1. I can't seem to get my new Powerball started. Is it broken?
This is a common question and you will be pleased to know that 999 times out of 1,000 your Powerball is not broken. It is not often that a new Powerballer picks up a Powerball and starts it up first time. The process should be entirely new to you and will take a bit of practise to get used to it. The most common reason for start up difficulties is lack of power when pulling the cord. Remember to wind the cord up tightly and turn the Powerball with the rotor facing upwards. Now in whichever hand you feel most comfortable and have most control over, really whip that cord out and in a downward motion. Make sure that you pull it straight and not off at an angle as this may result in the cord sliding off the side of the rotor and becoming tangled in the axle. (it is easily released if this does happen) The speed of the cord assisted start should be around 2,500 RPM and can be checked by resetting the Highest Score function of the RPM counter. (if your model includes one) To conclude this point, don't be shy with that starter cord, really let it rip! The next thing you will have to learn is the wrist motion that is required to speed up the spinning rotor. At these early stages wrist turns should be fairly slow and in a wide circular motion. Just double check that you are using your wrist and your arm hasn't taken over. Timing is crucial as you have to get your wrist turns in synch with the spinning speed of the rotor, getting in the groove so to speak. Once you have mastered this, the key to increasing speed is to gradually make your wrist turns quicker and narrower. Gradual remember! After some practise you should now be able to spin much faster and now that you have mastered the technique, only your strength can stop you reaching those 14 or dare I say 15k spins. As an additional reference when learning to start your Powerball please view our short (Quicktime) video clip here.
2. I've lost my starter cord. Where do I get a replacement?
You can purchase two starter cords by donating a minimum of £2 to our supported charity, Cancer Research UK. Please make your donation via our Just Giving page and email your name and delivery address to amanda@powerball-gyros.com
3. Does My Powerball come with any kind of warranty?
Powerball Gyros supplies all Powerballs with a Lifetime Warranty for Repair or Replacement. Please check the FAQ section for instructions on repairing minor problems by yourself. This avoids wasting any valuable spinning time!!! Please e-mail us quoting your invoice number if you would like to send a ‘sick' Powerball in for examination.
4. My counter has stopped working. What should I do?
Like all electronic equipment, malfunctions can sometimes happen. In the first instance please follow these instructions:-
The simple action of removing the batteries and replacing them again can cure such 'corruption' in the unit. It can happen that the logic board driving the display will get 'corrupted' and needs to be reset again. This again is quite rare but if you do the following it may cure the problem:
You'll simply pop off the clock (using your nail or a flat part of a knife blade/screwdriver) and will see six small screws securing the tiny circuit board to the outer shell.
On removing these screws the board will come away and reveal two small batteries. Nothing else will suddenly 'fly out' when you do this so its all a relatively simple procedure to carry out.
Leave the board off for about 30 seconds and then replace it, screwing back in the tiny screws again.Try powering it up and [hopefully] all will be well again!
Failing success in all of this, please e-mail us to organise a free replacement
5. My Powerball isn't as smooth as it used to be. What's wrong?
This is a common complaint and is easy to solve.
When you first take the ball from its box, you will note the perfectly fluid and silent action with which it operates - the rotor whirr's away and there is no noise, bar that 'jet fighter' sound as the speed increases...
After a few weeks of use however, this lovely fluid movement and silent rotation can be replaced by a noisy, gravely movement, which, although still yielding out much the same torque, doesn't offer as much pleasure of use as from when it was new and you probably wonder, just what might be wrong with it all?
Well, what we have found from experience is that our customers (and ourselves included early on) would take the ball and spin it up to, say, 10,000rpm - at which point their limbs become tired and they cease building the speed and slacken or loosen their (tired) hand grip on the gyro. Now, despite the fact that the rotor itself is absolutely perfect in its balance, it is still travelling at around 9000rpm and is putting out considerable inertia. This 'gyroscopic torque' is transmitted into the outer sphere, which is now sitting quite loosely in the players hand and begins to resonate or shake in sympathy with the slowing rotor (which itself will begin to 'jarr' or grate inside the sphere...making that awful rattling noise as the speed is violently scrubbed off as a result!).
The rotor is supported on a hardened steel axle which itself sits on a smooth polycarbonate support ring - this support ring is sandwiched in between the lips of the two halves of the outer sphere - in a cavity of about 5 mm in height (this cavity is what allows that 'play' in the rotor when the ball is stationary). Each time the ball is allowed to slow down in this 'unsupported' manner and makes that grating noise as a result, tiny fragments of plastic are shed from that support band as it revolves around which, over a period of time will eventually cause that rough noise you are currently hearing in those older balls.
