Hey everyone and welcome to the YoYoNation.com video blog, where we will update you on the
newest products and tips and tricks. The first topic for today's episode is how to clean
a bearing.
We get a lot of emails and a lot of phone calls from people saying "my bearing is slowing
down" or "it's making funny noises." There're a lot of reasons why your bearing might be
doing this, but one of the best solutions, and it works most of the time, is simply cleaning
your bearing. And we're going to show you that right now. This is everything you'll
need to clean your bearing. We have pliers, lighter fluid or mineral spirits, a glass
jar, make sure it's glass and not something else, a paper towel, a pen, a safety pin,
your bearings, and YoYo Jam thin or thick lube.
The first thing you'll have to do is take your bearing off your yo-yo, and sometimes
that can be a little tough. So you'll need some pliers like this. Not all bearings have
to be taken off with pliers but they definitely help. Make sure the pliers have a flat part,
whether in front or in back. That makes it a little easier. You can break your bearing
if you squeeze too hard. It takes a little bit of pressure but you can do it. So be careful.
Once you get your bearing off your yo-yo you will see that it has a metal shield on the
side. On both sides. This is just to prevent dirt from getting inside of the bearing. It's
not super necessary, and some people think it's better if you can take these off before
you clean your bearing. And some people even say you can leave them off that way your bearing
works even better. It's up to you. We do probably recommend you take it off to clean your bearing.
You can see what it's like and if it doesn't seem like it makes much of a difference, you
can not do it next time you clean your bearing. But if you want to try it out, all you have
to do is take a pointy object like this, a thin, pointy object, you'll find a little
slit in the c-clip. Try to push this underneath the lip of the c-lip and just push that side
up, and it should just pop right out. If you lose it it's not a problem. You probably won't
even be able to get it back in. And the shield will come right out. Do the same thing with
the going to do the same thing with the other side.
When you're done with that, you're being is going to look something like this. That's
how it looks when you have the shield off, and that's how it looks when it's on.
When you're done, you're going to take your bearing and drop it into the lighter fluid,
or mineral spirits. You don't have to fill it up too high. Just enough to cover the bearing.
That one fell sideways. You want to stir it around a little bit. You're going to leave
it in here for only about ten minutes. You don't want to leave it in there for any longer
than that. Stir it around once or twice during those ten minutes, and you're good to go.
And when you're done, you just take it out. This is where the pen comes in handy. Set
that on the paper towel, let it dry.
Then when you're done, take the bearing and put it on the top of the pen or pencil, depending
on the size of the bearing, and spin it like that. Do that a couple times. That'll dry
the inside much quicker. You can let it sit for a little while longer if you want but
you're pretty much done. You pretty much clean.
Next what you have to do go ahead and apply your lube. For unresponsive yo-yos you want
to use Yo-Yo Jam Thin Lube. For looping yo-yos you want to use Yo-Yo Jam Thick Lube or three
in one. Three in one you can buy at any hardware story. These two here, these guys you can
get through us. With the Thin Lube you're going to put the bearing on the yo-yo and
then apply the lube. Just one small drop onto the side of the bearing. And then you're done.
If it's a looping yo-yo, you might want to apply one on each side. One big drop. And
then you're done. Looping yo-yos you will have to use a bit more lube and you will have
to clean your bearings a bit more. So keep that in mind.
All you have to do now is put the bearing back on the yo-yo and apply your lube. Lube
is very important because if you don't lube your yo-yo, you risk your bearing running
to hot and it can freeze up on you and you won't be able to use it at all. We recommend
Thin Lube for unresponsive yo-yos. That would be your Protostar, your Freehand Zero, or
anything from H Spin. You just want to apply one drop. Your yo-yo might be a little responsive
your first few throws, maybe even your first ten or fifteen minutes, but after you start
playing with it, it'll break in and it'll be just as unresponsive as it was before.
The differences you'll notice are that it'll sleep longer, it'll sleep smoother, and it
won't be as noisy.
If you don't have access to any of these lubes for some reason you can go to any hardware
store and buy something called three in one. It's sort of a cross between these too. It's
not as low in viscocity as Thin Lube and not quite as dense as the Thick Lube.
And that's it! That's how to clean a bearing. Thanks for watching our video. If you have
any questions just leave that in the comments section below and we'll answer that as soon
as we can. If not we'll see you next time.