Cube lubrication questions

[alexm]

Hey all. I figured I'd stop bothering you guys in the IRC channel about this and just bother you here.
(BTW, I don't know if this post belongs here, or if it should go in speedcubing, or what)

This is my plight: I got my new cube, it's a DIY cube from rubikshop.com, and it's pretty nice. I even waited to put the stickers on until I got it lubed up. (so as not to mess them up when I did)

I did the "lay em out and spray em" technique, let them dry (about 10 min), put it back together, and played with it for a while. Now, I dunno if it's the kind of silicone spray[1], but now the faces kinda grab when you first start to turn it, you know, kinda sticky or something. (BTW, the inside faces of the cubies are dry, nothing on them that could cause that I don't think) While it's moving, it turns fairly freely.

I've found out that lossening the screw tension helps (that also helps with easier to perform triggers, not locking up so much, etc.) but then it pops extremely easily. Also, if I add more silicone spray, it seems to add to the "stickiness" factor. I'm going nuts trying to figure out what to do. My Dad suggests vasaline, because we've used that on my old cube (before I got this new one) and his, but I want to use what the pros use, and I know it shouldn't act like this. Maybe I just need to break it in.

If it is the lube's fault, and I need to get a different kind (Like Dan Knight's fav, SNAP) where would I want to look for that? Could I find it at my local Ace Hardware? Lowe's? Wal-Mart??

Any help would be appreciated.

-Alex






[1] It's some stuff we got from Lowe's, it's "3-in-one professional silicone spray lubricant"... and I just noticed it says "Mfd. for WD-40 company" on the back... is that bad? It also says "Contains petrolium distillates"

 

[Richard]

Well, i know that when i first lube mine up the "stickiness factor" is there for about 45 min to an hour. After that time period goes by it pretty much disappears, yet there's still a trace of stickiness. After using my cube a crap load of times the stickiness totally went away leaving me with a very nicely turning cube. So, if you just applied it you just need to give it time and use it a ton. If, however, you've already waited an hour or whatever and it is still very sticky, then i'm not sure what you should do...

 

[FrankMorris]

Petroleum Distillates are no good. Stay away from that lube.

Prestone Silicone Spray is also a very excellent lube. If you can find it that is. It used to be available at Walmart, but I can't find it at any of them in my city. I have tried a couple of Silicone Sprays from Ace Hardware, and both were bad. After it is sprayed on the cube, It turns into this white filmy stuff. Anyone ever have this happen?

 

[alexm]

Hey, thanks for the replies.

Richard: yes, it is a very new cube, and I as I said whenever I add more lube, it seems to stick more, well, after a while it does go away more. And using it last night I noticed that 1. either I'm getting very used to it, or 2. it's getting a lot better. (I think it's the latter )

Kal El: hmm... Well, a couple things... someone in IRC said that thier can of lube said that same thing on the back and that theirs works fine, and also, I'm not getting any white filmy stuff. But I might end up looking around for some of the recommended brands. (SNAP, Prestone, etc.) If I do find one of those good brands, should I try to remove the stuff already on my cube? How would I do that? Or should I just put it on over it? (Maybe after at least wiping off the cubies?)

 

[pjk]

I bought some lube at Big R (owned by Ace Hardware I think), and it has worked great.