Older cubers discussions

I don't have a regular GTS2 to compare to, but all round, it is truly an excellent cube

It's a fantastic puzzle without magnets as well, the non-magnetic stickerless usurped the Valk as my main. I didn't intend to get a magnetic one but I wanted a backup and the Cubicle had the M on sale for the same price as the non-magnetic so... no brainer.

I'm not sure what I think on M-slices yet, it may just take some getting used to and I've only had mine a couple days. Chris Tran also suggested some time back that the M-slice issue with magnetic cubes is at least partially due to the mass/inertia difference since edges only have 2 magnets per and you're only turning edges. His simple solution was to drop a washer in the centers to even-up the mass for M slices.

My primary concern is how durable the glue will be against impact shock over time.

I think the advantage is in keeping the cube cubic, which makes the whole solving experience feel more precise.

This, and related: I think I'll be able to set looser tensions than normal without it going all wobbly. I've been adjusting to as light a turning style as possible under the premise that any effort beyond what is needed to turn a face is wasted energy. I would loosen my non-M more than I have otherwise; I think the magnetic one will allow for that.

I do not want to become dependent or have my style disrupted before Worlds, given that I have 20 MBLD cubes without magnets

As a blind n00b I can see myself getting addicted to the M for the extra alignment confidence, but then I considered eventually moving up to mbld and the cost of 5 of them lol. Better start stashing away my pennies.
 
My primary concern is how durable the glue will be against impact shock over time.
I've used superglue to make mine. It is quite brittle so I have to do repairs fairly often but it only takes a minute once you've worked out where the problem is. I found 2 of 3 magnets from one corner piece had got loose the other day. The other option is to not drop them but that doesn't fit my life.

As a blind n00b I can see myself getting addicted to the M for the extra alignment confidence, but then I considered eventually moving up to mbld and the cost of 5 of them lol. Better start stashing away my pennies.
You could buy and mod 5 Thunderclaps for under £30.
 
It's amazing the range of things beer can make magnetic. Like floors. Or kebabs.
That's hilarious! I think I will poor some beer over all my cubes now. :)

The Wuque M is just amazing. It partly shows me how horrible I am at setting up cubes. It just makes my other wuque feel like a bunch of rocks glued together. :p Of course my wuque was never near this good, but the first one was not set up by the cubicle either. I should have my first sub 1 minute soon, I was close yesterday just need a bit of luck. :)

Edit: PB single for the first time in forever! Reconstruction later, I confirmed I can remember it. :)
IMG_20170702_132307_841.jpg
 
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Chris Tran also suggested some time back that the M-slice issue with magnetic cubes is at least partially due to the mass/inertia difference since edges only have 2 magnets per and you're only turning edges. His simple solution was to drop a washer in the centers to even-up the mass for M slices.

Making a slice move would require overcoming twice the magnetic pull of a single-outer-layer move, which means you need a larger angular impulse to get it moving. If you assume that the slice and outer layers have roughly equal moments of inertia, doubling the forces involved is equivalent to halving the time scale (i.e. everything happens twice as fast). If the moment of inertia of the slice layers is less than the moment of inertia of the outer layers (because slices have less added mass from magnets), then the difference is even more pronounced. These factors considered together might explain why some people think M slices on magnetic cubes feel less controllable. (This is a spherical-cow argument that doesn't account for friction, which complicates things a lot, and friction is not negligible in this scenario. A further complication is that modelling human hands as applying instantaneous impulses is kinda inaccurate. The net effect of these complications seems to be that this model exaggerates the difference between the slice and outer layers.)

Basically: more torque needed ⇒ faster slices; less moment of inertia ⇒ faster slices too. Unless you're using excessively strong magnets, the latter factor (difference in moment of inertia) is probably more important than the former (doubled magnetic pull).

Adding weights to the centres increases the moment of inertia of the slices, while leaving the moment of inertia of the outer layers essentially unchanged, thereby slowing the slices down and increasing controllability. You still need more force to move the slices compared to the outer layers because of the doubled magnetic pull, but with reasonable magnet strengths, this probably isn't much of an issue.

(not sure why I typed all of this out, but I guess I needed some place to organise my thoughts on this topic)
 
(not sure why I typed all of this out, but I guess I needed some place to organise my thoughts on this topic)

I love seeing people thinking this out on the physics side... I don't really grasp it all without digging in but that's the sort of thing that continues to bring us better puzzles.
 
Today's BLD fail: Attempted 16 in MBLD and somehow managed to use the wrong memo for 4 of them! When I got to the cubes in those 4 rooms I realised I'd already executed that memo. I backtracked all 4 then did the correct execution, and 3 of those were successes. The other one I messed up while backtracking.

2 of the other 12 were wrong, and time for memo and the 16 executions before backtracking was 1:02, so this could have been 13 or 14/16 in 1:02. So I still see it as progress since my last 16 attempt was over 10 mins longer for 10/16.

The reason for the mistake was that I've changed my rooms to fit more cubes in, and I'm not yet used to the new system. I needed more rooms to accommodate all the BLD events at WC without having to recycle rooms too soon.
 
Today's BLD fail: Attempted 16 in MBLD and somehow managed to use the wrong memo for 4 of them! When I got to the cubes in those 4 rooms I realised I'd already executed that memo. I backtracked all 4 then did the correct execution, and 3 of those were successes. The other one I messed up while backtracking.

2 of the other 12 were wrong, and time for memo and the 16 executions before backtracking was 1:02, so this could have been 13 or 14/16 in 1:02. So I still see it as progress since my last 16 attempt was over 10 mins longer for 10/16.

