Hey all, I’ve got a Code 1 that I’ve been throwing hard since I got it last Thursday, and it’s really responsive. It came out of the box dead, but after about an hour or so, the bearing started to sing so I lubed it. Of course, I used waaay too much lube (yoyofactory thin), so I wasn’t surprised that it became responsive after that. However, today I got sick of trying to burn it off, and bought some mineral spirits to clean out the bearing, which I ended up doing twice. Still responsive. I tried the drier lint and denim rub on the response pads. Still responsive. Tore out one of the pads. Still responsive. Eventually, I tore out both of the pads, cleaned the bearing seats, and threw it. It wasn’t responsive, but I could still bind it to my hand - which seems like it shouldn’t be possible (though my experience is admittedly lacking. I know it killed my mosquito to rip out the pads). I’ve also changed the string a few times.
Am I just being impatient with the bearing? It’s been almost a week, and the thing is still VERY responsive. And it came dead out of the box. I’ve taken a good look at the bearing, and I can’t see any string or dirt in it that would affect it. If I flick it hard while it’s in the bearing seat, it gives me under 2 seconds of spin time, and on a good, hard throw I’ve gotten it up to almost 2 minutes of sleep time.
1: Did you buy it new or used? If used, what condition? The Relic Code 1 was obviously NEVER thrown, so the guy got it and just had it sitting around going “oooh, pretty” or whatever. Not here. I’m throwing that sucker!
2: If used, did they swap out the 10-ball for something else? There’s lots of great bearings out there.
3: Is it noisy? my bearing was SUPER noisy, then I added 1 drop of One Drop VM4 and it has been SILENT!! You shouldn’t need to add more than 1 drop of lube, be it YYJ Thin, YYF Performance Oil, VM4, valve oil, sewing machine oil or whatever. This is a case of “less is more”, at least in my opinion.
4: Cleaning it, did you also spin it while drying it and using compressed air? Were shields on the bearing before you cleaned it? Did you remove the shields when you cleaned the bearing? Are you SURE you got it all out?(the mineral spirits)
5: I think you just need to break in the bearing more. But that’s an excuse to play more. That’s a good thing.
2 minutes of sleep sounds great to me, should be long enough to get through darn near anything.
2 - I did over-lube it at first, but should have cleaned out the bearing pretty thoroughly last night in mineral spirits.
3 - Spun it on a pen for quite a while. A few minutes at least.
4 - But no compressed air in the house. That’ll probably be my next step when i get to an office supply store for some canned air.
5 - Yeah, I was wondering. Do better bearings take longer to break in than the cheap ones? I’ve got a $10 Shinwoo Phantom that lost it’s response after a day or two, maybe even less. This is the first really great yo that I’ve owned, and I upgraded from a PGM, so I didn’t have to deal with breaking that one in.
How long did you soak the bearing in the mineral spirits? I find 10-15 minutes is enough. Make sure you flip it and move it around, or if it’s in a sealed container, shake it up a few times during the soak. This helps ensure it gets in there thoroughly.
Regarding breaking in bearings, it varies from bearing to bearing, yoyo to yoyo and player to player. Better players(not me) can break in a bearing in an hour or so. Not very good players, such as myself can take a few hours or days to properly break in a new bearing.
Since no major weight is riding on the bearing, we don’t have to grease it up like a true weight-bearing bearing. It’s better to UNDER-lube than to over-lube. A drop can go a long way.
I soaked if for a solid ten minutes, plus another soaking that in a closed container that i shook for a couple of minutes. To be fair though, I did DOUSE the thing in lube before I knew any better.
I’m not a great player by any means, but I have been giving the thing a work out, time-wise. Probably have eight or nine hours on it since last thursday. Maybe more. Tried do some of raggedy gyro flops, too.
8-9 hours?? I do not know how much your time is worth - but a brand-new 10-ball is like $5. No matter how you clean and lube - it will NEVER be as good as a new, high-quality bearing.
Quit being cheap about it and buy a new bearing. Preferably a 10-ball or a General-Yo AIGR. Get a Terrapin off of the website of a global leader in e-commerce that is something like: “Eba*”; if you got the cash.
Also, I hear great things about the YYE bearings too.
Hey, I’m all for advising new bearings, but at the same time, we as a whole should acquire some amount of basic maintenance skills outside of the “swap and toss” mentality that is used for almost everything else. We should know how to clean a bearing and it’s not that hard. Plus, if done properly, can take a very short time and be at a cost savings over that of a new bearing plus shipping.
Sure, sometimes we get bad bearings. Sure, bearings can go bad. But let’s not be so quick to replace.
There almost has to be something still in that bearing. With no pads at all in it, not only should you not be able to bind it back, it shouldn’t even be spinning when it hits the end of the string. It should drop like a rock while the bearing unwinds.
Try flicking the bearing with your fingers and see how long it spins for. If it really is clean, then it should spin for approximately 10-15 seconds, and should be quite loud. If it spins for less than 5 seconds, and is completely silent, I suggest you clean it again, and make sure it is completely dry.
I definitely need to get out and buy some compressed air - just been really busy lately. I’ve got a new bearing coming in the mail today, but I’d be happy to have two good bearings if I can just blow the dust or dirt or whatever out of the old one.
