Have a MYY Shark Honor that’s a few years old. Started throwing it again, and found it was too responsive and would bind when trying to finger spin or thumb grind. Haven’t thrown it in a few years, when I wasn’t doing any complicated tricks.
I checked things out…
tried multiple, clean bearings
took out the yellow o-rings and tried both red gasket silicon, and then plain flowable silicon
variety of strings
No real change. For those with some experience with it, is the N12 supposed to be a little more on the responsive side? Or is it more likely that a replacement is in order?
Hows your axle? If your experiencing some vibe that could be making the yo-yo jumpy. I have a dash that was fine right until the axle bent, and now it has earthquake vibe and plays responsive.
Also my understanding is the N12 is quite good for unresponsive, though I do not own one myself.
Yes, so far those are the only 2 tricks affected (but they are affected pretty badly, and I don’t have these problems on my other responsive yoyos), but bear in mind, my trick repertoire is pretty limited.
Tried thin Kitty, nylon, regular poly. Pads looked fine. When I used the flowable silicon, I bowed the card I used to spread it quite a bit, so I got more silicon out of the yoyo prior to drying (trying to get a thinner layer).
Well then maybe it’s just your technique. You said it plays fine other than when you try to perform those tricks? The n12 is a solid unresponsive yoyo, I’ve never had a problem with mine playing responsive. Whatever it is, that sounds sketchy lol. No one likes a surprise bind
I don’t think it is technique, per se, as this is the only unresponsive throw this happens with, out of quite a few that I own.
Sounds to me like there is either something about this particular N12 that is not quite right, or the N12 and I ‘don’t mix well’. Other than the fast returns (particularly on the grinds - ouch!), I really like the yoyo. I think I’ll buy another and see what happens.
Very odd, but if nothing else, a very interesting problem to try to work through!
Hmm, I would get something else personally. N12 is a good starter throw, not much more. Whole world of possibilities out there… have you a Colossus or Silenus yet?
I’ve got a good variety of yoyos, older, newer, low- and higher-end. I had another N12 a longer time ago (again, prior to doing anything that could be called ‘advanced,’ so I couldn’t use my experience with it to help judge this situation), sold it, then got this one. Its just a reminder of my yoing past that I’d like to have represented in my modest collection.
I’ve heard very good things about the Colossus, and it is on ‘the list’ of possibles. Have heard of but not looked into the Silenus, but I’ll definitely take a look at it!
I appreciate all the replies, very much! I’ll try to remember to reply back here re: a new N12!
Throw a somewhat strong sleeper. Pop the yoyo up ten or so inches. Does the string just stay kind of pointing up out of the gap? Or does it kind of chase around the gap? If it chases, your bearing isn’t completely unresponsive most likely. If this is the case try cleaning the bearing thoroughly and not lubing it. Then try the test again.
I have seen what he’s talking about – you can have a flawless bearing and still get it. Usually caused by the response pads being too grabby, so when the string is near the extreme edge of the bearing, it’ll start to get caught by the response pads when it should not and begin a partial bind.
But he also exhaustively tested the pads and I trust his methods based on what he wrote.
I cleaned each bearing thoroughly, and added no lube prior to trying each out - wanted to make sure each one I tried were the same level of clean.
I tried Vega’s suggestion, comparing the N12 to my brand new YYF bi-metal Edge:
when popping the Edge up, the slack string stays completely out of the yoyo. In other words, you can see the bearing the entire time
with the N12, the string wraps very loosely between the halves. It didn’t seem to inhibit the yoyo’s movement at all, and I felt no resistance or friction, but it was definitely loosely wrapping between the halves.
BTW, didn’t mention it before, but the yoyo is very, very smooth.
I submerge the bearing in Ronsonol lighter fluid, use a fork to shake it around while submerged, and then let it sit in the lighter fluid for 15-20 minutes. Shake the bearing around more, remove and dry, then spin the bearing while sitting on a pencil for a couple of minutes, then give it about 30 minutes to dry more. I wait till I can’t smell lighter fluid prior to trying it out.
I tried 5 different bearings, all with similar results - Konkave, couple of Center Track, a General Yo bearing and a YYF bearing.
If different bearings are doing the same thing then it has to be either the response pads making contact with the string or the bearing seat isn’t letting the bearing spin completely free. I know it’d be a pain but removing the response and testing it again would show which one it is. Maybe more trouble than it’s worth though.
you’ve swapped everything that could possibly matter… it only binds unexpectedly on finger spins and thumb grinds?
