Has anyone any experience in servicing a sluggish Pom Pom Pole?

I'd appreciate any advice, especially what would be the best sort of string to use - something that would flow smoothly; and how to lubricate the sliding bits so they'll slide better. I've tried zinc stearate and I've tried WD 40 (not at the same time!) with no particular improvement. (It might just be the string, though.)

Or should I just throw the *** thing away and buy a new one?

Cheers,

Bill

Greetings Bill;
Let me know what make that you have of the pompom pole, as there are about 9 different models out there, the original Bongo, kovari,hampton ridge, mak, daytona,supreme etc. & I will send you some of the correct cord to fix your up. I have been fixing them for all the guys in our club over the years. The cord starts to fray and causes the hang up and slowness, but even still you may want to tape off the small holes, with the weights out and the tube empty, pour in 1 teaspoon zinc sterate and close it up. Shake it back and forth a few times, the open the taped holes and blow out the excess powder.
Then reassemble with the proper cord. Like I said each uses a different cord,(strange that these guys never made them all alike)
& I have plenty on hand, so you can PM me with your address or you can E-Mail me at:
martinismagic@hotmail.com with the address and which make you have, then I'll cut you some cord and send it to ya.
All the Best
Marty

Just a quick note on dealing with Marty!

He is straight arrow. And if he says it, you can count on it!

Marty, I can't speak for the others, but I can tell you that Hampton Ridge just chose what was cheap and available. I built their prototype Pom Poms (and most of their other early product prototypes) from scraps in the shop I had back then, and when it went to production, the instructions were - use whatever is cheap and readily available.

BroDavid

One note: I am sure that the advice from Martini is right on target. I would suggest however, that you try to get the WD-40 out of the tubes. People think this stuff works for everything. The fact is, for a number of things including most locks, it just gums up the works. I would clean the sticks inside really well with 98% rubbing alcohol, or even spray used by radio techs that drys with NO residue. Then put the fanning powder type lubricant in the tube after you have gotten rid of the gooy crud.

quack
quack

BroDavid, you are right on about marty, I have known him for well over 25 years now, and I count him as one of my very close friends, heck he fixed both of my pompom poles now. For bill, Both Hank lee's magic factory and Abbott's magic carried nice pompom poles, I bought one from Abbott's about four years ago, and the other from Hank lee's about three years ago, and they were both identical. My problem was that I was just too rough pulling the pompoms and eventually pulled the pompoms to pieces.
All the Best
Alex

Graphite powder is an excellent dry lubricant that will not attract dust like WD-40. Available at any key shop! Best thing for mechanical parts that must stay dry.

On a related but side note, anyone have suggestions on how to stop the stick from talking during the separating move? Mine talks good and loud, so that I cover it by yelling magic words at the key moment. Cumbersome at best. I saw another magician perform it, and I was sitting in the back row of a 14 row theater. I heard the "pop" plain as day.