this part yet, but I only had to mod 1 pair of side effects that I had bought for my first Deep State. They were the flat cap style. I bought a used Deep State that also came with flat caps and I didn’t need to mod those. I also didn’t need to mod the ultralights that came on my red one. And both of the Deeper States I tried needed no modification to the axle or bearing post. I noticed that there was thread lock on the axles of the Side Effects and I’m wondering if maybe some are seated further than others. Because the pair I bought wouldn’t screw together to the point where the posts touched even just by themselves. While the ultralights and the flats in the used DS I bought would screw all the way together. So while this may be something that no-one else needs to do, someone MAY need to so I’ll still take the time to show how I did it.
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It’s nice to know that others keep a pile o junk too. 
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I only removed material from the non axle side because I couldn’t get the axle out without marring the side effect. As you can see in the comparison pics. I didn’t have to remove much but I sure had to. But as I said, my blue one had flat caps and they needed no modification at all. I simply took my file very carefully to the edge and took it down until I could get the yo-yo tight enough. If you need to mod yours, you’ll know because the halves won’t tighten together. They get to where the posts meet and then the halves just spin. If you can put shims and narrow bearing in and tighten it up, then you are golden and do not need to mod your Side Effects. As the axle is Loctite’d in place I decided to shorten it with the Dremel. Just about 2-3 threads should do. Just make sure to taper the edge of the axle to remove burrs for proper assembly. That’s all there was to that. Again, before modifying your Side Effects, take a moment to test if it will tighten first. If it tightens up then you do not need to modify your Side Effect.
I’m going to try something different with the shims this time. For some reason, last time, I felt like it would be a better idea to remove the circumference from a larger washer that fit on the bearing post, as opposed to drilling the center out of a smaller washer that had the proper circumference but too small of a hole in the center. So this time I’m gonna try to drill the center out of the smaller washer and see what happens.
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I used a stone Dremel bit to open up the center. I don’t have a vice or such thing to hold the washers to drill them, so if a person had a better and safer method than holding the washer in pliers and going after it with a Dremel, then by all means…use your method. Your own safety should always be of great concern to you. But this worked and was much less hassle than using the larger washers and cutting them down. The circumference seems to be excellent for this.
I followed my own advice this time and did 8 strokes to the thickness on the file, turned 1/4 turn, 8 strokes…test and continue until you get the response you want. This will take some patience but once it’s done, these brass washers will not need to be made again. Another benefit of this method is that the Dremel stone seems to make the hole just tight enough that the washer hugs the post just enough that they don’t fall out too easy. This helps with assembly as well as helping not to lose them as easy.
So I got a set made and put in the Deeper State last night that allowed me to have the response I want with the thicker strings I like. I currently have Zipline Executive Class. So smooth, so pretty. 
I will say at this point that assembling this can be tricky. This is why I favor starting with these smaller washers so they don’t fall off as easy. The YYE shims also hug slightly the post and stay in place pretty good. My first set just fell right off if the angle got too great when bringing the halves together. I tend to bring the halves together at an angle, closer at the bottom, and try to close the gap between them like this until the axle and opposite post unite, then I level it and start screwing it together VERY carefully. If the bearing or a shim comes unseated at this point it’s ok. Just don’t tighten it hard until you know everything is aligned. Get the halves screwed together tight enough to almost squeeze things together but you can still rattle it around in there. Just jiggle and tighten easily until everything is in place then ease it on down. The brass washers will crush slightly so get the tightness good and snug.
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So how does it play?? Amazing!!! I think I lean more toward liking the feel of the Deep State in the hand a tad more than the Deeper but they are both still amazing. I think the weight is within .5 grams of each other with flat caps on the Deep but on the string the Deeper State feels much lighter and more maneuverable. Faster as well. The Deeper State can play so much faster than I am capable of playing set up this way.
Here’s my ever so unscientific testing method for my response. I go for the point when you can’t conceive a delay after your tug, but you can still land Trapeze and Brother without the yo-yo pouncing. As long as I can land the Brother straight and it’ll sit on the string without biting into it, that’s what I’m looking for. I’ve found that the Brother seems more prone to snagging than Trapeze which is why I use this supremely scientific method of measuring. 
This seems to give the most flexibility with string tricks while also having an incredible feeling response with no delay. So loops are no problem. Someone who is good at 2a could have a field day with this setup. Though the Deep seems to have the edge in this arena but the Deeper still pulls off loops just fine.
Obviously this setup will deliver less than stellar results if your technique is sloppy. This is the reason I’ve gone with this yo-yo set up this way. As a training tool. The Deep State is the very most excellent trainer for accuracy and the Deeper State is a bit more relaxed but still a challenge. Using this method I’ve gotten to where I can very consistently land Trapeze on my Fireball Glow.
I’m a long way from being impressive with my repertoire of only a few tricks but after training with these and going back to a throw with a real catch zone I’m rewarded with greatly improved performances…of my few tricks…
Did I miss anything?? Also, should I highlight my other modded throws here, or a different thread? I still have flowing pads to perform to a few and will probably try that on my Blue Deep State as well. That I’ll definitely chronicle here.
If anyone tries this, please share your thoughts. Thanks for being interested. 
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One other note. Set up for the thicker string like this also allows one to easily get a semi responsive feel similar to the stock setup by switching to a more regular or even looping sized strings. So you can have it both ways without needing to switch the bearings out. Of course if you’re really hard core you just get 2 of each and have one setup each way. This is the way.
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Here is yet another option for the shims. Given that the most difficult thing was keeping them level, this avoids all but drilling a hole and cutting to size with tin snips. The brass is same thickness as YYE shims and the copper is 2.5 times the thickness. .010 and .025. Respectively. I picked these up in the hardware bins at Lowe’s. The ones marked for crafts.
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This mod was about narrowing the gap and bringing the halves closer together so as to get the response pads to provide all of the response. This mod can be applied to nearly any yo-yo that is in need of using a lube of some sort to get response. These however are the first I’ve done that required the use of shims. I have had to shave a bearing post before, but that was the most modification I had ever needed and many didn’t even need that. Some other yo-yos I’ve narrowed the gap on are Confusion, PopArt, Bi-metal Bumblebee, V3, and Butterfly AL. I know the last 2 come with both bearings but slight alteration of the pad arrangement was needed to get response with a dry bearing. I’ll do a summary of the work to those as well. In the end all of them improved in feel and performance to varying degrees but I’ve not wanted to switch any of them back.
Seeing these sheets reminded me of something from another hobby.
Straight Razor Shaving (Weird, but hear me out). Some times you need to create thrust washers that go between the scales and the blade.
I think this process, with the material you found could work.
Now the Gentleman that made the video is a Master Razor Smith and sold his razors for over $1,000.00. His tool was machined.
I may see if this could work with more readily workable DIY materials for the tool.
If this does work, Ill be self sufficient for shims.
Have fun.
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Here is a link that should help everyone stop shaving washers lol. These shims have the correct inner diameter for C bearings and controlled thickness. The .01” thick is the same thing as “thin shims”. There are a few other thicknesses to try. Works great =]
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Well there you go. These should stack just fine if needed and stainless steel will be be ultra durable. Very nice find. Thank you!!!
Absolutely if you could get a setup to do this you’d be golden like my TopDeck, and RBC…