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Dayan Zhanchi Extremely Slow and hard to move

wazman

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Apr 8, 2012
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I just got my Zhanchi a week ago, and it was AMAZING out of the box. It moved effortlessly and smoothly. Now, after applying silicone and retensioning and playing with it a bit, its harder to move than my rubiks brand cube. Also, it doesnt cut corners greater than 30 degrees without locking or popping. HELP!
 
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JonnyWhoopes

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Did you assemble it correctly? What kind of silicone? From a can? If not, high or low viscosity? Did you tighten the cube, or loosen it? Was it lubed previously? If so, what with?

We can't really help you unless we know the situation. As much as we'd like to be sometimes, we aren't mind-readers.
 
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I just got my Zhanchi a week ago, and it was AMAZING out of the box. It moved effortlessly and smoothly. Now, after applying silicone and retensioning and playing with it a bit, its harder to move than my rubiks brand cube. Also, it doesnt cut corners greater than 30 degrees without locking or popping. HELP!

This is exactly what happened to my ZhanChi, the first time I used it, it was godly, but a few weeks later it turned really bad, someone told me to clean the cube and then adjust the tension, so that night I took all the pieces apart (including screws and springs) cleaned them lubed each individual piece with silicon spray and reassembled it, it was back to godly.. but then I found out that the screws were too loosed cause it kept popping so I tightened it, a day later it was the same thing again, really hard to turn... so I dissassembled the cube ENTIRELY ( including the edge and corner pieces ) put them in each individual bag and ordered a lubix Zhanchi and lubix lube, when it arrives, I'm going to reassemble my Zhanchi with the proper tutorial and hope my Zhanchi becomes godly again.. :)
 

wazman

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Apr 8, 2012
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When I first applied the lube, i started turning it right away, did 5-6 solves. It came pre assembled, and it was godly. The silicone was from a can and low viscosity. it wasn't lubed previously. I loosened the cube until the point it started popping, then tightened it a bit more than that. No matter how loose it is, its always hard to move.

Okay, so i took it all apart and washed every piece and put it back together. It is a bit better, but nowhere near as good as stock.
 

insane569

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When I first applied the lube, i started turning it right away, did 5-6 solves. It came pre assembled, and it was godly. The silicone was from a can and low viscosity. it wasn't lubed previously. I loosened the cube until the point it started popping, then tightened it a bit more than that. No matter how loose it is, its always hard to move.

Okay, so i took it all apart and washed every piece and put it back together. It is a bit better, but nowhere near as good as stock.

Might be a defect on the plastic. Check to make sure all the pieces are assembled correctly.
 

Robocopter87

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Yeah, Zhanchis have a tendency to become not as good as they were. I usually get some success in cleaning them out.

To be totally honest though, I simply sold it to a friend and just bought a fusion instead. Didn't have to worry about anything because it was already done.

But thats just what I did, 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.
 

balloon6610

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Feb 24, 2012
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I thing the problem is in the silicone spray, Is 100 % silicone or just 3 in 1 stuff ?

From my experience i use 3 in 1 silicone spray before and it mess up the internal specially a cube like zhanchi that have 3 piece put together as corner aqnd 2 piece for edge it is easier to mess up and make it slower more easily, Even a pure silicone spray also can make up cube to slow down since slicone can act like a glue and make a cube mess up inside. Try to change to lubix or something (just my experience at least)

Have fun :)
 

Ninja Storm

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I've found that my friend's Zhanchis are terrible also, so what I'd recommend doing is completely cleaning the cube out, lubing the core with Lubix, and break it in for ~1000 solves. That should get rid of any factory defects, and also loosen the cube a little. Also, I'd look into how well the screws are screwed in. If they're rather crooked, then try and straighten them as much as possible.
 

mati1242

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Jan 31, 2012
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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.
 

apoplectic

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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

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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

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Mar 20, 2012
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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.
 
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