Again, this isn't a huge issue as the ball will still do its job and exercise the required limbs each time you use it - however, the noise and roughness is disappointing when you recall how smooth they were from new and as a result you'd be keen to make sure it doesn't keep on happening! (As a counter measure, we have written the above cause/cure into our instruction manual which comes with each ball in order that our customers would always try to hold the ball tightly while the rotor is spinning.)
I have on my own desk a Powerball which was opened from its wrapper some 8 months ago (at time of writing) and have been using it for about 15 minutes each day without fail at speeds of around 12k. As true as I'm sitting here writing this to you, that Powerball is still as smooth and silky as one which came out of a box 7 days ago which we used for some new images on the site and has enjoyed but a few minutes use in the interim.
Its not, therefore, about how you start them...its simply about how you stop them - keep a firm grip at all times.
Anyway...the solution for this ailment is twofold:
1. Get a high pressure air source, remove the counter and while the rotor is spinning at around 5k, blast the air jet into the top of the ball - this will serve to dislodge the plastic dust that has built up inside the cavity (alternatively, open the ball in a small vice and clean it with a soft dry cloth)
2. After you have done this, continue to use the ball as normal, except making sure that it is always held firmly until the rotor has stopped.
You can also wash the unit (applies only to the 250Hz models and not the units with lights in the rotor). Make sure to remove the counter first - and wash it in warm water with no soap and make sure to rinse well and leave to dry properly - though we personally prefer the high pressure air method!)
Simple as that!
(Finally, Powerball should never be lubricated....ever! That will kill it
instantly!)
6. My Powerball Is making an annoying knocking noise. How do I stop this?
Powerball is a finely tuned product which has been designed to run smoothly and quietly at all times of its operation and this knocking noise is certainly out of character with the product. There is one likely cause and we can go through it as follows: Whenever the unit is dropped onto a hard surface it can sometimes cause a knocking noise similar to this. The hardened steel axle of the rotor sits on a soft plastic support band which itself is enclosed in a 2-3mm 'channel' between the two halves of the outer shell and allowed to turn freely within this space (there is also some small up/down movement while the rotor is stationary but this disappears once it is in motion). What can happen during a fall or a hard knock however, depending on what way the ball hits the surface at - is that the steel axle can come down hard on the support rim of either half of the outer sphere and cause a small dent on its surface. This in turn will present a 'rut' for the axle each time it revolves [over it] while using the ball and will cause that 'knocking' sound you are hearing during use. Now, be advised that should this happen to your Powerball there are two options available:
1. Any Powerball presenting a knocking noise after being dropped in such a manner will be virtually 100% cured following two or three 30 second blasts HELD VERY FIRMLY/TIGHTLY IN HAND at a constant speed of 10,000rpm - or for 60 seconds at around 8000rpm. What will happen during such a session is that the hard (but smooth) metal axle (which made the rut in the first place) will literally 'sandpaper' the rough edge of that very same rut (or rut's if there are several) and in remarkably quick time, you'll be left with a Powerball that is almost as quiet and smooth as it was in the first place!
When I say 'almost' I mean that you may still hear a very faint noise from the ball each time the axle meets the slight undulation in the normally perfectly smooth surface on which it is meant to run - but be assured that this too will pretty much vanish over time. The key, and I'll stress it once more, is to hold the ball really tightly in your hand as it spins - this is vital to the smooth running of your powerball now and for years to come.
2. If after a week or so of hard spinning (at these high rev's) you are not left with a 'silent ball' once again, then its down to replacing whichever section of the sphere has that 'rut'.
I would like you to do the following therefore in order that you can establish what exactly is at fault here and so we can send you the relevant replacement part - the whole job will take just a couple of minutes if you are up for it!
The quickest way is to lift the band slightly at exactly the points where there is no text - that is, at the junction of where the front and back text meets on both sides - there is just black space at these 2 points.
This will expose the 2 tiny screws on each side without you having to go to the bother to take the band off completely (to look for them in the first place!).
Now, take the Powerball and put him into the vise with the jaws of the [vise] resting against these 'blank' areas on the band (where you have just removed the screws from).
Put the ball down into the vise so that the exact middle or 'equator' of the ball (for want of a better word!) is sitting snugly in the middle of the jaw surface. Gently close the vise to a point where the ball is now firmly supported. At this point, depending on what kind of a vise you have (ours is an old one and well worn!) it will literally take just an extra 1/2 turn to maybe a full turn (if the vise gearing is different to ours), and you will hear that 'pop' we are referring to!
In truth, if your vise is really different to ours, it doesn't matter, just turn the handle until you hear the 'pop' (if you break it then we will replace the broken part, so don't worry!). The material in your Powerball is extremely strong and will flex considerably before it breaks so don't worry about causing harm - you won't unless you are deliberatly setting out to crush the little guy in there!
