Today I received the bunch of yoyos that I sent Josh Updyke (Jupdyke). I promised that I would review the work he did for me. I just received these earlier today and since its Powdercoating it doesnt take forever to review this like a yoyo review would. Josh did this work to practice his powdercoating and I sent him a bunch of yoyos to practice on. Josh is what I would call a jack of all trades. This guys does it all; Powdercoating, custom leather work, engraves, yoyo machining, and a bunch of other neat things. In this review your going to see a few examples of his work!
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Above is a picture of the yoyos that I sent Josh to powdercoat. There is still one yoyo that he has that he is going to be sending to me at a later time.
I will divide this review into sections that focus on a few points including Consistency, Color, texture, and Affect on play.
Color:
There were two different types of powdercoats in the haul. There are ones that are glossy and then others that have a “Finish”. The ones with the glossy finish I notice have a shinier look to them. The blasted ones aren’t as bright but they grind a lot better. The colors came out very well overall although a few have some imperfections in the color. Below I’ll show some pictures of a few yoyos to show what I mean. The colors on only a couple didn’t come out perfectly one color but it does as a cool look to it, especially the cascade. It has somewhat an acid wash look to it although unintentional looks pretty awesome.
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Texture:
It seems that on a couple of these Josh use a blasting media. The media used seems to be sandblast but whatever it is it is very rough. In some of the bearing seats you can see the blasting and that where you can tell that the media is a bit to rough. On the actually body with the powdercoating on top the blasting with the PC give it a finish similar to a beadblasted yoyo. The finish actually grinds very well and with some of these PC’s I can get long grinds then a regular basted and anodized yoyo. The Glossy ones have a shiny and smooth finish but don’t grind very well. The only bad thing about the blasting used is that one a couple yoyos in the hub there is a a slight texture that you can feel through the PC. Not exactly a horrible thing and doesn’t affect play or grinds. Its just a small imperfection that you can feel. Below there will be pics of the blasting in the bearing seat and one of one hub where you can kind of see the texture in the hub.
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Consistency:
Overall with the consistency of the PC Josh did I am very pleased. Josh is new to powdercoating yoyos and is on a good path to getting perfection. Still needs more practice till he’s perfect at it but I can see him getting there soon. He does have the addition of PC on with accuracy through both halves of a yoyo. Each half is essentially identical throughout which means he’s keeping each half balanced. The overall little weight added didn’t affect the play of the yoyos which I am happy about. Each throw plays pretty similar to before which I like. This is something that is necessary for powdercoater’s to ensure that the PC won’t hinder the yoyos performance. The PC along with the blasting helped get rid of damage on a couple throws. Below are some of the PC that I liked the best! The gold the I had Josh do is amazing. Its the perfect shade of gold. The Gold Wrath looks amazing and the two dings pictured were very deep and the PC covered it very well which I’m very happy with.
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Affect on Play:
This is the Achille’s Heel of PC. PC is a coating that tends to cause vibe to many throws which is why there aren’t very many yoyos that have runs made with PC becuase of the tendency to add vibe. There are only a few special edition Dif-e-yos and Kingspin Gnosis that I can think of that had runs of PC’d throws. I have had throws done by Mullicabob that I was also very impressed with because they added no vibe to the throw. There aren’t many people out there who can PC and especially PC with the consistency to ensure a smooth yoyo. Josh definitely fits the bill. Each and every throw is as smooth as before and some are even smoother than before. I am very impressed that they came out well and all play great. Josh did a really good job with these.
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Overall Thoughts:
Overall I am happy with the work Josh did and he deserves to get some more work. With a bit more consistency on the finish of the blasted ones I can see him being an elite powdercoater. The finish grinds great but gives a slight texture that is a slight bit too rough. I suggest maybe going to a beadblast or a sodablast to give a nice texture without being a bit too rough. By too rough I am in no way saying it is gritty to the touch. It feels pretty smooth to the finger but its rougher than a beadblast. I also think that working on a cleaner way to mask the bearing seats would benefit. Some of the bearing seats had tiny bits where the PC didn’t stick because it was probably taken off when removing the silicone that he uses to mask the bearing seat. The area near the bearing seat is known to be the most likely to chip and its nothing I’m surprised about. I didn’t expect the work to be perfect and it is better than I thought it would be. If I would’ve sent this off to another powdercoater this would have cost me an arm and a leg but Josh was very reasonable and a pleasure to work with.
Custom Etching and Leather Work:
Josh does it all and these are some custom things he hooked me up with. His work is great and I recommend him for all the custom things you may want. The leather looks awesome and the custom etching of the logo looks amazing on the yoyo. Very crisp and clean work.
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Please let me know what you think of the review and constructive criticism is appreciated. I haven’t written a review in forever!