Part 15
Mods, Spacers, and Shims
Players have long modified stock yo-yos, and many mods became standard features later, like recessed response.[9]
- Recessing: cutting a pocket so pads sit flush and don’t rub the string.[9][7]
- Siliconing: filling an O-ring groove or recess with silicone.[9]
- Bearing swaps: for example, adding a KonKave bearing.[9]
- Shims: thin rings on each side of the bearing that widen the gap for less response. Cardboard or plastic shims are recommended because metal ones can get stuck.[10] 3D-printed shims are fragile, so don’t overtighten.[57]
- Spacers: pieces that seat the bearing on the axle; swapping widths changes the gap.[11] Duncan’s Mod Spacers (2012) let players change a yo-yo’s response and body shape.[12]
- Sanding: for a smoother “grind” surface; see below.[9][13]
Want to go further? See 3D printing your own yo-yo.
Part 16
Cleaning, Polishing, and Dings
Cleaning the body
Remove the axle and bearing, then wipe the yo-yo with a soft cloth, a drop of mild dish soap, and warm water. Rinse with a damp cloth and let it air dry.[38] Monkeyfinger Buff brightens anodized finishes and leaves a slick surface for grinds.[56][38]
Know the damage
A ding is a dent you can feel, from hitting something hard. Pinpricks are tiny dings, often in clusters. A scuff is surface marking that usually doesn’t break the anodizing.[41]
Smoothing dings
- You can smooth a ding, but you can’t restore anodized color without removing the finish.[39]
- Players knock down sharp edges with a small file, even a nail file, then smooth with fine sandpaper.[39]
- To fully strip and polish a metal yo-yo, one guide spins it on a drill and works through sandpaper from about 80 to 250 grit, then 0000 steel wool, scratch remover, and metal polish.[40]
- Sanding at low speed on a drill gives a satin “grind” finish; lower grits leave fine lines.[13]
- Or keep the war scars. Plenty of players do.[39]
Part 17
Lingo, Finishes, and Collecting
The words players use in reviews and on buy/sell/trade (BST) boards, plus the finishes, grades, and records you’ll run into once you start collecting.
Vibe
Vibe is vibration you feel through the string while the yo-yo spins. It usually comes from the two halves being out of alignment. Most modern yo-yos are machined so precisely that vibe is far less common than it was 10 or 20 years ago.[179]
- Causes: hard drops that bend the axle or bearing seat; materials like wood and plastic that can’t be machined as precisely as metal; and bimetals, whose extra parts add more places for error. Very thin walls with heavy rims can vibe by design.[179]
- Halves matter less than you’d think: in a 2018 forum experiment, halves from two different yo-yos, with very different weights, spun smoothly together, pointing to alignment and axle fit as the bigger factors.[179]
- A common fix: players often wrap the axle in Teflon tape, which can absorb some of the vibe from a loose axle fit.[179]
- B-grades: yo-yos sold at a discount for anodizing flaws or vibe.[188] Some brands mark them: YoYoFactory with a “B grade” stamp, CLYW with “Fool’s Gold” or pickaxes, SPYY with “star grade.” Players warn that unmarked B-grades sometimes get resold as new.[187]
“Floaty” and other feel words
“Floaty” describes a yo-yo that feels light and drifts through tricks, as opposed to one that feels heavy and sluggish or light and fast. Weight distribution matters as much as total weight: some heavy yo-yos feel floaty.[180] One physics-minded explanation: pushing mass toward the rims (a higher moment of inertia) gives a denser “presence” on the string, while a designer can make a yo-yo floatier by taking mass off the rims or spreading it out.[181] See the Science page for moment of inertia.
Size classes
There is no official standard, and players disagree by a millimeter or two. One commonly cited forum breakdown by diameter:[182]
Rough yo-yo size classes by diameter[182]
| Class | Diameter |
|---|
| Mini | Under 50 mm |
| Undersized | 50–51 mm |
| Midsized | 52–53 mm |
| Full-sized | 54–56 mm |
| Oversized | 57 mm and up |
Another player in the same thread drew the lines differently (full-size at 56–57.5 mm, oversized at 58 mm and up), and some small yo-yos “play big.”[182]
Fingerspins and hubstacks
- Fingerspin dimples: a small cup in the hub lets you balance the spinning yo-yo on a fingertip. Jeffrey Pang’s MagicYoYo Skyva made it easy to “lock in” a fingerspin; he credits earlier ideas like YoYoJam’s lateral caps and the AnY Air Rider’s advertised dimple.[183]
- Hubstacks (side cap bearings): bearings on the hubs, covered by caps, that you can grab while the yo-yo keeps spinning. Modders started it; Frank Difeo “bearingized” his Spike-Fly into the Gladiator; the AnY MiRoC was the first mass-produced version (its caps had trouble staying on); then YoYoFactory’s G5 named them “hubstacks.”[184]
- One Drop Side Effects: swappable axle caps that change weight and look; see the Science page for why they were never patented.
Colorways and finishes
- Solid, fade, and masked: fades are dipped partway into dye; masked designs are dyed, masked, stripped with bleach in the open areas, then dyed again.[185]
- Splash and acid wash: “acid wash” strips color from a splashed area, sometimes with acid and sometimes with bleach. It can blend two colors or put one color over raw metal.[185][186]
- Stripping anodizing: a yo-yo maker on the forum recommends oven cleaner or a commercial stripper; sandblasting removes metal and changes the texture.[186]
- See the Science page for rare body materials and Cleaning, Polishing, and Dings for care.
Fakes and budget brands
Counterfeit copies of popular metal yo-yos, notably YoYoRecreation models, have been sold on BST boards, and players wrote authentication guides in response.[189] Players separate knockoffs from legitimate budget brands, and a common piece of advice is to buy inexpensive yo-yos from reputable companies that support the community.[190]
World records and collectors
- AYYA world records come in Open, Junior (14 and under), and Masters (50 and up). The yo-yo must be commercially available and unmodified, though tuning like new string, lube, or bearings is allowed, and the string must be 32–42 inches.[191]
- Listed records include “Fast Eddy” McDonald’s 8,437 loops in one hour (Toronto, 1990) and a 30-minute 28-second transaxle sleeper by Wang Wai Sheuk Simpson at the 2012 Worlds.[191]
- Hans Van Dan Elzen (“Yohans”), owner of Playmaxx and YoYoFactory, set a Guinness record of 54 tricks in one minute in 2005 with a YoYoFactory FAST 201.[192]
- Doc “Lucky” Meisenheimer holds the Guinness record for the largest yo-yo collection, wrote a collector’s guide to 20th-century yo-yos, directs the National Yo-Yo Hall of Fame, and coined “bandalorist” for a yo-yo collector.[193]
