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[Help Thread] Clock Discussion Thread

ryanj92

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Okay so I don't think this warranted its own thread yet, so I thought I'd put it here.

I noticed that there is no formal way for clock solvers to communicate details of their solutions. To solve this problem, I suggest a standard which would serve a purpose similar to the metrics used in other puzzle reconstructions (HTM, STM, Noah metrics), which could serve as a way in which a solve can be analysed. I would consider the following two numbers to be most important to a clock solve:

1) What I will provisionally call the 'Cog Turn Metric', or CTM, which will be the sum of the absolute distances travelled during each move. So a turn from 12 to 7 and a turn from 3 to 8 are both 5 CTM in length.
2) The number of pin adjustments (PA herein) made during the solve. 1 PA would be defined as any change to the pin order which is then followed by one or more gear turns. So this includes any pin adjustment at the start of the solve, but does not include skipped clocks (where an initial pin adjustment may be made out of false judgement).

I feel these numbers together give a good indication of the difficulty level of a solve. From these numbers, we can define two obvious statistics: the CTPS, which is the CTM divided by the solve time, and 'moves per second', which is the PA divided by the solve time.

If this does not make sense to you immediately, I will include a couple of reconstructed solves, along with their statistics, so you can see how the idea works.

SOLVE 1
6.29 (-2, -5) / (1, -2) / (0, 5) / (4, 3) / (2) / (1) / (0) / (3) / (1) / (4) / UUdd

dUdd (-1,0)
Uddd (-4,0)
UUdd (5,0) // first cross
y2
ddUd (-5,0)
dUdd (-2,0)
Uddd (-4,0)
UUdd (-1,0) // second cross
UUdU (2,0)
UdUU (-3,0)
dUUU (1,0)
UUUU (5,0) // corners, adjustment

33-11
CTPS = 33/6.29 = 5.2
MPS = 11/6.29 = 1.7

SOLVE 2
7.20 (-5, 2) / (5, 5) / (-4, -1) / (0, -5) / (-2) / (2) / (-2) / (1) / (-4) / (3) / UUUU

z' x2 // inspection
ddUd (-5,0)
dUdd (2,0)
Uddd (3,0)
UdUd (1,0)
UUUd (3,0) // first cross
x2 (4,0)
Uddd (5,0)
UUdd (-2,0) // second cross
UUUd (-3,0)
UUdU (6,0)
UdUU (2,0)
dUUU (-4,0)
UUUU (1,0) // corners, adjustment

41-12
CTPS = 41/7.20 = 5.7
MPS = 12/7.20 = 1.7

I may do another Ao12 with reconstructions at some point, and if I do I will incorporate these statistics into my reconstructions.

Does something like this exist already? I know clock reconstructions are super-thin on the ground, so there's not much opportunity to use it, but I thought it was a fairly nice statistic. What do you think?
 
Last edited:

Iggy

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I received my Rubik's clock a few weeks ago, and I finally decided to lube it today. It's really great, but the problem I have with it is that it's pins are still slow (even after I lubed it). Is this normal, do I just need to break it in?
 

Iggy

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I received my Rubik's clock a few weeks ago, and I finally decided to lube it today. It's really great, but the problem I have with it is that it's pins are still slow (even after I lubed it). Is this normal, do I just need to break it in?

Bump. Someone please answer this D:
 

ryanj92

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Hi everyone,

I am finally getting round to writing a guide on getting fast at clock. Currently I have written an introduction and turning style section. I plan to write a section on efficiency and how to deal with a bunch of cases, and write up a few interesting example solves, but I want to include lots of examples so I need to do this when I have a clock with me, in a few days or so. I eventually plan to film a series of short videos covering the same topics, but hopefully presenting the examples visually will make the examples more clear. I will probably make a separate thread for this once it is finished, but for now I think I should post this here. :)

The text guide will be here:
How to be sub 8 at clock (not ready)
The video guide will be up on my YouTube channel fortythreequintillion

If anyone has any suggestions/improvements/comments on what I have already written, let me know!
 

Kit Clement

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[youtubeHD]BHaIz4jo1k0[/youtubeHD]

Should have been faster -- that pause after the flip killed me.

UR3+ DR5+ DL6+ UL2- U1-
R4+ D5- L6+ ALL0+ y2
U5+ R2+ D5- L3+ ALL0+
UR DR UL

ddUd (5, 0)
dUdd (-2, 0)
Uddd (-3, 0)
UdUd (-5, 0)
x2
dUdd (2, 0)
UUdd (4, 0)
UUdU (-4, 0)
UdUU (6, 0)

CTPS: 31/6.36 = 4.87
MPS: 8/6.36 = 1.26
 

Bhargav777

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[youtubeHD]BHaIz4jo1k0[/youtubeHD]

Should have been faster -- that pause after the flip killed me.

UR3+ DR5+ DL6+ UL2- U1-
R4+ D5- L6+ ALL0+ y2
U5+ R2+ D5- L3+ ALL0+
UR DR UL

ddUd (5, 0)
dUdd (-2, 0)
Uddd (-3, 0)
UdUd (-5, 0)
x2
dUdd (2, 0)
UUdd (4, 0)
UUdU (-4, 0)
UdUU (6, 0)

CTPS: 31/6.36 = 4.87
MPS: 8/6.36 = 1.26

Impressive!!

And, I'm not sure if this is the right thread, but is someone here selling their Rubik's clock? I've got four Chinese ones and all of them seem to have a problem or the other. Really tired of spending money and things going in vain after a while.
 

ryanj92

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srsly screw todays results

both averages should've been NR:
- first average had stupid DNF on my first solve (back cross all out by one, caught a pin) and timer malfunction just threw me off
- second one had bad DNF (one corner) on a 6.7-6.8...

at least i got a half decent single :D
 
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