Stripping a Show Girl (Stripping and Polishing a Yoyo)

Anodizing of any kind on Aluminum serves as a protective layer on the bare metal

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Iā€™m going to try polishing one if my raw yo-yos in the coming days, soanother question:

It doesnā€™t appear that there is much of a difference after you sanded with 600 grit vs the entire way down to 3000 grit. Is it really necessary to go beyond 600 grit? Has anyone sanded a yo-yo say to 1000 grit or less and still gotten a mirror finish after the polish?

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Oh you can get a pretty good shine with just up to 600 and the steel wool. It just looks better going up to 3000, the radial scratches are much less noticeable.

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Is the process any different for a side effect yoyo?

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A little bit, masking is a bit more difficult. Iā€™d also recommend against stripping a SE yoyo if you canā€™t mask the hold for the side effects. Theyā€™re made with a tight tolerance and stripping the anodize can ruin that tolerance.

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Canā€™t you just use a side effect with axle and inner bearing as masking for the stripping step?

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I donā€™t think thatā€™s a tight enough seal.

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Any good ways to mask for SE yo-yos?

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Not too bad for my first time, though still not perfect: there is room for improvement next time. I only applied the polish once and donā€™t have any wax. This detailed tutorial was excellent.

Dare I say my grail leveled up to a holy grail?

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Nice!!! Did it add any vibe? Looks great!

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No vibe at all. I masked the bearing post with an inner race of two bearings I took apart. Taking apart the bearings might actually have been the most difficult part of the entire processā€¦

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I just polished it with a second coat and I canā€™t seem to take a picture without the glare

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@Damb

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This is a great guide and is a similar technique to how I mirror polish yoyos before anodizing. I second the recommendation to not bother polishing side effect yoyos. Iā€™ve done it by hand and itā€™s a miserably tedious and difficult process.

@yoyospirit I canā€™t recall, but were you the one who would bulk strip and polish yoyos for me?

This was years ago, but I remember I used to have a little ā€˜mod chainā€™ set up where people would send their yoyos to someone to strip and polish who would send to me to anodize and then Iā€™d send the final yoyo to the owner.

Those were fun modding times on the forums!

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I donā€™t think so haha, never really got any bulk commissions. A lot of the yoyos I polished definitely ended up being anodized by you though!

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Can u polish without stripping the yoyo? Ever polish an anodized yoyo?

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So cool

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Yoyo needs to be stripped completely with all of the ano removed before you can mirror polish it like the one in this thread.

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So u cant make a matte throw look glossy or shiny? Maybe apply gloss coat? Or laquer?

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