This bearing came from my N12 Shark Honor and after 3 months of usage the bearing became super rusty to the point where it becomes black. I tried soaking it in white vinegar overnight, but instead it completely froze the bearing and made it unable to move. Someone recommended me to soak the bearing in WD-40, but I am scared that it will freeze my bearing again. Can someone help me? Thanks in advance
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I’d just toss it and get a new bearing. If you need one I have a bunch and I can send you one in the mail, shouldn’t be more than an envelope with a stamp.
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Id never put that rust heap in any of my yoyos since id fear damaging the bearing seat. You could try to take off the rust with a wire wheel, brush, or steel wool, blow it out with air, and maybe spray it with some carb cleaner before cleaning the bearing with acetone/alcohol and relubing it. There are some other cleaners I use in the garage for rusted bearings for stuff on the farm, but they might damage the plastic between the balls. My hunch says this bearing isnt worth fixing for the context of yoyo.
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Try cleaning the main rust of the area the string touches and use it as a “responsive bearing” 
And take @codinghorror up on his offer for a new bearing, best of both worlds 
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WD-40 will not cause it to freeze up.
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That’s not too surprising since acetic acid will accelerate steel corrosion.
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That’s a far cry from WD-40.
don’t clean bearings too long
i left some bearings in lighter fluid and they were locked up the next day. then i just dunked each one for 3 minutes and then there were epic
i guess the particles in the air eventually get into the fluid and screw the bearing. or the humidity
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I don’t think length of time in the cleaning fluid should matter?
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if you leave it too long, the environment of the fluid can get a little dirty e.g. dust
i dunno, i don’t cover cleaning jar is this wrong…?
Yea, particulate matter in the air would circulate and find its way to the jar. Ideally you want a dust-free environment and to cover for any prolonged soaking.
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Quite frankly, the only reason to use a covered container is to keep from spilling the solvent when you swish it around or shake the container. If your environment is such that you fear dust contaminating the solvent, you have bigger problems than trying to clean a bearing.
In any event if you use compressed air to blow the solvent out of the bearing as recommended by numerous people, there is little to no chance of foreign particles remaining in the bearing.
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Ummm, dunked in what??
Soaking time has no bearing on the process.
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It’s probably not entirely necessary to cover it, but if you are doing this in your garage then it is a good idea. Also something like lighter fluid or even acetone can have some strong fumes, and it is a good idea to keep them covered.
As for soak time, I don’t think there is a yoyo bearing in existence that is dirty enough to justify more than 10 or 15 minutes of soaking. Soak time CAN make a difference if a bearing is really gummed up as it allows time for the solvent to do its work. Shake it, let soak for a minute, shake, wait, etc. If I could do this in a lab, id just throw the thing uncovered in a beaker of solvent, and throw it on a shake table for like 10 minutes.
If bearings are regularly maintained, id think that a quick shake in a jar would be mostly sufficient.
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I was referring to long soak times causing the bearing to lock up as he inferred earlier.
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