I had already come to this conclusion, but I guess time…
I really came to the conclusion that I couldn’t carry a Wood Thread axle yoyo in my pocket. My 2016 EH would come apart on me, and now I can’t trust it to even throw it at all. Maybe I just got a bad one…?
However, I do think that the humidity, and temperature changes that occur when you carry a yoyo in your pocket, and then take it out to play with it, really take their toll on a wooden yoyo that’s glued together. Anyone else experience this?
I do have a couple that I’ve carried in my pocket, that haven’t come apart, but I’m wondering if it would just be a matter of time with those? It’s a shame for me, because my favorite players are all glued. Oh well, back to the No-Jive for my pocket?
Get a dime, and once you tighten the yoyo halves, use the dime to tighten the caps. Then every so often just tighten everything up. I’m not sure the last time I’ve even had to do that, outside of swapping an axle out for a new one. (edit: Just remembered, if I hit a woodthread on the ground I’ll usually double check, and tighten everything up again. The shock can cause them to loosen a little.)
When they first came out I heard of some players using plumbers tape (teflon tape) on the threads. I’ve never tried it, but some that did said they never had them come apart doing that.
I also don’t think the temp/humidity in a pocket is going to be that much more than outside of your pocket to cause any issues with a glued in axle either. As someone who has worked with glue and wood for a couple decades, if you’re reaching temperatures to undo a glue joint in your pocket, your yoyo coming apart is the least of your worries
Well I even made a thread about strengthening the slot with super glue, so that I could really crank it tight. Didn’t work. I could try the tape, or white glue which someone said worked essentially like blue locktit.
I still think the expansion and contraction of the humidity and temperature changes, occurring over and over, might be causing problems with the glue. Then again, I guess there are some much more extreme applications…
Yes, in general these things could affect the wood thread. There is no glue in a wood thread TMBR, just tension. The lack of humidity would cause wood to shrink, but with more humidity the wood should swell making it tighter. Could be, if you have increasing humidity the axle and body are swelling at different degrees, making them looser.
Well who knows if it is from being in my pocket? Pretty much the only ones I play with are yours, so yes it was!
It was the Oak Harbinger this time. My Walnut H has been fine, and so has the Hickory Ballsy. The Merbau H came apart, but you knew about that. I got it to stay together with gel CA.
My Orphan came apart on both sides, and I never even carried that in my pocket. Again, CA worked.
As I said, I hadn’t been having problems, but then I decided take the Oak in my pocket…
I have carried the Hickory Ballsy in my pocket quite a bit (despite its size) with no issues. I’ll try the gel CA on the Oak Harbinger.
It’s an interesting question. Would depend on the wood to some extent, too. Living in NC (humid summers and pretty dry winters) I can expect to have to adjust the truss rods on my basses to account for the seasons. There’s a way wider disparity in temp/humidity in your pocket as you go from AC to a humid outdoor situation, so some expansion/contraction wouldn’t surprise me too much. Enough for things to come undone… couldn’t say if that’d be causative. I have had No Jive axles which were loose enough to spin almost like a transaxle when it’s dry and tightened up when humid!
I don’t experience persistent probs with any wood yo-yo coming apart though - just the evidence I need to persist with the trade-off of looking like a middle-aged dork with my Descender holster.
Agreeing with ed, I think it must be the humidity changes from your pocket from the changes between indoors and out. The hygroscopic nature of wood means it contracts and expands a lot with moisture changes in the air, and the glue just wouldn’t keep up with that.
Woodthread axle sounds like a good solution, but not if they are falling apart on you too…
We’ll yours and my Orphan are really the only ones I own. Well, I do have one of those reissue wood Duncan Butterflys. That one came apart too, but I really didn’t care for it anyway. It also ate strings.
I’m sure I can get it glued back fine. I love them so much, I’m not even down on them in the least! The Ballsy in particular, is one of my all time favs.
Probably I’m just hard one them, I’ve broken about 4 Legend Wings!
I just got a Sullivan, my first TMBR. I’m out of my mind pissed off over how it comes apart every 6 minutes. Funny thing is I still like it and want the Carlson CS… it’s just incredibly frustrating to deal with the thing coming apart when I’m just hitting my stride.
Note: 30 years throwing No-Jive 3-in1’s had a “malfunction “ only a small handful of times
Man. I should really film a tutorial describing my methods for setting gaps and tightening wood thread TMBR’s. The only issues I have are the result of bashing the yoyo on the ground. Using my thumbnail(s) as I twist and/or using a coin to “lock in” one side of the axle against the cap is all it takes for me (though again - I almost always have the yoyo in my man-bag or Descender, as opposed to my pocket).
And I’ll say again, while I adore the No Jive, I’ve seen way higher inconsistency and variation from them than from TMBR, particularly in models from the 90’s on.
My orphan also came unglued in my pocket.
with me on this… a metal yo-yo?