New cleaning methods?

Yo-Yo Mods and Maintenance
1

Do you know of any cleaning methods for bearings that aren’t: spraying it with compressed air or the acetone thing, because I’ve tried those.

2

Yea ive tried those other ways with mixed results. I put the bearing on a pencil and spray with 99% isopropyl alcohol, flip the bearing spray. Then spin dry by hand.

This has worked the best for me.

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3

I just shake them around in a little jar of lighter fluid, spin dry on a pencil, then leave them out on a paper towel for a little while

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4

Not sure what you mean by “new” methods.

Anyway, provided you don’t struggle with removing/installing bearing shields, here’s the only thing I do…

  1. Remove shields.
  2. Add bit of Dawn dish soap to an old toothbrush and scrub with warm water.
    – Dawn is a degreaser and the agitation from scrubbing – coupled with the foaming action – will dislodge accumulated grease, gunk, and debris that simply soaking in acetone can’t.
  3. Occasionally rinse under running warm water and repeat scrubbing. Give a good final rinse, and scrub while you rinse to ensure there’s no soap residue left.
  4. Dunk in some 90+% isopropyl alcohol to remove any excess water then set on paper towel to air dry (or used compressed air because, well, faster).
  5. When fully dry, apply bearing lube using a sewing needle. Spin bearing a bit to distribute.
    – if the drop does not stay on the needle, then you’re trying to add too much – less is more.
  6. Reinstall shields.

The whole process should take 5-10 minutes – less with practice. And I really only need to do this once per bearing because afterwards the bearing will be immaculately clean and a quality bearing will be next to silent. From that point on, just reapply lube whenever you start to hear it.

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5

100% acetone and just run them dry. It’s worked perfectly for years and years with no issues. If you’re using 100% acetone I can’t see what problem you could have.

This Is The Way

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6

I use acetone and generally it works ok. I dont think I leave them in long enough because sometimes it just doesnt help. Last night I let 3 sit overnight and its better.

What I think is the real key is aggetation. Depending on the condition of the internals (what debris is there) sometime it just need help in breaking up or out. I’m thinking about grabbing one of these https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe69QoMyyGg

Ultrasonic cleaning machine too might be a great solution.

Edit… As a side note. Pay close attention to the condition of your bearing seat. I put a newly cleaned bearing in last night and it immediatly jammed up. I was not happy but after inspecting the bearing seat it was clear what was the problem. grimmy dirt and hairs with a deshielded bearing = cruddy performance.

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7

I know a lot of people use ultrasonic jewelery cleaners with the right solution. They work fantastic for cleaning a bunch of bearings at once.

https://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/store/product/isonic-reg-ultrasonic-jewelry-nbsp-cleaner/3261444?skuId=43089703&store=&enginename=google&mcid=PS_googlepla_nonbrand_storage_online&product_id=43089703&adtype=pla&product_channel=online&adpos=&creative=224154222146&device=m&matchtype=&network=g&utm_campaignid=71700000037121782&utm_adgroupid=58700004139986274&targetid=92700035325271698&gclid=Cj0KCQiAjc2QBhDgARIsAMc3SqQp5sQHYJmxFtSAu9U4zvz5NGXndPh_FRhIX9TYBEq8VDIgY3Edx2oaAu5LEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

8

What in particular is it that you don’t like with the traditional solvent and compressed air method? Note that the compressed air part is an option to dry the solvent off faster and is not reqiuired.

With and without air works good for me. Also as noted above some agitation works better than not doing that.

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