Dayan Zhanchi Extremely Slow and hard to move

[Florian]

remove the washers

[apoplectic]

Make sure none of the cubies are popping apart. After the first few times I solved it one of the corners started to separate a good mm at each seam. That could possibly cause lock-up hell. Also, make sure all the torpedo/rice grains are true, if one is off just a few degrees or so I can see that locking up as well.

As for the lubing, I like to spray silicone on one cubie at a time and let it dry soit forms a kind of thin silicone crust/skin. It lubes just as well, makes it feel crisper, and less likely to glue up.

If all that fails, try searching for Zhanchi mods. There's one awesome thread called something like 7 mods I did to my zhanchi with a video and everything.

[Eleredo]

Zhanchis are good cubes, so don't be discouraged by my story. They do however, require maintenance, just like all things special. So it is important to keep them well lubed, cleaned, and tensioned properly if you want perfection from it. It can't give you perfection if you don't give it any attention.

This is very true. I spent 4 hours on cleaning mine the other day after I got sick of my Zhanchi acting up, and my Ao100 instantly went from 24.21 to 23.69.

[monkeytherat]

Buy a Cube4You core and screws and put them in your ZhanChi.
I've heard that it improves a lot. I will be doing this soon.

This is 100% correct (I know from personal experience). Most of the time, a problem with a ZhanChi is a defective core / springs / Screws. First try lubricating with sillicone, washing pieces, and retensioning your cube. If it still turns terribly, replace the core, screws, springs, and washers. This has worked for me in the past and given amazing results. If you happen to have an old Dayan core lying around, those are best, otherwise you can get a Dayan core + screws from thecubicle.us (and possible other places, though I don't know of them) or a Cube4You core + screws set pretty much anywhere (if C4Y is too slow for you shipping wise, try other stores like iCubemart, etc). If this still does not help your cube, then unfortunately your pieces are defective and you will need to purchase a new cube.