Anyway, once you hear the pop, take him out and you will now be able to manually separate the 2 halves. If you are still not able to do this then take the ball, put it back in but this time turn it 90 degrees (so that now the middle of the text on both sides rests up against the vise jaws) and give only a gentle turn to the handle (perhaps 1/4 to a 1/2 turn) to bring it that 'final bit' where you will see the two halves physically come apart in the vise...and that's it!
Once you have it apart, you will be able to see the marks I am speaking of on the inside rim of the shell (if this is what is causing the noise) - it will be easy to find if you simply take the rotor and manually turn it around while it rests on the sphere - each time the axle of the rotor meets that little ridge you'll actually hear the 'knocking' sound and in this way, you'll be able to see if its the top half (which contains the counter) or the bottom half of the shell which needs to be replaced. In turn, just send us a mail requesting whichever part you feel is damaged (along with your full delivery address) and we will dispatch this as soon as possible.
Nothing will fly out of the ball when you do this and its quite an easy job which will just take a maximum of 3-4 minutes to complete - the only thing to be careful of are the little teflon washers on each side of the axle and that you don't lose those. If there are no 'ruts' on the inside surface then we will dispatch a new rotor to you and support band which should cure the problem instantly. On the whole, its much quicker that you do it from over there and request the part than actually shipping the ball back to us to repair - we'll send whatever replacement parts are required and you'll have them in 2 or 3 days. However, if you would rather not carry out this 'surgery' - then we would be most grateful if you could pop the unit back to us and we'll either repair
or replace it immediately. And thats it! You'll be silently spinning again in no time!
7. I swear this is not an excuse, but I am sure my Powerball isn't as fast as it used to be.
Interesting one this - your Powerball is a precision product which has been carefully designed to allow that inner rotor spin to almost unbelievebale speeds! (When you think about it, 15,000rpm is actually 250 revolutions each second, powered by nothing other than your hand...250 revolutions every second? Unreal stuff altogether!)
Anyway..
From time to time, we receive mails from our customers telling us that they are no longer able to reach those high speeds that they once could when their Powerball was new. They write that the ball was never dropped and that they followed all of the instructions in properly holding the little sphere during use and slowing it down correctly, and therefore they wonder just what is going on? (Sometimes, it would get so bad that even an accomplished Powerballer would be unable to get his beloved gyro up above 5000rpm - a
most frustrating experience for sure!)
Anyway, we eventually found out what was happening when one of these Powerballs were sent back to us to repair.
On opening the poor little guy, we discovered a very fine layer of fibre and dust that had been literally vulcanised to the inner cavity wall of the Powerball (the area inside the sphere which contains the rotor support band and where the friction which makes the gyro actually spin is generated).
This fine layer of material had literally coated the surface of the inner cavity and as a result had badly affected the 'frictional' relationship between the rotor support band and the sphere itself.
The rotor support band is manufactured from a special type of plastic, as is the actual sphere itself - the surface texture of both materials compliment each other perfectly in that they allow the Powerball rotor to spin at high speeds in relative silence yet at the same time offer that perfect resistence to allow the rotor achieve those extraordinary high speeds in the first place.
Add in a layer of fibre to the equation and you put the whole unit out of kilter with itself - the friction between the rotor band and the sphere is reduced by as much as 50% and you basically find it almost impossible to build speed up on the thing (in much the same way as if you squirted in a few drops of oil except in that case, you would get no movement whatsoever as the friction disappears 100%!).
So...what to do?
Well, first of all, we'll just let you know that those fibres are generally introduced to the Powerball by trying to start it on your trouser leg, the table cloth, the carpet or some other [rough surface] from which your shiny little sphere could pick up and subsequently ingest the aforementioned foreign matter! It's best to just use the cord or get learning how to start it with your fingers (it's actually quite easy once you spend some time trying). It will also help not to leave your powerball around in a dusty area (seriously, these are incredibly precise instruments and should be treated in kind!).
In addition, failing to keep a firm grip on the Powerball as it spins can also lead to a gradual degredation of the rotor support band (tiny, almost microscopic fragments will be stripped off on each run where you don't hold the ball tightly/firmly) - this dust will also gather inside and your ball will become noisy during operation.
These plastic dust particles will almost melt onto the inner surface as the steel rotor axle passes over each time during a run and compresses them into the surface - leading, in turn, to an upset in the frictional resistance inside the ball and much lower speeds for you despite your best efforts to spin the Powerball faster.
The simplest solution is to either send the ball back to us and we'll pop it apart and give the inner cavity a good cleaning or take it apart yourself and do the same (check the question in the FAQ about the 'knocking noise in my Powerball' for full instructions on exactly how to do this safely). It very easy to clean the inner surface and will lead to 100% success if you take the time to do so. If you wish, you can clean the support band cavity with a cloth to remove the loose dust and fibre and then use a small bit of brasso (or jif/cif kitchen liquid) to finely 'sandpaper' the surface back to factory specification once again.
