[Help Thread] Lubrication Thread

[Username]

Weight 3 for the core. Just take the center caps off one at a time and put a drop in. The pieces can use 1 drop of wt 1

That's not how to properly lube a core :fp

 

[rj]

That's not how to properly lube a core :fp

Weight 3 is just runny enough. It will help.

 

[windhero]

Weight 3 is just runny enough. It will help.

It doesnt matter. Diassembling and individually lubricating all the washers, screws, springs and center piece surfaces will make it much much better.

Just dropping it in wont lubricate the hardware evenly. That is a method to be used only on puzzles that cannot or should not be diassembled (like ShengShou puzzles if you want to be careful as their screws are made of such a soft metal that they break easily).

 

[rockstarrev]

The best lube?

I want to choose a good lube for my speedcubes. I want to know which is better

1. Maru lube
2. Ghost Hand spray lube
3. Lubix

 

[rj]

I want to choose a good lube for my speedcubes. I want to know which is better

1. Maru lube
2. Ghost Hand spray lube
3. Lubix

This. The Weight 4 stuff is lubix, for a fraction of the price. Maru lube is good for 5x5+ Ghosthand spray is good for old cubes.

 

[Username]

Differential oil (Traxxas for example)

 

[Wassili]

Any differential oil from 30k-50k weight. Don't get lubix, as it's the same stuff as any diff oil, except it costs much more (about 4x more expensive).

 

[Me]

Silicone is silicone, you don't need anything special there, any kind will do.
Maru lube is water based and is more of a temporary solution, I need to put more in after about 75 solves (also depends on cube size).

 

[rj]

Silicone is silicone, you don't need anything special there, any kind will do.
Maru lube is water based and is more of a temporary solution, I need to put more in after about 75 solves (also depends on cube size).

Maru works for big cubes.

 

[windhero]

Maru works for big cubes.

Yes but only for a few solves. 75 is a very generous estimation. I'd say it's closer to 30 or so solves.

There is nothing wrong with maru lube, people just need to be reminded of how often it has to be re-applied and how expensive that can get over time compared to alternative methods.

 

[KongShou]

The best lube?

Yes but only for a few solves. 75 is a very generous estimation. I'd say it's closer to 30 or so solves.

There is nothing wrong with maru lube, people just need to be reminded of how often it has to be re-applied and how expensive that can get over time compared to alternative methods.

How is Maru lube expensive?

I have a cube shop and I lube a lot of cubes and so far in like 4 months I have just finished one bottle of maru

Which is like £1.50

 

[windhero]

how expensive that can get over time compared to alternative methods.

How is Maru lube expensive?

I have a cube shop and I lube a lot of cubes and so far in like 4 months I have just finished one bottle of maru

Which is like £1.50

Read the post carefully.

If you solve the cube 50 times a day you need to lube the cube twice a day. If we assume that totals to around 0.5ml a day a big bottle will last for approx 7 months for 1 cube at the cost of 11.64 dollars.

50 mls of 50k Traxxas costs around half that and 50ml of 30k costs around the same equals ~12 dollars for a 100 ml mixture of the two (~42K diff oil).

If you generously lube the whole cube from the core to the pieces it might take max 1ml of diff oil. According to my experience a 3x3 needs to be relubed max once a month.

100 months > 7 months.

Also diff oil works better if you dont cube actively; Maru dries out and leaves a residue if you lube it and let it dry for a certain period of time (varies from 1 day to 7 days based on my experience). The dried residue does not hurt the performance of the cube later on but it does not enhance it either.

The estimate measurement of how much lube is used per lubing time might be wrong, but based on my experience the ratio of the two lubes is pretty close. E.g. for a 4x4 I'd use 3-4 drops of Maru lube.

 

[KongShou]

Read the post carefully.

If you solve the cube 50 times a day you need to lube the cube twice a day.

blah...

Maru dries out and leaves a residue if you lube it and let it dry for a certain period of time

Contradiction

you dont lube that much, cos if you do then it kills your cube.

so a small bottle of maru, which is like 1.50 pounds, will last you a good few months

i dont see how that is expensive

also i dont use maru on its own, i use diff oil with maru, so it lasts even longer.

i barely lube my cube, less than once a month

your argument is invalid

maru is not expensive

 

[windhero]

Contradiction

you dont lube that much, cos if you do then it kills your cube.

so a small bottle of maru, which is like 1.50 pounds, will last you a good few months

i dont see how that is expensive

also i dont use maru on its own, i use diff oil with maru, so it lasts even longer.

i barely lube my cube, less than once a month

your argument is invalid

maru is not expensive

I dont know how you do it, but when I use it it dries out overnight. Also the lube wears out so fast that it does not work as a general lube. If you lube your cube with maru once a month, it basically means you use an unlubed cube 29 days out of a month. Many others agree with me that maru is best to use as steroids before competitions, as it dries out so fast. This is because the lubricant breaks down into the different components it is made from if left untouched. I'm not 100% sure but I think one of the major components is water, that evaporates fast. Which leaves the residue on the cube and stops actually lubricating the cube.

