Yesterday I received my brand new Dark Magic II, I’m absolutely in love with it. I’m using the speed bearing and it is absolutely fantastic. So this morning I wake up, make a pot of coffee and while I’m waiting for it start to throw, it was great. Then after the first few throws started to make a loud grinding/whizzing sound, thought to myself “that can’t be good”… well it wasn’t, shortly after that the noise stopped, not got quieter, just went dead silent. This was because my bearing locked up and now the string is just treating it like a fixed axle and is completely responsive. I don’t have any lube but am probably purchasing some today. I don’t know if something managed to weasel its way inside or what is locking it up. I am fairly new to yo-yoing so any guidance or help would be appreciated in resolving this issue with my brand new baby.
Alas, new bearings are finicky beasts. More often than I would prefer, “something” (and I truly don’t know what) comes loose and gets stuck. If that “something” is sufficiently hard, continued play will cause galling on the inside of the bearing and then it’s potentially ruined.
I doubt that’s what has happened, though… it rarely happens that way.
There’s still likely “something” stuck in there, but there’s a very good chance that simply cleaning the bearing will help. After cleaning, a TINY TINY amount of lube if you want lube, otherwise just give it a go.
My standard advice when cleaning a bearing as a way to fix responsiveness is to put it in the yoyo and try playing it for a while BEFORE adding any lube. Skip the shields, pop it in, play it for a while. If it’s unresponsive within a few moments, the cleaning worked. Then a TINY amount of lube and optionally replace the shields. If you play it and it’s responsive again, the lube is making it responsive… you just have to play through it to “break it in” or you could clean again and lube with less lube… that’s your choice. I usually play through it.
I appreciate the posts, thank you very much. I took the bearing out and (after putting on my reading glasses, saying some things I’m not proud of and about half an hour went by) I got the shields off. I then cleaned it thoroughly and then blasted it for a while with the air compressor. It seems to have gotten whatever gunk that was in there out and it is running wonderfully, although dry. I am placing my order for some YoYojam Thin lube momentarily. Once again, thank you for your help.
Right on, glad you got it working! It’s worth mentioning that you don’t HAVE to use lube, and a great many people prefer to run dry.
Me, I always lube with thin oil (V4M lately) except for 1 or 2 that have DryPlay. DryPlay is great stuff but imparts a “hiss” that makes my hair stand on end. That’s just me, though, it’s triggering a sense reaction that other people probably don’t have.
Same thing happened to me yesterday with my shaqluer star. Thankfully I solved it with ease. I’ll tell you what happened. Your string might have frayed and some string got into the bearing. If that didnt happen some hair probably got into it. Your gonna wanna unscrew your dm2 and get a bearing remover or a yyf multi tool, and a tack. Remove the bearing a with the tack there is a shield in the middle of the bearing. Push down on it with the pin and it should pop out. Repeat with other side. You should see some balls inside the bearing. This is where the hair got caught in your bearing and made it responsive. Blow between these balls for a good amount of time. Then apply thin lube and screw the yoyo back together. Should work like it did before.
