Have a stock marco, stealth, and wedge that I would like to get bearings pads and other things to keep performance top notch. What should I get in terms of replacing or upgrading parts??
I like the DS center track bearings a lot. Add some lube and you should be fine.
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You shouldn’t have to replace a bearing unless it’s locked up or something. you may have to clean it every once in awhile if it starts to get loud, in that case I usually use a little bit of acetone in a glass jar.
When I first started throwing, I bought a Buddha bearing sampler pack that came with 3 different styles of size C bearings and spent about a week throwing each one to learn the difference between them. I’d suggest that route if you want to learn about different bearing shapes. There are a lot of opinions and preferences surrounding varying shape, so if you find a shape that looks interesting, buy it and try it!
And I usually do my own flowable silicone response pads. It’s cheaper than buying pads and [I think] it’s more enjoyable. There are quite a few tutorials on how to do this available on YouTube, if you want to go that route I can link you some.
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All right, it’ll be a little while. I’m getting wrapped up at work for the day.
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No worries man, I’ll get back to you
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The most common silicone types are:
Red RTV [I’ve never used it, but it’s a community standard]
Clear flowable silicone [This is what I use, it works well]
And Monkey Snot [I’ve never used it, but I’ve heard good things about it. And it comes in different colors, so that’s kind of cool]
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If you’re looking for things to do, I’d recommend
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using loctite on the non-hex side of the axle threads so that side always stays in the yoyo when you unscrew it
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if you prefer a quiet, smooth spinning yoyo, lubricate the bearing
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while you’re at it, put a tiny drop of lube on the axle threads, near the hex key side, so it unscrews easier
But honestly for new yo-yos there’s nothing you need to do, unless you have a problem.
(Also, it will take a looong time to wear out the silicone stickers… and even then I’d recommend a less labor intensive method to replace them, buying some replacement silicone sticker pads versus doing flowable. Much easier.)
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Difeyo konkave bearings are real nice. I give 10/10. Very nice, yes, very nice.
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You don’t need much. Extra bearings aren’t really needed, but if you want performance I’d recommend a 10-ball KonKave bearing. Lube is needed, probably get the OneDrop Thin oil for the long run. I like to get pads from Sengoku (bulk) or YYF (variety).
Look at some of the YoyoExpert packs, since they offer good value for a yoyo + maintenance (maybe the shutter one?) Also a multitool is super handy.
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As an add-on to this topic, I’d love to know how long people wait before changing these things. Being a newer player, it’s tough finding info regarding “how long” for a lot of maintenance related things as the range of products for these is so vast.
So, I’ll just try to get some seasoned players opinions on these.
Approx. how long would you wait before:
- Changing String
- Changing Response pads
- Adding bearing lube or cleaning bearing
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That’s a great question.
- Change the string when it starts to get the fuzzies and/or when the yoyo doesn’t bind the way it should.
- Change the response pads when changing the string doesn’t help with bind response.
- Clean the bearing when it gets unusually noisy, you lose significant spin time, and/or the first two steps above fail to improve bind response.
Lube your bearing only if you want it to be quiet(er) at the expense of spin time.
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I got my yoyos in the mail through bts, would you say it needs lubricating? I have some thin performance oil coming.
It wouldn’t hurt to lube the bearing, but if the yoyo plays well I wouldn’t bother.
If a yoyo is new (or relatively new), you shouldn’t need to clean the bearing, and lubing it is only necessary if you can’t stand the sound it makes. An old(er) yoyo that isn’t performing quite the way you want (or expect) would benefit first from a good cleaning. After that it’s back to deciding if you don’t like the sound it makes, and lube it if that’s the case.
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I’m not sure if loudness means bad, but I love that mini mechanical sound and the whisp sound it makes while flying through the air. But, I thought that thin lube helps with sleep time, is that not true???
As a general rule, lube (even the thin stuff) reduces spin time a little. I think the difference is pretty minimal and so for many (most?) players, the benefit of a quiet yoyo outweighs knowing you are getting the absolute maximum possible spin time out of it.
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For me the sound doesn’t bother me at all
One clarification: spin time only in the sense of trying for a world record at spin time, timing how long a yoyo can hang and spin at the end of a string. For typical trick and play duration you wouldn’t see any difference from lube at all – it’s just quieter / smoother.
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