does siliconed acrylic caulk work when siliconing a yoyo?
I wouldn’t recommend it. Caulk dries to a really hard, kinda like a plastic-ish consistancy. What you need is a soft grippy surface. Just get a tube of Peratex, or Versachem brand flowable silicone. It’s cheap and your best bet.
Agreed. Your local hardware store has Permatex flowable. I never really paid attention until recently, but I’ve since found that even the smaller ones in my town have it. Use that.
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NO.
I’ve heard of using two kinds of silicone: RTV and silicone window sealant.
A question: What’s the general consensus on the best flowable silicone? Red RTV, Blue RTV? or Clear sealant?
The clear flowable is the best bet. Some people prefer RTV, but I think the general consensus is clear flowable. It’s easy to work with because when you pour it in it “flows” into the groove, (hence the name) whereas RTV you have to smooth out and work into a nice uniform layer. Also, when you remove flowable it comes out easily in one big piece. With RTV, it is difficult, it comes out in small pieces, and you wind up scraping it out with a knife.
Some people say that RTV lasts longer, but in my experience that’s not the truth. They last about the same.
When a company chooses silicone for their stock response, they usually choose flowable, like CLYW, G2 and others. Though some companies do use RTV, like ILYY for example. But most choose flowable.
All in all, flowable is your best bet, its easy to work with, lasts FOREVER (months, seriously), and its cheap and easy to get.
Also, if you need help on installation, there are plenty of tutorials to be found. Look at the top of this section, you will find it.
Good luck!
What about black? You got something against the black stuff?
OK, just kidding there.
Here’s my experience:
Clear flowable works great. It’s easy to install, apply and it’s self-leveling. However, it wears the fastest in my opinion. The silicone is soft but grips nice. It also gives you loads of time to work it, so you don’t have to worry about moving fast to finish the job.
Blue and red seem to take longer to wear down. They are also harder to install and a bit more messy, but it’s all manageable and it just takes a bit longer and a bit more practice, so it should NOT be something that you should not consider just because it is a bit more inconvenient to put in.
I tried flowable in my DM2 with a Toxic string. It really wore down the silicone fast, but at the same time, the Toxic string was very durable, hard to break in, and was really rough on the silicone. I had to change the silicone in a month. It was just too chewed up.
Given the choice, even knowing it’s going to be more work for me, I’d still go with flowable. I like how it feels on the binds better. Yes, I have to trade off work and down time to get the performance I have a preference for. But, maybe if I didn’t use that Toxic string, the response might have lasted better. Or maybe I was just throwing way too much. I kinda doubt that last part. note I’m not ripping on Toxic Strings, it was just a lot different than I’m used to. However, after 2 weeks of play, it still wasn’t broken in and that’s way strange for me.
As far as cure times, it’s pretty much 24 hours for these products. There are exceptions and other products that cure faster.
I know you probably don’t want to hear “it’s all about preferences”, but this is yet another case where it does hold true. There’s no real consensus on this topic. The DIY crowd likes these RTV products, while the rest like pre-made products.
All I can say is find a few of your yoyos that need new responses, buy some flowable and red and/or blue, and then silicone stuff and see what works best for you. If not, buy one and then live with it. The odds are decent that you’ll probably be fine with it. Nothing wrong with that.
Grab some MonkeySnot… great grip, sweet colors… easy to put in…
http://shop.yoyoexpert.com/product/658/Monkeyfinger-Monkey-Snot
I bought monkey snot at PNWR. While it has cool colors and such, I really thought the difference between it and regular flowable was negligable. It performed about the same, but was a little more sticky and difficult in application. Don’t get me wrong, the stuff worked great, like I said about the same as regular flowable.
But from a more pragmatic point of view it is kind of impractical.
While yes, it does come in some cool colors, that does not negate the fact that you pay 8.99$ for a little tube of enough silicone to do maybe 3-6 yoyos, when you can go to your nearest hardware store, or even on this very website, and get a tube of clear silicone that contains enough to do 50 yoyos, and is easier to apply and performs the same.
While the colors are aesthetically pleasing, it’s kind of impractical in MY OPINION. Besides, who sees your response area when your throwing besides you?
As far as response goes, nothing beats just regular clear flowable silicone. It’s time tested and proven many times over.
I think monkey snot is over hyped.
Just my opinion.
I’ve never had to scrape gasket maker out with a knife…
Well I have, every time I’ve used it. It never comes out in one big piece, always in a bunch of small pieces. Either way, the point was that its more difficult in application and removal than regular flowable.
I’ve had the same experience: it doesn’t come out nice and clean. I just chalk it up to “the cost of maintaining a yoyo”. I wonder if newer formulations are more elastic like flowable. We do have to consider that this stuff is meant to go in and stay in.
That reminds me, I need to buy a tube of blue and red soon and silicone some stuff. I have flowable, I just want to try the others for myself. theroybit recently bought flowable and red for his stuff, and he showed me his silicone job on the red. For a first time job, I’d have sworn he’d done this a few times before. Nice and even, smooth and just enough concave in it.