I just siliconed my first yo-yo because it has a non standard silicone pad size and I didn’t feel like sourcing them.
It went surprisingly smoothly but I am wondering
How much (if at all) does silicone “flatten out” as it dries?
Should the silicone end up perfectly flat (stickers usually are), slightly recessed, or slightly protruding? I’ve seen many manually siliconed yo-yos where it ends up slightly recessed so I’m wondering
Should you use a credit card to make it perfectly flat or does that kinda happen as it dries?
It does contract a little when dry. However once you apply it, take your card level it flat. When it’s dry it looks like it cups a little in the recess.
Yeah the cupping is a bit weird to me because silicone stickers are absolutely flat and flush. I gotta think this will make it a tad less responsive than stickers, which … can’t… be the goal?
Yes, it will “flatten out,” but you want to remove any excess.
2 + 3. I always use the side of a credit card to remove any extra silicone, and once that’s done, I use the tip to make it slightly recessed. If it’s protruding, the yo-yo will probably be too “grabby.” Making it perfectly flat might work depending on the gap. But your safest bet will be the credit card method I mentioned above. Try it that way and see how it works for you. If you find that the yo-yo feels too “slippery,” remove the dried up silicone with a toothpick and reapply leaving it flat. I highly doubt you’ll have any issues, however.
I make mine perfectly flat when applied using a credit card. The contracting or cupping is everso minimal. It looks level but to the touch you can feel it. Mine binds very well this way.
Looks like you may have overfilled the grooves. I usually use the side of a plastic spoon and go around to remove excess. I find the slight rounded edge doesn’t recess the silicone quite as much as using a card.
It is veeerrrryyyy close to being completely flush, there is one bit that extended ever so slightly over the edge on one half, probably due to the way I pulled the silicone applicator out, you can kinda see it here
I guess if you want to be 100% absolutely sure that it’s not sticking out at all, you can err on the side of cupping and flatten it?
I’m kind of amazed that my first time ever trying this came out so close to what I view as perfect, that is, totally flush with the metal like silicone stickers are.
Aha. Now that I have let the silicone dry for 24 hours and tried it out after re-assembling the yo-yo … I think I see why people recommend that flowable be recessed slightly.
This was always a little vibey of a yo-yo, I knew that when I bought it. But if the surface of the silicone protrudes at all and is uneven… it feels MEGA VIBEY when the string touches it!
Therefore, it is far better to err on the side of recessing the silicone so the string is only ever touching the (far more even) metal edge versus the variable surface of the silicone when spinning. Binds still work fine in this case, of course.
To me this is another argument in favor of silicone stickers which are trivial to install perfectly flat and flush… but it also indicates that you definitely want to recess that silicone a bit because if it touches the string it’s gonna be uneven and feel quite vibey. You gotta err on the side of recessing the silicone 100% because the risk just isn’t worth it – your yo-yo will feels super bad & vibey on the string when the string is touching even a tiny bit of hand flowed, uneven silicone.
I wouldn’t recommend the red stuff. It is not self leveling and is very unforgiving. I did 4 yoyos at once and 2 of them I had to redo because of how bad they came out. Very uneven surface but it does seem to wear down a bit after a while and I like the response
Flowable used to be much more popular 5-10 years ago. I wonder what changed.
Frankly I’m quite surprised this is your first time ever using it. Also it’s pretty simple so shouldn’t be that surprising that it turned out ok your first go
I typically use a spoon like Garrett mentioned as well
For the first few years I was yoyoing 19mm pads were already the norm for the most part but flowable silicons was still very popular.
Also most of the people recommending flowable weren’t recommending it because of nonstandardized response sizes, they were recommending it because they liked the response and cost
I cleaned the old silicone out with Q-Tips and isopropyl alcohol then started over. This time I went for recessed application, not flat, and I used the spoon @YoYoExpertGarrett recommended to verify everything was a little recessed via rubbing the curve of the spoon in there and wiping any excess off the spoon.
I also ran my finger along the cup edge to make sure zero shiny silicone was over the response area where it could rub the string. Let’s see if this turns out better!
Flowable doesn’t last especially long compared to pads. More choices for pads pretty much made flowable obsolete to many. Give Permatex Red Gasket Maker a try! Just because it’s a little harder to apply doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try! The red lasts much longer than flowable, and I personally enjoy the feel much more so than pads. Also, easiest way to remove silicone when it has dried is to soak the half in some acetone. Silicone will break down and fall right out. Not recommended for plastic or powder coated yoyos, since acetone kills plastic except for acetal plastics.
I need to find a good syringe. I always use Monkey Snot, but wondered how well the silicone would store in my own syringe. I’m sure many would say why bother, just use it right from the Permatex tube and be done with it.
