Just got a freehand al in mint condition and unscrewed it to deal with a knot but when I put it back together it immediately starts vibing. I’ve unscrewed multiple other yo-yos before and never had this problem. Is there a way to fix this?
Yes - hand tighten and then adjust tiny amounts until the vibe is minimal (or gone)
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I know this method is too late for you but just for future reference, whenever I ever unscrew a yo-yo, I place pieces of tape on each half and mark the tape with a marker to ensure exactly how the halves were screwed together. After I do the bearing maintenance and put it back together, I make sure the halves line up exactly as before. I’ve never had a yo-yo start vibrating from unscrewing since then. Could just be anecdotal, but it works for me
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I’ll remember that for the future. Pretty sure I stripped the interior axle since I see a dent in it, although I’m not sure why it happened so quickly when I’ve opened up other yo-yos and they were fine.
Yea that can happen.
I try to remember they are meant to be used, and vibe to a point is inevitable.
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did you swap around the axel and bearing?
You may have to tune the yoyo.
My Otter is very sensitive to the axle position. Can go from dead smooth to a periodic pulse just by unscrewing it.
I screw it together by alternating the sides I twist to keep the axle centered and it does the trick.
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I figure that unscrewing a yo-yo can partially unseat both the bearing (rare) and the axle (common). Screwing it back together without addressing these potential issues may result in a state where it feels well tightened even though it isn’t.
The first time a yo-yo is unscrewed can also allow any metal shavings left over from machining or tapping to shift into a position where they will cause problems that didn’t previously exist.
Any time a yo-yo is unscrewed, debris that has collected in the bearing/bearing seat can migrate onto either part of the axle thread interface.
When re-assembling, I always fully seat the axle on one half. I choose whatever half is not retaining the bearing so I have enough space to fully seat the axle by hand (i.e. without a hex key). If necessary, I clear out any grit that is preventing the axle from threading in cleanly (in which case both halves need to be checked).
With the axle fully seated, I think that there is less chance of the entire assembly jamming in partially assembled state.
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Just going to add that in general it’s best to keep the axle oriented in the same direction it came for smoothness.
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