The reason for the mistake was that I've changed my rooms to fit more cubes in, and I'm not yet used to the new system. I needed more rooms to accommodate all the BLD events at WC without having to recycle rooms too soon.
That's a pretty good fail.

I've been on a real low in 3BLD for the last few days. About 80% fail rate and my successes are mostly well over 2 mins. I have no idea what's happening but it's not the first time. I just wish I knew what affects these cycles.
 
@mark49152 nice progress. @newtonbase, maybe you need a break. Those things happen for all.
Thanks. Yes breaks often help, but I think BLD is very susceptible to form anyway - more so than regular speedsolving. Things like tiredness, stress, diet and general health make a big difference. If I try BLD when too hungry, I am almost useless.
 
Thanks. Yes breaks often help, but I think BLD is very susceptible to form anyway - more so than regular speedsolving. Things like tiredness, stress, diet and general health make a big difference. If I try BLD when too hungry, I am almost useless.

Yes. I cant solve bld when I've slept too short.
 
That's a pretty good fail.

I've been on a real low in 3BLD for the last few days. About 80% fail rate and my successes are mostly well over 2 mins. I have no idea what's happening but it's not the first time. I just wish I knew what affects these cycles.

I've been really useless at comps in3BLD for quite some time now and it has made me lost some interest in the category, I still can sub 1:30 at home in 5 solves or so but nothing at comps, my PB is a year and a half old.

Worlds are 10 days away and I can't find time to practice, so I really have no goals at all for worlds other than meet some great cubers.

Speaking of that w should at least get together for a photo and I'd like to find time for a couple of beers :) we gotta find time!
 
@moralsh: Absolutely, photo and beer, maybe even at the same time :)

3BLD can be frustrating. For me it's similar to 3x3 and 2x2 in comp - it's short and fast enough that nerves or lack of composure always have a negative impact. My official times in these events always lag behind what I can do at home, whereas for longer events my official and home times are much closer.

My main goals for WC are to meet cool people and enjoy the experience. Of course I'd like some PBs too and I always have goals in mind for those :)
 
@mark49152 nice progress. @newtonbase, maybe you need a break. Those things happen for all.
Yes, but I do have a fairly important comp coning up soon.

Thanks. Yes breaks often help, but I think BLD is very susceptible to form anyway - more so than regular speedsolving. Things like tiredness, stress, diet and general health make a big difference. If I try BLD when too hungry, I am almost useless.
I'm surprised at how often I've done well on very little sleep but to be fair I don't think I've had 2 good nights together since 2008.

Worlds are 10 days away and I can't find time to practice, so I really have no goals at all for worlds other than meet some great cubers.

Speaking of that w should at least get together for a photo and I'd like to find time for a couple of beers :) we gotta find time!

We got a great photo at UK 2016 but I think we can do better! I only get there on the Saturday so I hope that will be convenient for beer. I'm quite keen on trying some speed drinking. Hopefully we can put the youngsters in their place.

@moralsh: Absolutely, photo and beer, maybe even at the same time :)

3BLD can be frustrating. For me it's similar to 3x3 and 2x2 in comp - it's short and fast enough that nerves or lack of composure always have a negative impact. My official times in these events always lag behind what I can do at home, whereas for longer events my official and home times are much closer.

My main goals for WC are to meet cool people and enjoy the experience. Of course I'd like some PBs too and I always have goals in mind for those :)
As I'm doing only 2 events my PB chances are limited but the chance of having a great time with fellow cubers is very high.
 
Yeah @mark49152 , I found the GTS2M the best 3x3 ever out of the box. I opted for the lubed and setup Cubicle Labs GTS2M rather than standard and haven't used another 3x3 since. It felt a little sluggish yesterday (~500 solves in) so I put in some DNM-37 lube, which I use instead of Maru as go faster juice now. Ha ha ha, it was insane. The turning resistance reminded me of the MF8 legend 3x3 which came out hmm 6 years ago with a ball core and could easily do a D4 with a touch of a ring finger. However the magnets are even more prominent due to the lack of resistance and help in aligning but still felt challenging to control. I was getting quite a few random 11.x full steps so have decided on this setup for London Open this weekend. It will be a sub 15 average or hilarious trying :D

The WuQue M is also a pleasure to solve on, again Cubicle Labs variety and has helped me drop 1 second overall in a fortnight.

I remember at UK Championships in November nearly all my mains cube were QiYi but now a bit Moyu in my 2x2-7x7 selection:-

2x2 - Moyu Weipo
3x3 - Cubicle Labs Moyu Weilong GTS2M
4x4 - Cubicle Labs Qiyi WuQue M
5x5 - Moyu Weichuang
6x6 - Moyu Weishi
7x7 - Qiyi Wuji - though the Yuxin Huanglong is getting close as I do more random solves on it
 
Blind solves getting faster, sighted solves getting slower.

Ran the timer for 3bld for the first time since January, I've done enough untimed solves now. The first few were over 10 mins then I got a feel for the rhythm needed to go a little faster. Mostly failures in the 8-10 min range but one of my rare successes was also one of my fastest attempts at 7:09 (best from January was ~11 mins). Tracking edge cycles kills me, I'll eventually shave minutes there, alone.

Sighted solves, I'm back to tinkering with my F2L again, added new algs and trying to focus on better CP recog for PLL. Not expecting any PBs short of a lightning-strike single for a while.
 
Mostly failures in the 8-10 min range but one of my rare successes was also one of my fastest attempts at 7:09 (best from January was ~11 mins). Tracking edge cycles kills me, I'll eventually shave minutes there, alone.
I find the same in that I have a much higher success rate on quicker attempts.
Tracing edge cycles would be much easier if we had more fingers. ☺️ You'll improve a lot now that you know your method and are doing timed solves.
 
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