OD bearing noise

[exax]

so I just got a new Code 1 and it was super quiet and amazing at the beginning. After about an hour though the bearing suddenly became very loud. i heard the ten ball bearings are supposed to be very quiet so whats up with that? i put a tiny drop of thin lube in but it didn't do much. Should I put more? or clean the bearing or something?
thanks

[NKessler]

Just so you know, questions like this belong in the "Maintenance" section of the forum.  Don't be too surprised if you find it moved there soon.

About the bearings...  One Drop uses stainless steel 10 ball bearings.  They are regarded by many to be the absolute best bearings you can get.

They are shipped out dry, meaning they have no lubricant in them at all.  Because of this, they are unresponsive right out of the box.  Usually, dry bearings are VERY loud.  Once lubed, they quiet down to near silence.

Have you taken the shields off of your bearing?  What type of lube are you using?

The answers to those two questions will help everyone help you quite a bit.  Bearings can be a bit fussy before you break them in, so don't be surprised if you've got to do a bit of maintenance before your bearing plays the way you want it to.

[exax]

aaahh... looking for that board but missed it, sorry. so I haven't taken off the shields at all and but a very small amount of YYJ thin lube in. Should i put some more lube in and and break it in? I just don't want it ending up too responsive.I heard this happened to a bunch of people with this bearing.

[hcjesse]

Nah, some people would argue with this, but in my experience no amount of yyj thin lube is enough to make a yoyo responsive. If you use to much, most of the excess will run out of the bearing anyways. So yeah, put a drop or two in your bearing and play with your yoyo. That should fix the noise.

[NKessler]

YYJ's thin lube can cause responsiveness if too much is used.  Its an unfortunate side effect (haha!), but once you've broken it in it'll be completely silent and smooth.

If you can, take the shields off your bearing.  Then, take a small pin and apply a tiny drop of lube to it.  Touch that pin to 3 or 4 of the balls in the bearing and you'll be just fine.  YYJ's lube needs to be applied in TINY quantities if you don't want a responsive yoyo.

I bet the shields prevented the lube from getting inside the bearing.  Once you get them off you'll be able to lube it without any problems.

You might want to invest a few bucks in One Drop's V4M lubricant.  It works WONDERFULLY and doesn't make your bearing responsive if you use a little too much.  I've been lubing my entire lineup of "everyday yoyos" (at least 10) weekly with the same bottle for 6 months and I'm not even halfway through it.  The real trick to it is using outrageously small amounts of lube.  You'll be extremely surprised at how well your CODE1 plays with a quiet bearing!

If you wind up with a responsive bearing, just clean it and try again.  I've seen a few people use a method that goes like this:

1) De-shield and apply 1 TINY drop of lube to 1 ball.
2) Throw and check for noise, smoothness, and responsiveness.
3) Add more lube if results aren't perfect.
4) Repeat until perfect.
5) If too much lube is applied, clean the bearing and start over.

You'll dial it all in eventually and have perfect bearings all the time!

Good luck!  If you have anymore questions feel free to ask.  I've spent WAY too much time obsessing over my bearings, so I think I'll be able to answer most questions about the subject.

[Swatnoodle]

One time I put 3 drops of lube in a bearing cuz my brother bumped into me while I was lubing. It stayed responsive for a whole week

[hcjesse]

I usually (admittedly somewhat wastefully) flood my bearings with thin lube, and never really had any problems as far as responsiveness goes. I like dead silent bearings, so if that means sacrificing just the tiniest amount of unresponsiveness for a very quiet bearing, it's worth it to me.

I'm not sure how you guys are making your yoyos responsive from thin lube and thin lube alone? If I apply too much thin lube to [insert large bearing unresponsive yoyo here], it still requires a bind afterward and imho any yoyo that requires a bind is unresponsive.

[exax]

Awesome!! works great now. just dipped needle into thin lube, applied to a couple bearings, threw and repeated a few times. now it's nice and quiet. Thanks a lot! (btw i'm assuming this will also work on normal bearings?)

[Swatnoodle]

Works on all bearings.

[AlisRIOSteff]

...imho any yoyo that requires a bind is unresponsive.

True, but the difference in that little bit of responsiveness could mean a smack to the knuckles if you're not paying attention.

[Sunny]

I practically soak my bearings in thin lube after I clean them.  Keeps gem quiet and long-lasting.  Break-in time isn't bad at all.