Anyone try mineral oil for lube?

[Tox|k]

So far I've pretty much just been using mineral oil as lube (FYI, baby oil is mostly mineral oil). I have the 3in1 silicone spray and jig-a-loo, tried them both, and, to me at least, both feel like crap compared to my mineral oil lubed cubes.

I initially tried jig-a-loo on my very well broken in rubik's cube (the only one I had at the time). I cleaned all the mineral oil out using rubbing alcohol, then applied the jig-a-loo to the cube a la badmephisto's lubing vid and gave it some working in. The result was it felt like garbage, almost as bad as when I first got the thing. So I decide to try the silicone, I clean the cube out again, and get some silicone lubricant in there. Now it's marginally better than the jig-a-loo: doesn't really feel lubricated and the static friction is just terrible. At this point I'm pretty frustrated, so I clean the thing out yet again and go back to mineral oil. After some working in, it's nice and buttery once again.

I figured that the crappy feeling may just be from residual cross contamination of all the stuff I tried, but, I now have my C4Y cubes and get to start again fresh. I have them all put together, but the only one I've lubed up so far is the type B (as it was the one that really needed it most). I put it together, messed with it abit, and then said "alright silicone, do your stuff" and lubed it up. It feels noticeably better than it does dry, but still feels as though is has a much higher threshold of motion than what I'm used to with mineral oil. I played with it abit, and wasn't quite satisfied, so, I cleaned it out and applied mineral oil. Now the thing is much more buttery, and with some more breaking in, I know it can feel like my well broken in rubik's.

Personally, I don't think I'll go near jig-a-loo again (I really don't like that melting plastic thing it does, even if only temporarily) and I'll prolly give the silicone a few more tries, just to be sure, but I'm really like my mineral oil the most. The only problem I have with mineral oil, is that being a realtively light non-penetrating oil, it does tend to seep out and make the cube feel a little oily. Though that usually only a problem if too much is applied, and a quick wipe of the faces of the cube with some rubbing alcohol completely cuts through it.

Well, that's my story. Anyone else have experience with this stuff?

 

[Wacky]

Disclaimer: I haven't ever tried silicone since I'm a bit concerned about the toxicity of the stuff, so I can't give a good comparison, and this information may include conjectures which are unreliable.

But once I did randomly test hand cream (main ingredients - water, mineral oil) on a keychain cube this one time.

I applied it by coating each cube.

Results were:
- "Buttery", then
- Sticky, then, after some breaking in,
- "hey, this is kinda good"

But then I put some in my Revenge by just putting a glob in a few days back and it's still at the "sticky" stage, although it feels like it's sort of loosened up a bit.

So my experience with it since is that it is probably:
- Good in small amounts,
- Bad in large amounts (Too sticky, oozes out)
- Probably better to clean out the cube dust first?

I have a suspicion that with my revenge I didn't clean out the cube first and the oil gets stuck to the dust and clogs the cube up.

 

[wongxiao]

Personally, I don't think I want a cube that feels "buttery."

When I first lubed my cube, I actually used a hair serum which was very slippery, and indeed, it felt "buttery." Which at the time I liked, especially in comparison to the stickiness that CRC Heavy Duty brought about.

It's true, CRC contains propellants which may have an adverse melting effect on your plastic, so be careful with it. You have to work it in immediately (And for a lengthy amount of time), otherwise take it apart and spray at a distance, giving the propellants sufficient time to evaporate. The solvent should dry out, leaving a thin film of silicone on your plastic. This is what you want. If all is as it should be, the silicone should be dry to the touch and therefore never "buttery." This is also why you'll never get the seeping out problem you describe.

Now, why don't I like the buttery feel? It may have a lower coefficient of static friction than silicone, however, if lubed right, the flick of a finger should be more than sufficient to overcome the static friction requirement, and IMHO the dynamic friction with the silicone is vastly lower than that of the oil type substances. Also, you don't have to deal with any of the seeping problems you mention. I had a very negative first reaction to the non-buttery feel of silicone, but having tried my original solution again, I feel it is WAAY slower, even if it feels quieter, less clicky, smoother, and yes, more "buttery." ...the silicone, in my experience, is clicky, loud, etc, but incredibly fast.

 

[Tox|k]

Thanks for the advice on how to apply the silicone, I had been leaving it wet before, and evidentally that was my problem. I just lubed up my type D with silicone by taking it apart and spraying each inner face and letting it dry for 30-60 mins. After that I wiped off all excess and put it back together. The end product really is quite superb, I would have never thought a 'dry' cube could be so smooth. Still not as slippery as my super broken in mineral-oiled rubik's, but I do like the results indeed.