Tuning Yoyos

I watched the video made by Brandon Vu and Vu Ho on tuning yoyos. That has really helped me out, believe it or not.

I have changed bearings and changed the ways my axles go in a couple of my yoyos (Shutter, FG WM2, and Level 6) and now they are up to near-perfect.

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I’ve seen the vids, but every time I try, I don’t notice a difference. Guess I have to actually put a little more effort into it, because my puffin 2 is a slight bit vibey if it’s thrown too quickly (not talking bad throw, I mean when it’s spinning super fast, there is a slight buzz and vibe on the finger test)

Sorry for the necro.


This is my Ace Yo Amusing. I had not thrown it in a few months and when I started throwing it tonight I noticed significant and troubling vibe. It has always been glass smooth. I flipped the axle and bearing and tried different strings. It was really bothering me. I gave it a couple good, straight throws and held it up to my ear and something did not sound right with the whirring of the bearing. I took a chance and put a drop of lube in the bearing. BINGO! All vibe gone. Glass smooth again! I honestly never thought a tiny drop of lube would correct the problem and that very, very significant vibe could be the result of a lack of lube? It’s kinda perplexing to me. Has anyone else had this kind of experience?

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That type of change usually the sign of dirty or rusty bearing, i experienced that before.
I would personally clean such bearing thoroughly before lubing, or swap it with a new one.

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I woke up thinking about this and figured it out and now I feel stupid for posting. I am always careful not to over tighten. Last night I was too careful and after lubing the bearing I put the halves together and I must have gave it a smidge more ooomph because that is when it went back to glass smooth. The bearing was not old. I can swear I put it together each time the exact same way. Maybe I had a teensy bit of lube on the outer / top of the bearing that made it screw together properly eliminating the vibe. Maybe this will help someone so I am not deleting my initial post.

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Tuning can be a tedious process. Sometimes it’s something you wouldn’t even think about. One time, for me, it was the response pads that introduced some vibe. The previous time I changed them, I left the thin sticker layer from the old pad in there. After I cleaned it up and put the new ones in, the vibe was gone.

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I usually just reverse the axle, and if it turns tightly put a tiny bit of lube on it. Not much else. Also turn each half a little at a time so the axle is centered as best as you can. Also holding the yo-yo so the axle is vertical while tightening might minimize stripping the yo-yo. I can’t say I always do this though.

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