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Cube tension, opposite color solving and more

amateurguy

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Joined
Oct 5, 2007
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88
Location
Malaysia
I have a few small questions to ask. I figured that they're not worthy of having their own posts so I decided to combine them into one.

1. I have a new store-bought cube and when it first came out of its wrappers it was really smooth and loose. But after doing a hundred or so solves for a week, I noticed it starts to take more effort to turn the layers. As if it tightened or something. I don't really like it. Does the spring/screw tension tighten overtime normally? If so, is it beneficial to speedcubing?

2. For the Superman OLL (Case#55 in Dan's page) I used a Sune-based alg that goes like R U R' U R U2 R2 U' R U' R' U2 R. But I thought it was a bit long and not optimal, so I switched to y2 R2 D' R U2 R' D R U2 R. It took slightly less time to do but I find it awkward for my hands, mostly because of D moves. Is there any other fingertrick-friendly alg for this case?

3. I just learnt opposite color solving from Chris Hardwick's site. Although I noticed that sometimes bad cross cases for one color have good cases on its opposite color, is it worth carrying it out? As in, if you notice you have a bad White-color cross case, within that 15-second inspection time, is it worth switching to Yellow half-way and figuring out a Yellow cross or continue building the White cross? Which one uses the 15 seconds more efficiently?

4. Just a suggestion, maybe there should be a Sticky topic like a help-line for short questions (not discussions) like these from beginners in this sub-forum?

Sorry if this has been asked before (I used the Search function!) or if I should have split up the questions into multiple topics. Cheers!
 
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4GO57O

Member
Joined
Dec 11, 2007
Messages
85
Location
Philippines
1. lube it or clean the insides maybe....or if you can somehow....open the center caps(I did with my store-brought cube)and unscrew the screw...only a bit ....

2. you will get used to the move after a while...I'm not kidding....

3. I didn't really see what he said there but in my case...I would either scramble it and make a cross again....continue the cross....make the yellow cross if you think it can save you more time... I would choose continue the white cross cause if I do yellow cross....I'm not used to it and I slow down....

4. um..I dunno if there's a FAQ sticky but I'll look for one...but sometimes.....individual threads are better for me,...
 

Lucas Garron

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1. Is it dirty and gunky inside?

2. Every alg I've seen for that case is horrible. Try this one Ummon found: x' Ra U R' D2 R U' R' D2 L' x
"l L" works as well for "x' Ra"
And try:
  • R U' L U' R' U L' U2 R U' R'
  • R U2 R' U L' U2 R U' R' U2 L
  • R U2 R' U2 L' U2 L F2 R' F2 R
  • R' F2 R U2 R U2 R' F2 R U2 R'

3. Opp-color solving is excellent. I generally look for a yellow cross: I tend to use white if it is prominently easy, or if I don't see a reasonably good yellow cross start in 5 seconds or so.

4. Such a list would become huge, because a lot should have to go in there. And how much should it be prejudiced toward Fridrich?
 

Leo

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Dec 2, 2007
Messages
213
I think he means a topic where people can ask questions like these and not have to make an entire thread.
 

4GO57O

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Dec 11, 2007
Messages
85
Location
Philippines
hm....does he mean like a ....1 question answer thread?for everyone?(more than one question might possibly be asked
 

amateurguy

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Oct 5, 2007
Messages
88
Location
Malaysia
Okay, here's what I got so far:

1. I pretty much think there's gunk in my cube. But I dare not pry it open unless I feel confident I'm not gonna break something. Is something likely to break? Is there a link to a proper guide for disassembling?

2. I like the alg R U' L U' R' U L' U2 R U' R a lot (Thanks Lucas!) Mostly because it has R U' triggers (my favourite trigger). Reminds me of a twisted J perm. Now I have to commit this to muscle memory.

3. I'm bad at planning out crosses in 15 seconds. I just started solving crosses on the D layer. I guess it comes with practice. I'll follow Lucas' advice for now.

4. A QA thread might not be likely after all. You may forget the notion. :p
 
Joined
Nov 30, 2007
Messages
205
Location
Washington, IL
Okay, here's what I got so far:

1. I pretty much think there's gunk in my cube. But I dare not pry it open unless I feel confident I'm not gonna break something. Is something likely to break? Is there a link to a proper guide for disassembling?

2. I like the alg R U' L U' R' U L' U2 R U' R a lot (Thanks Lucas!) Mostly because it has R U' triggers (my favourite trigger). Reminds me of a twisted J perm. Now I have to commit this to muscle memory.

3. I'm bad at planning out crosses in 15 seconds. I just started solving crosses on the D layer. I guess it comes with practice. I'll follow Lucas' advice for now.

4. A QA thread might not be likely after all. You may forget the notion. :p


1. No. Just turn your cube 45 degrees (a half a turn) and use your fingers or a knife to pry of an edge. From here you can take it apart to clean with a wet washcloth.

3. Depends on if you are capable of doing both just as fast, some people have to slow down, that's why I practice solving different colors at times.
 

amateurguy

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Oct 5, 2007
Messages
88
Location
Malaysia
There appears to be no gunk inside my cube. But I do notice that as I turn certain faces, I can hear something like springs creaking. I never had the creaking problem before. Not even with my old cube.

Anybody had this before? If so, what does this mean?
 
Joined
Nov 15, 2007
Messages
234
maybe you should just lube it then?

anyway, if it's the rubiks rubik's cube you're talking about, i heard that with my cousins cubes from that brand so it should be normal?
 

hube

Member
Joined
Dec 10, 2007
Messages
11
the best algorithm for the superman case imo is:

Lw2 U' R D2 R' U R D2 R

i can do it very fast right now
 

dRaGoN

Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2007
Messages
42
You just really need lube. I had the exact same problem except that when my friend lubed it for me.
 
Joined
Nov 15, 2007
Messages
234
oh and btw, the alg i use from dan's site doesn't have any D-face turns...

it is: (R' U2 R) F (U' R' U' R U) F'
 
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