Need some F2L help!!

[DaijoCube]

Haha it's on!

If you're serious about cubing, sub30 from where you are in one month will be a piece of cake. Sub20 will be a bit harder though

sub30 is really hard lol IMO, I've been cubing for months and I'm getting near it. Keep in mind that I started doing intuitive F2L at average 40 seconds... I was doing corners first then second layer edges.

 

[Hiero]

Thanks for the help everyone, I'll solve each day untill my fingers hurt

Btw, is it possible to get sub-30 av without learning full OLL an PLL???

It takes a lot of work to get sub-30. It's doubtful that you'll get it in a month unless you are just that naturally gifted. I learned full PLL when I was about 42-43 seconds. It didn't make much of an impact the first month after I learned it. After I got full PLL down good it takes about 3 seconds less for me to solve with full PLL rather than 2-look.

 

[Bierproever]

Thanks for the help everyone, I'll solve each day untill my fingers hurt

Btw, is it possible to get sub-30 av without learning full OLL an PLL???

It takes a lot of work to get sub-30. It's doubtful that you'll get it in a month unless you are just that naturally gifted. I learned full PLL when I was about 42-43 seconds. It didn't make much of an impact the first month after I learned it. After I got full PLL down good it takes about 3 seconds less for me to solve with full PLL rather than 2-look.

I know it won't be easy, and my first goal is to get a sub-40 av. If I can get that by next month I'll be happy

 

[chris410]

cross took me about 9-10 sec...

Try and solve the cross blindfolded, this will help you reduce your time and allow you to look ahead.

I Agree to the post above and learn to solve the cross in relative position (reference badmephisto's cross video)

 

[Rpotts]

cross took me about 9-10 sec...

Try and solve the cross blindfolded, this will help you reduce your time and allow you to look ahead.

I Agree to the post above and learn to solve the cross in relative position (reference badmephisto's cross video)

Agreed. I'll explain a bit because he may not know what you're saying. Solving cross in relative position means making sure the cross edges are in the correct place relative to eachother, but not necessarily matching their center. What i mean is, you can place the green/white piece on the red face and the blue/white piece on the orange face and they are correct relative to eachother. simply turning the U layer (i think you did cross on top) will solve the two pieces. This method is advantageous to only placing cross pieces in the "correct" spots and takes fewer moves.

 

[Bierproever]

cross took me about 9-10 sec...

Try and solve the cross blindfolded, this will help you reduce your time and allow you to look ahead.

I Agree to the post above and learn to solve the cross in relative position (reference badmephisto's cross video)

Agreed. I'll explain a bit because he may not know what you're saying. Solving cross in relative position means making sure the cross edges are in the correct place relative to eachother, but not necessarily matching their center. What i mean is, you can place the green/white piece on the red face and the blue/white piece on the orange face and they are correct relative to eachother. simply turning the U layer (i think you did cross on top) will solve the two pieces. This method is advantageous to only placing cross pieces in the "correct" spots and takes fewer moves.

I've tried this a couple of times, works fine mostly, but I still screw it up sometimes (2 edges switched)

 

[Rinfiyks]

I average just over 40 seconds. I use the same method as you except I don't know 2-look OLL. I just turn the cube faster.

I'm left handed, my right hand was really weak and slow at turning the faces, so I practiced loads just turning (L U L' U) over and over until my right hand was used to it, and it reduced my average from 1 minute to about 45 seconds in less than a week.
Remember though - don't focus on only turning the cube faster. Look ahead!

One last thing. I notice that when I just solve the cube when I'm bored, or when I feel like it, I average 45. But when I really really concentrate and focus well, I can usually lose at least 5 seconds off that.

 

[Rpotts]

I've tried this a couple of times, works fine mostly, but I still screw it up sometimes (2 edges switched)

Ah, you must learn what Dan Harris refers to as the 3 color rule.

http://www.cubestation.co.uk/cs2/index.php?page=3x3x3/cfop/cross/cross

 

[CuBeOrDiE]

Thanks for the help everyone, I'll solve each day untill my fingers hurt

Btw, is it possible to get sub-30 av without learning full OLL an PLL???

Yes. I'm sub 20 (sometimes) w/o it. And as for tips-it's all about look-ahead. I would recommend trying to look at a pair, then blindfold solve it. Seriously. Then when you can do that 100% of the time, try to look for the next pair while solving. This might take a while, but I can't find a better way to learn look-ahead. Afterwards, learn the cross blindfold and then look for the first pair.

PS- You could also use a metronome. Personally, I don't. But then again I'm not too fast...

edit: Cube modification also helps, but it's not necessary. Just sand, lube with vaseline for a while, clean it out, and then lube with jigaloo or sillicon.

 

[Bierproever]

Thanks for the help everyone, I'll solve each day untill my fingers hurt

Btw, is it possible to get sub-30 av without learning full OLL an PLL???

edit: Cube modification also helps, but it's not necessary. Just sand, lube with vaseline for a while, clean it out, and then lube with jigaloo or sillicon.

