Bearing Cleaning Chemicals

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:

I have been doing this a very long time, several years of which was answering thousands of phone calls to a major yoyo retailer… it happens a lot more than you’d think. We very strictly didn’t give out information on cleaning at all, simply because of the liability involved in a retailer recommending their customers play with chemicals… just bad business… but more than that, we got to hear all the upset parents calling to get their kids yoyo fixed, replaced, etc.

Kyle

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Zippo lighter fluid has always been the standard in my home country but here acetone is far more easily available so wynaut

Wow. It actually worked!!! This is new, trying something out for the first time and not failing 8) :smiley: The yoyo never comes back no matter how I try to pull it back up (me saying that statements few years ago would’ve been a problem ;D). It’s great! Thanks to you guys, I am back on track for my project. Okay, nowI have to learn how to figure out this darned Pop n’ Fresh trick :stuck_out_tongue: ::slight_smile:

Thanks: GregP, Kyle, Kadabrium, Couch, JHB, MullicaBob, Abby, FJH, and Yoyo for helping me.

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I don’t know why, but Pop’n’Fresh took me a LONG time to get compared to other tricks at supposedly the same level. No shame in moving to the next trick and circling back around. :wink:

To be honest, I was thinking the same thing about the difficulty, then suddenly there was a “click” moment where I understood how to do it, and so now I know how to do it, but I just need to smoothen and perfect it :slight_smile: