Questions of a newbie

Yo-Yo Mods and Maintenance
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I have a LOT of questions…please oblige if you can

  1. Exactly how long should a decent yoyo spin?(mine spins for like 45s to 60s with a onedrop 10 ball and i find more advanced tricks slightly difficult to learn and i would like to attribute that to the lack of spin time rather than to my poor skills…hehe…)
  2. I pour clear RTV silicone into my yoyo. Ive tried a few brands but all of them seem to wear out in 2 weeks or so…am i doing something wrong?
  3. My yoyo- An auldey blood bat used to have caps but they fell off after i dinged it seriously. I weighed my yoyo in the chem lab and it only weighs 50.06g…any ideas on how to add more weight(preferably at the rims) to a plastic yoyo?
  4. I sanded my yoyo to allow it to grind. Grinds okay but i notice that it’s starting to get that polished look again but still grinds. Should i sand it again or let things be?

Thanks for all the help!!!

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I answer this based on the assumption that your bearing is clean and “completely”; I mean completely unresponsive.

  1. 45 to 60 seconds is normal, you can get a lot more by using “sleeper technique” where basically you hold the string near the yoyo and twist it one way or another to balance it. It’s useless for anything besides long sleeper challenge though.
    When doing tricks however, you can control how the yoyo tilts so it will actually spin longer than if you don’t do anything (Josh Yee did 3 minutes combo this way).
    It’s easier to keep the yoyo upright when doing tricks than when not doing anything, because you actively balance the yoyo straight which will make it spins longer. If you don’t do anything it will start tilting one way or another then the string will start rubbing the yoyo body.
    So yeah, don’t blame the yoyo, as harsh as it sounds it’s your skill.

  2. Maybe you got unlucky with your rtv brands, or it could be your yoyo. I find certain yoyo material or finishes with the addition of shallow response groove just downright impossible to be sili-ed. Generally, it sticks better with plastics.

  3. I used cables, just cut it and snug fit, you can glue it if you want. The yoyo need to have the grooves for it though.

  4. Well it grinds.

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  1. My longer spinning yoyos tend to go about 60 seconds if you just leave it hanging there. Spin tends to last a lot longer when you are doing tricks, so like rizki_yoist said, if you want longer spin time http://i0.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/square/000/014/792/1386005708294.png

  2. It just depends on certain variables, like the width of your gap, what the yoyo is made out of, how well you pour the response in the first place, string, etc… People have a lot of success with the automotive window silicone you can find at autoparts stores, if you haven’t tried that.

  3. I usually don’t play yoyos with caps, but some people use really thick o-rings, or stuff you can cut to fit snugly. I assume since the yoyo had caps in the first place, it has a groove

  4. Worry about it when it stops grinding, or you may sand too much. I used to have a habit of always wanting something perfect, and thinking I could do better until I ruined my projects. Now I’ve learned to get it where you want and only tinker if it stops working

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Thanks Guys! Appreciate the help