What will happen if I go dry?
It will be loud, but give slightly better spin time. I play mine dry, and it’s not a big deal either way. The only reason lube slows spin time is because it’s putting liquid where the ball bearings spin. So eliminating that give you some extra spin time.
You do run the risk of the bearings developing rust over time if moisture were to develop in the balls of the bearing, however.
nevermind
A great many players run their bearings dry. Go for it; see if you like it!
I lube mine only because of noise. I like a nice silent bearing.
I run them dry. It’s all good usually…
I’ll try it.
Not living your bearings is bad for them. They strart to grind against themselves, eventually seizing up.
Not a fact. The balls are separated from each other by a cage. They CAN grind into the races, causing galling and a ruined bearing. But these things generally happen under load. A light load supplied by a spinning yoyo will generally not have this happen.
A great many… MANY… yoyoers run their bearings dry. There is a track record of thousands of yoyoers of all levels doing it with only extremely rare instances of the bearing getting ruined after a few years.
It’s good to know that it’s not impossible and that it’s a risk. It’s good to know that some day you may need to replace that bearing due to wear and tear. But it is not a requirement to lube it, and many people prefer to run dry.
It’s a matter of preference.
Knowing how moving parts work (specially in other places like bicycles and cars), and the rotational speed of yoyos, I prefer mine lubed.
One thing is for sure, if you lube it, the bearing will be more durable and last longer, how much longer? No idea.
Exactly. Preference is more important than worrying about durability/reliability in this case, since both methods have track records. Lubing WILL make it last longer, there’s no doubt. But we’re talking yoyos, not heavy machinery that is being pressed into service for dozens of years. Worst case scenario for a yoyo, you replace the bearing in 2 or 3 years.
As I’m sure I’ve mentioned, I also prefer to lube mine. I don’t have a single bearing that I run dry, though I have 2 that are DryPlay treated. If you like the feel of dry, you could always consider the DryPlay option which adds benefits of lubrication.
But I like liquid lube. Smoothness, silence… yes, please!
I only wanted to throw out there that it’s an acceptable practice to run dry.