Please explain how lubing often "kills a cube"?

And my point from the very beginning was that using maru is more expensive than diff oil. The argument still is not invalid. 1ml of diff oil lasts longer than 1ml of maru lube.

 

[KongShou]

I dont know how you do it, but when I use it it dries out overnight. Also the lube wears out so fast that it does not work as a general lube. If you lube your cube with maru once a month, it basically means you use an unlubed cube 29 days out of a month. Many others agree with me that maru is best to use as steroids before competitions, as it dries out so fast. This is because the lubricant breaks down into the different components it is made from if left untouched. I'm not 100% sure but I think one of the major components is water, that evaporates fast. Which leaves the residue on the cube and stops actually lubricating the cube.

Please explain how lubing often "kills a cube"?

And my point from the very beginning was that using maru is more expensive than diff oil. The argument still is not invalid. 1ml of diff oil lasts longer than 1ml of maru lube.

i use it with diff oil, as stated above. so it dont dry out so much

if you lube with maru too much it kills the cube cos of the residue as you said

 

[windhero]

i use it with diff oil, as stated above. so it dont dry out so much

if you lube with maru too much it kills the cube cos of the residue as you said

I havent had that problem with maru residue as it tends to accumulate on surfaces that touch only air, much like residual dust does (I dont use maru lube too often though, so it might be that I have never had too much residue inside the cube). I use it with diff oil too but the effect the lube gives still disappears in less than 30 solves.

 

[KongShou]

And my point from the very beginning was that using maru is more expensive than diff oil. The argument still is not invalid. 1ml of diff oil lasts longer than 1ml of maru lube.

thats like saying mars bar is more expensive than snickers cos its 60p instead of 59p

basically you presented data in a biased way, which i do not like

maru and the word expensive should not appear in the same sentence

 

[rj]

I havent had that problem with maru residue as it tends to accumulate on surfaces that touch only air, much like residual dust does (I dont use maru lube too often though, so it might be that I have never had too much residue inside the cube). I use it with diff oil too but the effect the lube gives still disappears in less than 30 solves.

Or you get used to it and it wears off later.

 

[windhero]

thats like saying mars bar is more expensive than snickers cos its 60p instead of 59p

basically you presented data in a biased way, which i do not like

maru and the word expensive should not appear in the same sentence

If product A dirt cheap and product B is reasonably cheap, product B is expensive compared to product A. Expensive compared to = More expensive than.

The data was not presented in a biased way. I have timed solves with maru lube and the trend is that it wears out in around 30 solves depending on what puzzle I am using. With diff oil its hundreds of solves.

Or you get used to it and it wears off later.

The timer does not lie.


Inb4 "maybe your hands got tired" bs. I'm a 192cm tall guy; holding and solving a 100gr puzzle does not wear me out no matter how long I do it for.

 

[KongShou]

If product A dirt cheap and product B is reasonably cheap, product B is expensive compared to product A. Expensive compared to = More expensive than.

The data was not presented in a biased way. I have timed solves with maru lube and the trend is that it wears out in around 30 solves depending on what puzzle I am using. With diff oil its hundreds of solves.

why is it that i make a point, you say something else as if it has answered my original point? you didnt say slightly more expensive than, instead you said:

There is nothing wrong with maru lube, people just need to be reminded of how often it has to be re-applied and how expensive that can get over time compared to alternative methods.

this clearly implies that it is expensive

you didnt say that it is slightly more expensive than other lubes, you said how expensive that can get compared to other lubes

big difference imo

also i dont think its more expensive at all, its only more expensive if you apply it loads per day, so much that you use up a big bottle in a few months, im my experience of opening a cube shop for 4 months and cubing for just over a year i have only gone through 3 bottles of maru, the second bottle i lost with about a third remaining. that add up to like 4.5 pounds. which is cheaper than the 5 pound diff oil i bought. which still has loads remaining admittedly, but ive only had it for like 6 months.