Removing Freehand NextGen side caps

Yo-Yo Mods and Maintenance
1

Does anyone have any tips on removing the side caps of a Duncan Freehand NextGen? Are they even removable?

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2

There is an official Duncan video on this

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3

Hmm. I tried that and the caps wouldn’t budge. Maybe I didn’t have the axle in tight enough. :man_shrugging:

4

If it’s at all like the original FHZ caps it takes a good, hard push.

5

You have to push pretty hard. And make sure it’s a solid surface, I just put a axle sized hole in my cheap Ikea desk lol.

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6

I’m not sure I understand how this even works. The axle is threaded into an axle slot, right? How can it be pushed at all?

On a Freehand Pro, the axle is “loose” in that it doesn’t thread into the slot, but into a small nut on the other half, which allows it to move freely and push out the side cap.

7

Duncan’s new axle system doesn’t use a nut/bolt like the old version or like the Replay Pro. There’s a metal hub that the axle threads into, but the hub isn’t fixed to the yo-yo. It’s almost like side effects, but they don’t fit so tight and they’re held in place by the cap.

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Ah, I see. Thanks!

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9

Ohhhh I smell a patent dispute a’brewin

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10

Not unless those specific metal axle holders were made by Onedrop FOR Duncan, which is entirely possible.

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11

There’s no patent on Side Effects. But if there was, the Duncan axle system is only really functional when held in place by side caps so I’d say it’s different enough.

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12

I was able to remove the caps, but I had to bring down a mallet pretty hard on them to make them pop out. Thanks for all the tips!

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13

I got mine today, I’m putting practically all my weight on it and I still can’t pop it out

14

I finally got mine to pop off
I placed the yoyo in the freezer for about 15 minutes
A little bit of force and pop they go

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15

Yes, you are correct.

Once you turn the axle hard enough to crack the caps, they will almost fall out on their own😉

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16

The axle does not go past the threads. It has a little lip that stops the axle from being over screwed

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17

Thanks a lot for the info.

I’m just a slow learner, sorry.

But now I know that for sure :+1:

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