You will be rewarded with a much quieter Powerball and one which spins at a much faster rate than before (perhaps even faster than when it was new as it will have loosened up nicely and will be capable of those 13 & 14K runs in such a condition!).
At any rate, this is the reason why what seems like a perfectly good Powerball wont spin up and it can happen after the first few weeks or 2 years down the road - it all depends on how much you use it and where you have been using it - simple as that!
8. My Starter Cord is stuck inside my Powerball. How do I get it out?
This can happen from time to time and unless you are really unlucky, it can usually be undone by doing the following:
Simply pop off the clock and work from that side as opposed to the smaller bottom entrance, using a long, flexible probe, to gently lift the cord over each vane (spoke) of the gyro as you turn it manually against the wind of the cord. This will serve to yield about 1 cm of cord for each spoke that it passes over and in a couple of minutes, the cord is easily removed.
However, if the cord is so badly jammed inside against the metal axle that you can't possibly get it out with the above method, then we do suggest that you pop it apart for a moment and unwind the cord this way. This is also quite easy to do and goes as follows:
1. The quickest way is to lift the band slightly at exactly the points where there is no text - that is, at the junction of where the front and back text meets on both sides - there is just black space at these 2 points. (I'll get working on some images of this as soon as possible and add them to the site shortly to explain this better).
This will expose the 2 tiny screws on each side without you having to go to the bother to take the band off completely (to look for them in the first place!).
Remove both screws.
Now, take the Powerball and put him into the vise with the jaws of the [vise] resting against these 'blank' areas on the band (where you have just removed the screws from).
Put the ball down into the vise so that the exact middle or 'equator' of the ball (for want of a better word!) is sitting snugly in the middle of the jaw surface. Gently close the vise to a point where the ball is now firmly supported. At this point, depending on what kind of a vise you have (ours is an old one and well worn!) it will literally take just an extra 1/2 turn to maybe a full turn (if the vise gearing is different to ours), and you will hear that 'pop' we are referring to!
In truth, if your vise is really different to ours, it doesn't matter, just turn the handle until you hear the 'pop' (if you break it then we will replace the broken part, so don't worry!). The material in your Powerball is extremely strong and will flex considerably before it breaks so don't worry about causing harm - you won't unless you are deliberatly setting out to crush the little guy in there!
Anyway, once you hear the pop, take him out and you will now be able to manually separate the 2 halves. If you are still not able to do this then take the ball, put it back in but this time turn it 90 degrees (so that now the middle of the text on both sides rests up against the vise jaws) and give only a gentle turn to the handle (perhaps 1/4 to a 1/2 turn) to bring it that 'final bit' where you will see the two halves physically come apart in the vise...and that's it!
Once you have it apart, you will be able to unwind the cord easily - just be careful that the little plastic washers don't get lost when you take out the rotor. The whole job will literally only take 3-4 minutes.
On the other hand, if you don't wish to do this 'surgery' for yourself, please just pop it in the post to us and we'll repair it here for you as soon as we receive it and send it back to you as soon as possible!
9. Can you start the Powerball without the cord, or is this just a myth?
Believe it or not this CAN actually be done and to be honest is relatively easy, it just takes a little practise. Here follows our best advice for doing so:-
We would suggest that you need to flick the gyro across your hand at a speed of approximately 1800 to 2000 RPM. You can clear your counter to check that you are flicking it fast enough. You will know when you have flicked it with sufficient speed to start it up successfully, but go for that 2000 mark, and cords will be a thing of the past. You can also flick it with your tumb or a couple of fingers, whichever you find most effective.
We do not recommend flicking the gyro across your trousers, carpet, furniture or anything similar as tiny fibres can get inside your Powerball and affect it's performance.
Changing the batteries is actually quite an easy task, although we are hopeful that it will be quite a while before it becomes necessary for you to have to do this - the auto on/off feature means that the batteries should last for 3-4years (although of course there is always the possibility that one cell will go faulty) in which case you should do as follows:
1. Pop off the counter (it comes off using your finger nail positioned at one of the support ends) 2. You'll notice 6 small screws - obtain a tiny star (philips) screwdriver and remove these 3. The circuit board will now come away from the counter body 4. You'll see the two small batteries (GP377 if your counter is grey in colour / GP392 if the counter is white) 5. These are easily found in any jeweller or office equipment store 6. Replace and reinstall the screws - pop the counter back into place and you are ready to spin again!
The whole job should take but 2-3 minutes max and there is nothing inside to pop out or fall out of place.
