My fairly new (few weeks old) space cowboy randomly stopped screwing together today. My guess is that the axle is stripped as there is a white line on a part of the axle. First off, how does this even happen? I haven’t screwed it together too tightly and it hasn’t suffered any major damage. Also, does anyone know what axle size it takes? I guess I’ll just buy a new one, but am wondering how this can even happen as I have never stripped the axle on any other yoyos before.
The Space Cowboy uses a very short axle, so it can be prone to stripping. I can repair it for $15 shipped.
Thanks, hoping to see if I can buy one cheaper first but will keep that in mind if needed.
Edit: Going to buy one on yye. How exactly does one strip a bearing? Was pretty sure I didn’t do anything but want to make sure it doesn’t happen again in the future.
You mean stripping the threads? That can be done in multiple ways. Even simply unscrewing it and screwing it together can cause the threading to strip. If you bought it from Yoyoexpert, contact them, they may be willing to replace. You could also contact YYF.
Ah alright, thank you. I actually bought it in person from the factory, an extra few bucks isn’t too big of a deal though.
Yea, definitely contact the factory. Never met someone who considered $120 a “few” extra bucks lol. If you ever want to get rid of the stripped one or get it repaired, hit me up 
Also, it’s highly unlikely it was the axle that stripped. Steel is much stronger than aluminum, so it’s more likely for the aluminum threading to strip.
dem chinese aluminum tho
Ignorant comment of the week. The Space Cowboy has a body made from 6061 aluminum, which is commonly used in yoyos. It’s used by CLYW, One Drop, Yoyojam, G Squared, etc. The majority of aluminum yoyos are made from this grade.
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Implying that Chinese 6061 is made to the same specifications as in the US
One site for example cites that the standard for tensile strength as >=180, while ASM lists 276. And thats implying that those Chinese are actually trying to meet even their own standard.
Yoyos designed in China by Chinese alloy standards are less likely to strip than those designed in the US by US standards but manufactured in China. One well known reviewer reported to have stripped 4 made in China Geneses.
Does it just keep twisting or can you literally not get it to screw together?
Alright, it turns out the inside of the yoyo is stripped. Thankfully, the person who runs my club has a good relation with yoyofactory and is bringing it in for me to get a new half. So awesome how nice people can be.
Do you mind translating for us who don’t understand Chinese?
And, you’re wrong. Heat treatment is where it’s at. 6061 that’s not heat treated is weak. 6061 aluminium alloy - Wikipedia
If you read, you’ll see that that untreated 6061 have a UTS of 125 MPa, while T6 treated 6061 have a UTS of 300 MPa.
The Chinese link you cite to doesn’t say anything about which heat treatment the alloy have…
And this ASM Material Data Sheet is ASM’s data for untreated 6061. Well look at that? UTS? It says 124 MPa!
If we now use the same site to get specs for T6 6061, we’ll find that the UTS is 310!
ASM Material Data Sheet
Exactly the same alloy, just different heat treatments
China produces about 45% of the worlds aluminium, so it’s safe to say that there’s probably a lot of US produced yoyos that uses Chinese aluminium
People still believe that all things produced in China are crap. That’s simply not how it is anymore. And the rest of the world really need to watch out, because with the price and now quality the Chinese can put out there won’t be anyone to match their offerings
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http://www.hhlvye.com/download/2.pdf
The part on 6061T6 is covered by a watermark of some sort but should still be legible. 290/240 is also the highest in the entire 6061 series, but still lower than 310/276 by ~10%. Now I dont know how much this matters because I dont know how much force the threads are actually loading in a yoyo when it s screwed together.
Nor do I know if YYF controls the mechanical strength of their yoyos, but as I said most reports from the Chinese side points to the same trend that YYF ‘nipple-less’ yoyos strip more easily than Chinese-designed ones.
YYF’s design also has its own issues. On one hand we have stripped threads because there isnt enough area of contact/axle length to load the pressure, and on the other hand we have axles popping out of the hubs apparently because they are too long. Looks like the margin YYF has cut themselves is no larger than that on even most 7075 yoyos, which is never a good thing to mix with any kind of 6061 let alone made in China ones. The only other company that had this similar issue with thin/flat/concave hubbed yoyos is probably c3, but they eventually modified their design or even switched to 7075. Most US made 6061 yoyos have either a nipple or a convex surface (AC2)