Don't think I need cube mods, I use a DIY pi-cube, it's very loose, turns very smooth, cuts corners like a beast and never pops

 

[Dene]

Thanks for the help everyone, I'll solve each day untill my fingers hurt

Btw, is it possible to get sub-30 av without learning full OLL an PLL???

It takes a lot of work to get sub-30. It's doubtful that you'll get it in a month unless you are just that naturally gifted. I learned full PLL when I was about 42-43 seconds. It didn't make much of an impact the first month after I learned it. After I got full PLL down good it takes about 3 seconds less for me to solve with full PLL rather than 2-look.

I don't really think it does. As I recall it only took me a month or two from when I first started cubing (solving over a minute for a while). I recall being about 26 seconds by 4 months, and sub20 by half a year. These are by far not unusual numbers for cubers. It depends on how much time you put into it.

 

[Bierproever]

Work is starting to pay of
New best av: 50.01,

 

[Dene]

Keep it up! I have a bet to win

 

[Bierproever]

status update:
Just got my first sub-50 average (and my second)
new pb = 47.16!
Hard work paying of.
And again, thanks to everyone who posted in this thread

 

[Dimeg]

just some links:

getting faster step by step
http://www.speedsolving.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6085

some algs
http://solvethecube.110mb.com/f2lalgorithms.html

badmephisto
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnkSZZ6OoQ4

• get your cross in 5 sec. and 7 moves max. this is the easy part, use your inspection time well.
• minimize the cuberotations, you lose orientation and it takes a lot of time
• look ahead, dont look at the pair you are inserting but search for the next corner and edge.
• do a few solves without a timer, so you won't feel the pressure to be fast. it might help.
• for the last one the 4 p's of cubing
  

gl

 

[Bierproever]

just some links:

getting faster step by step
http://www.speedsolving.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6085

some algs
http://solvethecube.110mb.com/f2lalgorithms.html

badmephisto
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnkSZZ6OoQ4

• get your cross in 5 sec. and 7 moves max. this is the easy part, use your inspection time well.
• minimize the cuberotations, you lose orientation and it takes a lot of time
• look ahead, dont look at the pair you are inserting but search for the next corner and edge.
• do a few solves without a timer, so you won't feel the pressure to be fast. it might help.
• for the last one the 4 p's of cubing
  

gl

Thanks for the tips.
But I have another question:
Now I use intuitive F2L, never learned the algs (except 2 for beginners method), is it still usefull for me to learn some F2L algs???

 

[Doomtooth]

Same issue

I have the same issue, trust me. First of all, my cross time sucks, I feel like I waste the 15 second inspection not knowing how to plan it and then i tend to lag between F2L pairs. However, I have been cubing for about 5 years and speedcubing for the last few weeks and just set my personal best @ 44.97, so trust me, you'll get there!

 

[Bierproever]

I have the same issue, trust me. First of all, my cross time sucks, I feel like I waste the 15 second inspection not knowing how to plan it and then i tend to lag between F2L pairs. However, I have been cubing for about 5 years and speedcubing for the last few weeks and just set my personal best @ 44.97, so trust me, you'll get there!

Glad to know I'm not the only one. For the cross, learning how to do it blindfolded helped me decrease me cross-time a little (still learning )

 

[Litz]

Thanks for the tips.
But I have another question:
Now I use intuitive F2L, never learned the algs (except 2 for beginners method), is it still usefull for me to learn some F2L algs???

Don't bother with that now. Just check all the F2L algorithms to see how the cases are easily solved (most of the algorithms will just be what you do intuitively already).

anyway, just practice. Judging from your video, don't train look-ahead yet. Just solve F2L over and over until you don't have to think on how to solve pairs anymore (you have some huge breaks thinking of what to do). After some practice you'll be used to solve any case, and then you can start doing it blindfolded if you want (search for a pair, close your eyes and solve it, search for next pair) and then you can start practicing look-ahead.

Sub30 is pretty easy to get if you keep practicing, so good luck!

 

[Bierproever]

Thanks for the tips.
But I have another question:
Now I use intuitive F2L, never learned the algs (except 2 for beginners method), is it still usefull for me to learn some F2L algs???

Don't bother with that now. Just check all the F2L algorithms to see how the cases are easily solved (most of the algorithms will just be what you do intuitively already).

anyway, just practice. Judging from your video, don't train look-ahead yet. Just solve F2L over and over until you don't have to think on how to solve pairs anymore (you have some huge breaks thinking of what to do). After some practice you'll be used to solve any case, and then you can start doing it blindfolded if you want (search for a pair, close your eyes and solve it, search for next pair) and then you can start practicing look-ahead.

Sub30 is pretty easy to get if you keep practicing, so good luck!

I've already been trying to look ahead, and helps a bit, but think I still need more practice with F2L before it really pays off...