noob questions

I used to yo back in the day, got pretty decent at looping tricks, then I broke my yoyo. I recently have gotten back into it, using all the funky new technology. These things sleep so long it feels like it’s cheating. But I like the results.

Anyway, I bought a flying squirrel, and I had been loving it, but then the friction stickers wore down, and now it’s not at all responsive. I heard there was starbursts under the stickers, so I peeled them off. I was expecting to have to do binds to return the yoyo to my hand. However, things have gone disastrously wrong. I no longer can manage to get a decent speed from my sleepers. The string no longer gets tight enough to convert the yoyo’s downward momentum into spin. I’ve tried pulling a tight loop with a finger, then winding the string around, and that helps a little, but even when I manage to get a workable sleeper (though still far weaker than usual) I can’t get the binds to grab for the life of me. How do I make my yoyo work again?

Hey! Welcome to YYE!

Firstly, i think you should try to buy new friction stickers, or you can buy some more yoyos. I don’t really recommend duncans for beginners, because of the maintenance needed for them. So just use the guide below to buy a new yoyo ;D

Here is "Samad"s guide to buying a new yoyo!

I was hoping for a response that didn’t involve replacing the yoyo that arrived at my house on Friday. My girlfriend is gonna tease me so much if I end up with another spinny toy.

You can buy a pack of friction stickers:
http://yoyoexpert.com/product/duncan/stickers/

If there is too much residue from the old stickers, you can use WD-40 to break down the old adhesive, it works nicely.  Just clean the plastic so it isn’t too oily.

Hope this helps!

oh sorry :frowning: Well, there is one thing you can Try. Do you by chance have trumpet oil, sewing machine oil or gun oil around your house?

Don’t try anything else until you ask us first.

Take some of the oil i mentioned above, screw open the yoyo, take the bearing and drop some of the oil on it. Watch this video here.

I don’t actually recommend wd40, it is known to ruin plastic and bearings. Not trying to bring you down Brick, but be careful if you are really planning to use wd40.

So if the fixing the response is going to fix my ability to throw a decent sleeper, how does one who habitually uses an unresponsive yoyo throw said decent sleepers? I’d certainly like to be able to sleep longer, and fit more strings into the gap without it popping back.

Fixing the response is gonna help you to return it. The reason why you have problems with decent sleepers is probably because the yoyo isn’t winding up properly, probably due to the bad response. I highly recommend mastering your Binding skills. Make sure that you are winding up the yoyo tightly before you throw.

New stickers is always a good idea. Silicone stickers lasts a lot longer than the regular ones. A lot of people also prefer to use dif-pads in Duncans. Both silicone and difs last long. Those pesky Suncan stickers sure wear out fast. Buy Duncan silicone stickers here: http://yoyoexpert.com/product/duncan/stickers/

Addment: There’s also a load of different pads you can try out there, find your favorite.

id go for a new yo. if you want to wrap the string arounds and make it fly like magic in your hands you need to, as you put it “cheat” with your spin times and get an unresponcive yoyo. id reconmend the legacy from yyj. great product i’ve had 2 break on my but thats because i used them for 4a (off-string, see the learn section on this site for that) on my brick back yard and… it broke lol. there great unresponcive and you really dont need another yoyo from there. of course it doeset stop anyone a new yoyo is a new feel and tahts how you get better is with diffrent tools. well not get better but thats how it works for me. alot of poeple here have all metal yoyos and thats all great i love them idk who doesnt. but in your case id get a yyj metal rimmed if you want to up from a legacy or a lyn. Maby a onedrop after? there a great metal and just came out with there p2. but thats obviouly further down the road. for the mean time have fun and dont get so fustrated with tricks. you can alway scome back to it its just a hobby.

~max

I ended up ordering a Lyn Fury, and I will deal with the teasing from the gf. I hope the shipping is fast, because I was having a lot of fun mastering the split bottom mount and other basics, I don’t want to lose those skills in the downtime.