I recently recieved a pink Project in a trade. I spent a good timetuning it and I beleive I have a solid method for doing it. Now put on some music or something, because it takes a while:
STEP 1: Preperation
The first thing you want to do is mark the nut (and possibly the yoyo) with a Sharpie. You only need a tiny dot. You want to put the dot on the corner of both hex nuts. This will come in handy later, and it WILL rub off. Now if your yoyo has engravings that you can relate to, you can skip this next step: You want to put another tiny dot on the hub somewhere near the hex nut.
What did you just do? You made it so you can relate the nuts position to that of the yoyo half.
Next you want to get a paper and pencil and make this list:
(1,1)
(1,2)
(1,3)
(1,4)
(1,5)
(1,6)
(2,1)
(2,2)
(2,3)
(2,4)
(2,5)
(2,6)
(3,1)
(3.2)
(3,3)
(3,4)
(3,5)
(3,6)
(4,1)
(4,2)
(4,3)
(4,4)
(4,5)
(4,6)
(5,1)
(5,2)
(5,3)
(5,4)
(5,5)
(5,6)
(6,1)
(6,2)
(6,3)
(6,4)
(6,5)
(6,6)
When the two dots on the nut and hub are lined up, this is position “1”. Rotate the nut clockwise and you have position “2”, When the dots are opposite this is position “4”, etc.
The first number in the parentheses is the position of one side, and the other number is the other side.
STEP 2: Tuning
With your list ready, you want to start throwing your yoyo in each nut orientation. Do finger or thumb grinds to feel for a slight vibration. Mark positions that feel vibey with an “X” and ones that seem better with a chack mark. Go through every position until you Check or X the entire list. This is what mine looked like:
(1,1)X
(1,2)Better
(1,3)X
(1,4)X
(1,5)X
(1,6)X
(2,1)X
(2,2)X
(2,3)X
(2,4)X
(2,5)Better
(2,6)X
(3,1)Better
(3,2)Better
(3,3)Better
(3,4)X
(3,5)Better
(3,6)Better
(4,1)Better
(4,2)Better
(4,3)Better
(4,4)Better
(4,5)Better
(4,6)Better
(5,1)X
(5,2)Better
(5,3)Better
(5,4)Better
(5,5)X
(5,6)Better
(6,1)X
(6,2)Better
(6,3)Better
(6,4)Better
(6,5)X
(6,6)X
Now you know what positions don’t work well and which ones work better. Rewrite the list with only the positions that you checked. Do the same process of checking and X’ing off positions with the list you just made. This was mine:
(1,2)X
(1,4)X
(2,5)X
(3,1)X
(3,2)X
(3,3)X
(3,5)X
(3,6)X
(4,1)Better
(4,2)Better
(4,3)Better
(4,4)better
(4,5)X
(4,6)X
(5,2)Better
(5,3)X
(5,4)Better
(5,6)Better
(6,2)X
(6,3)X
(6,4)Better
Do this process of elimination as many times until you isolate one position that works the best! My final list was:
(4,1)X
(4,2)X
(4,3)X
(4,4)X
(5,2)X
(5,4)X
(5,6)X
(6,4)Better
I now know the hex nut orientation that works best on my Project! I could even keep the tiny dots on the yoyo, so if one of the nuts falls out I know what position to put it in so I dont have to tune it all over again. It takes quite a while but it will give you a nice smooth Nut/Axle yoyo.
I hope this made a shred of sense. Try it out for yourself and see if it helps!
-Pat!
. I read what you said, and I’m glad it made sense.