Hello! I have been yoyoing for exactly 1 year now and its been super fun. I have a problem with my bearings though. It seems like they start to become responsive very quickly, with in a day or even a couple minutes some times. I feel like I have tried everything to fix this; cleaning the bearing in 100% acetone, cleaning the yoyo seat, air blowing the bearing, trying bearings on different yoyos, and even getting brand new bearings but the issue still comes back. It could be an environment thing because I have 2 cats and the house can get a little dusty, but those are issues that are not easy to fix. So I was wondering if anyone had experience with this. Thanks!
P.S I have also played with dry bearings and lubricated bearings after cleaning them.
If you’re properly cleaning the bearing, running it dry, and putting it straight back into the yoyo, it really shouldn’t go responsive that quickly. In my experience that usually points to one of three things: a bad bearing, incomplete cleaning, or contamination happening before it goes back in.
Once the bearing is installed, it’s fairly protected, so it’s unlikely to pick up debris that fast unless something else is going on.
It might also be worth checking the string and pads to make sure they’re in good condition, since those can sometimes cause symptoms that feel like a bearing issue.
In essence, there’s no magical unknown reason your bearings are going responsive, it must be one of these issues.
I have cats and dust, I deshield and clean all my bearings with dawn dish soap and blow dry them with a datavac. I don’t usually use lube anymore but you can use a little bit to quiet it down.
If you don’t have some kind of air compressor or datavac you can put them in a hand towel and spin your arm around to use centrifugal force to dry them. Or just leave them out on a towel to air dry. Just don’t put them in anything with water still in them because stainless steel can still rust.
Are you sure its the bearing? Does the bearing spin freely when you have the yoyo apart? Can you send us a pic of the yoyo profile so we can see the response pads?
So far using dawn dish soap has been working! Ill have to see how long it lasts for. I also tried using the 100% acetone on a qtip to clean the yoyo seat and there was a bunch of black gunk on it. Thank you for the suggestion
Actually I am still having the issue. My bearings seem to only have about an hour or two worth of play time before the actual bearing is slowed down when I spin it. I recently got a new yoyo as well and without tampering with it or anything, after 30 minutes it started to play responsive and the bearing slowed down dramatically. Its starting to get a little discouraging because I have to be very careful with my tricks because it could bind randomly. Any other recommendations would be great
So, let me get this straight; you buy a brand new yo-yo and within an hour; the bearing starts to go bad. You put in different bearings and they go bad. You clean, you don’t clean and they all go bad.
clean em again! I clean bearings like, every other day because it takes me maybe 2 minutes tops to clean one. It aint worth leaving them dirty and driving myself nuts.
I’m sure youve tried most things at this point but on the off chance you’re not, run them dry. If you’re using lube it can stick to environmental hazards like dust and pet dander/hair and make the problem worse
After getting a new yoyo or putting in a clean bearing put it in a ziploc bag and get it out of your house quickly and keep it at school or work and just throw it at those places. See if the same problem continues.
While this wouldn’t be a permanent fix, have you learned how to deshield a bearing yet? It won’t make cleanings more avoidable (if anything, the opposite) but removing the c-clip on the race of the bearing exposes the innards, making cleaning more effective. While it might not solve your problems it could help!
P.S. after further reading you should only be using non-water-bearing solvents to clean your bearings for optimal results. Bearings are subject to rust and corrosion over time and, for instance, using 75% isopropyl alcohol (aka rubbing alcohol) has a chance to corrode a bearing if improperly used (aka not having a way to completely dry the bearing like how @bigstupidbees does, in which case you can use whatever fluid you like). Using only a solvent like lighter fluid or the acetone you used is the proper way to go if you’re newer to bearing maintenance.
