Bearing Cleaning Chemicals

Just use soap and water.

No problem man. Really, the stuff isn’t that bad. Keep in mind, a lot of nail polish remover is basically acetone, which is intended to be put on hands. I use the stuff daily in my machine shop so maybe I’m just numb to it but I’ve never had any reactions to it.

I wouldn’t use it in a jar you plan to eat/drink out of but I’m sure there’s plenty around you can use to simply clean a bearing. The stuff evaporates extremely fast so you won’t need to worry about disposing of it, just let it evaporate when you are finished. It won’t take much to flush the bearing. Even a plastic water bottle will be fine for the short time you need to clean the bearing. As long as you aren’t storing it in there.

Good luck man! Report back with results.

Yeah, because it’s a terrible idea to expect young people to be intelligent. His follow-up post sure shows that he needs our protection.

Every glass food container you’ve used in recent memory probably has a thin rubber seal on it. It’s integrated into the lid. Whether it’s likely to dissolve or not, I’m not sure. But if it IS reactive, it’s going to make a worse seal than the contact lens case. Recommending a non-reactive plastic that has a good seal is a much safer recommendation than a random food container with a questionable (or variable) sealing material. If it’s reactive the seal might fail and acetone will spray around during the shaking process. The recommendation was based partially ON safety, not in disregard to it.

Acetone is also not sulphuric acid. It’s not water, but it’s not as hazardous as people like to make it out to be. You wouldn’t be able to get it by the gallon off a shelf at Home Depot if it required that strict of control.

I don’t really think the attitude in your reply was warranted, Kyle.

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I just like the fact its another bearing related thread!

278,000,983 and counting.

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It’s not like I get “excited” to see the same topics over and over again… but consider this:

People continue to go to schools and take classes, despite there being a wealth of books on any given subject. When you are helping to create your own knowledge (by asking the questions yourself and by engaging in conversations with the “teachers” and other students) it is not only more rewarding but more likely to be retained.

In this case, the OP did the best possible thing and continued research on their own as well, showing not just a passive intake of information. And I have no doubt that the next step will be consolidation and further creation of knowledge by putting it into practice.

That all seems more worthwhile than just ignoring or providing a link to archived information.

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And prior to all that ^ you do a search here and see all the wealth of information.

As far as I can tell, he did. Knowing that the choice seemed to be between acetone and mineral spirits showed a level of research.

Some people just want confirmation.

The “search” function just returns static results. These are the “books” in my analogy… there are plenty of books on algebra, so why do we bother taking classes? :wink:

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You are asking the wrong guy. I don’t know why people do the things they do.

You always seem to know though.

Well… I did already answer the question, that was just rhetorical. We go to classes not for knowledge absorption but for knowledge creation. That doesn’t mean original thoughts, it means internalizing information to make it our own. You created all kinds of knowledge when you learned to powder coat!

And yes, I’m a know-it-all. It’s my curse. And apparently at least one other thread participant’s as well. :wink:

Part of the problem is the fact that the same individuals reply to the relentless onslaught of unnecessary “bearing” threads. Thus creating an acceptable mindset in these forums.

Two counter-arguments spring to mind:

  1. These are usually newcomers. They have no idea that a culture of acceptance for answering repeat questions has been created. They just want confirmation for their shaky research before committing to a process that they’re paranoid will potentially make their yoyo not work. :wink: They are a blank slate, oblivious to what has come before.

  2. If those same individuals (myself obviously being one of them) keep replying, it should mean nothing to you as you get to wipe your forehead and go, “phew, another one of those threads I don’t have to even consider answering…! Off the hook again!”

Standing idly by and helping the problem along instead of corrective reply places “those” people in the category of no better than the very “newcomer” you describe.

I don’t mean this in a snarky way at all, but I’m not sure I understand that last point. Let me take a stab at it: Are you saying that sometimes the people who “always reply” to these threads continue to give bad advice and you can’t just idly stand by? Consequently, you’re not off the hook after all… you are duty-bound to provide corrections when needed?

I tend to agree with that. Which is why I guess I poked my know-it-all nose in here to mention that a “plastics and acetone don’t mix” statement is not factual.

The process goes on and on and on regardless of who replies for whatever reason.

Fact of the matter is people reply with answers instead of saying “why not search, Facebook, youtube” or any other of the multitude of ways to find the answer to the question they most likely threw up in haste.

As in a “Thank you” from a moderator that yet allows another one to go by. Or the common go to guy that just cant help but to feed the fire with an answer instead of “this has been beaten to death”.

Sorry if I created an argument or something :-[
But I was unsure of myself at first, because I didn’t want to wreck my yoyo. Hope you guys understand.
I kinda did research about cleaning the bearing, but I wanted someone to give the “ok” before I jumped into it

You had a valid question, don’t worry about it… the ‘what kind of container’ thing doesn’t come up often.

It’s not terrible to expect it, it IS terrible to assume it. The OP isn’t the only one who will read this thread.

I try to avoid getting into unnecessary detail when a general answer will cover all cases. Glass is always going to be safe, plastic might be…

As you pointed out, it isn’t a harsh acid, even if it was eating away at a rubber seal on a glass container, it’d take quite a long time to do any real damage… it’s not like these bearings are in a totally full container sitting upside down (where it would actually be in contact with a seal) for hours at a time… you don’t even need a lid most of the time, just enough to cover the bearings and swish them around a bit.

My concern with plastic isn’t just safety though, it’s that melting plastic could, in theory, work its way onto the bearing itself as well… you’re contaminating the solvent.

Is it a horribly dangerous situation in any case? not at all… but I make no assumptions when dealing on a forum primarily filled with young kids. In general I actually just avoid telling kids how to clean bearings to begin with, but we were obviously past that point here.

Kyle

The information I gave was sound, though, and I even indicated that I can’t be trusted on the specific number. I do actually trust our young members to read “certain plastics are fine… there’s a number that will help you figure it out” for what it is. None of the readers are going to take that as “just use plastic, it’ll be fine”. :wink:

I’m a big fan of promoting information over ignorance. The same readers that you’re skeptical of trusting are going to take your information and suddenly in every thread it’s going to be “acetone will melt plastic!” which isn’t true. Would more people be “safer” in that false information? Possibly. Not sure. But “certain plastics are fine” is hardly harmful information that will cause false assumptions. It will only cause research or “I’m too lazy to figure out which… I’ll just use glass”. :wink:

Regarding the glass container… here’s where our perspectives might differ: I do not just swish the bearing around. I agitate fairly vigorously. If there’s non-organic matter in there that the solvent isn’t going to dissolve, I want to dislodge it. :slight_smile: You’re right to be concerned about the contamination of the solvent and plastic working its way into a bearing. That’s one of my concerns, too. But again, IF the seal itself is attacked by the acetone, it will contaminate the solvent. With my “appropriate plastic” containers, there’s no risk of that.

Whether by fumes or by my vigorous agitation (why does that sound like a term from a traveling medicine show?), I still think there’s more risk in the thin rubber of a food jar lid.

Well, after all that, I still prefer lighter fluid. :wink:

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and I still don’t clean bearings unless absolutely necessary (very, very rare)…

Anyway, GregP perhaps I’m too jaded on this topic… I’ve seen far too many kids screw up their bearings, yoyos, etc. in an attempt to magically make them ‘better’ by playing with chemicals.

Maybe. I admittedly haven’t seen any, because I don’t see yoyoers in person. The bearing screw-ups you see around here are almost always “it’s responsive even after I put a bunch of lube in”. And the solution for that is… cleaning. :wink: