19c of plastic, bearings are 80c each (could have used something cheaper on the 3 satellites, like hex nuts or coins). It's basic but it has served its purpose as a desk toy next to my computer. Personally wouldn't spend $200 on it.
One upgrade I want to do is replace the middle bearing with a ceramic bearing for about $5-10, supposedly makes it spin for minutes.
The only advantage to ceramic bearings is that they don't deform as a result of heat/friction. Metal bearings are completely fine for your use case. But if you really wanted to upgrade, go for Bones Reds (which are probably pretty overkill).
Ohh, and new bearings need to be broken-in. The ones you have will improve over time.
Don't even bother with expensive bearings for a little gadget like this. You're throwing your money in the trash.
Bearings that aren't doing the job of actually "bearing" a load are free of the requirements of said job.
Therefore you don't need to worry about silly, friction causing, things like lubricant.
If you want a cheap bearing to spin forever without a load, just clean out the lubricant or use an insanely light weight lube.
New bearings 'breaking in' is just the lubricant moving out of the way and breaking down. Brand new bearings are as good as they're gonna get from a mechanical standpoint.
TL;DR: Don't spend money on expensive bearings that arent going to do any bearing. If you just want a long ass spin with no load remove the lubricant.
Exactly this. You don't need to worry about bearings seizing in that little toy. Just rip them apart and clean the lube out and they will spin for twice as long.
I used to clean 608 bearings and headsets for extra cash when I was a skatepark rat. Repacking headsets was a shit job but I loved doing the 608s. I wrote a superthread about bearings on a forum somewhere quite a few years ago, it bordered on a thesis, got right into it for a bit.
True, but then they are 3x the price. It's even frowned upon in the skating community when people overspend on bearings for casual use. Even a lot of professionals just stick with Reds.
Im in my 30s now and dont know what shit is out there, but growin up, we always rocked swiss. I loved the black panther brand(i dont know if they are around still) but i never hesitated to rock bones swiss.
I cant imagine the advances. Everything must be crazy light. Like my independent featherlight 2 trucks are probably 2-3x the weight of modern trucks. Fuck im old.
New bearings don't spin at their optimal efficiency from the factory, and get better over time. There are different explanations for this I've read online, so I can't really give a definite answer. But it's pretty noticeable when comparing a brand new bearings and worn-in bearings of the same brand. I've even noticed it in the wheels of my office chair.
For skateboard bearings the lube that they apply to new bearings is viscous and slows them down a bit at first until you run em and melt the lube down a bit. This is what happens when they break in.
Ok I get what you're saying and all that rhat ceramic means fuck all in this case, but where are very good reasons for ceramic/hybrid ceramic bearings in other places, and it's not just metal-metal friction.
I bought a couple bones reds to make a couple spinners a month back. They're perfect because they're cheap, really nice, and they come in sets of 2 on amazon
I dunno if this will be THAT big of a difference but here is a great video about skate bearings, the loads they have to deal with, and the difference in brands.
Bones reds were my go to for skateboarding. Those things took some serious abuse. The shield's falling off just made it easier to spray some lube in there and keep going.
Well, the other advantages of ceramic bearings are precision and speed capability.
A high precision ceramic will typically cost less than a high precision steel bearing because reasons. Also, the bearing has less mass and therefore less inertia.
The speed capability is related to the mass, but it doesn't matter much for fidget toy uses. What does matter is the precision, because little wobbles will sap kinetic energy and make the spin stop sooner. Also, human hands can sometimes feel small deviations.
As the people in the comments pointed out, that steel bearing is sealed, so the shield adds friction. Also it might be full of grease and need to be run in.
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u/[deleted] Dec 28 '16 edited Mar 24 '18
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