[Help Thread] F2L Discussion and Help

[Ickathu]

Please help. I want to enter a cube competition in Mongolia but I'm kinda slow...33 second average.

Lol, there is nothing wrong with a 33 second average. You should enter this competition . Just practice

33 IS NOT TOO SLOW TO COMPETE. YOU ARE NEVER TOO SLOW TO COMPETE. NO-ONE AT A COMPETITION CARES HOW SLOW YOU ARE.

My brother competed at CSP fall 2012 just 2 weeks ago. He got 3 DNFs, a 7:16, and a 5:09 or something like that.
My older sister competed at CSP fall 2012 just 2 weeks ago. She got all times over a minute - an average of 1:30 I think.
My younger sister competed at blahblahblah. She got a 53 second average.

 

[Akiro]

Have you watched tutorials about intuitive f2l on youtube? Some are very good.

And what takes you the most time in your F2L? Cross? Finding pieces? Finding which moves you wanna make to insert your pieces? Turning speed?
Depending on what slows you down, there are things you can do to improve.

And btw, whatever your times are, you should go to that competition. There are even people who could help you out there!

 

[ducttapecuber]

I am not that fast at f2l but I have found a lot of help from this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGeTtD4tB5w

 

[Hunter]

Then should it be "FOP" if the "C" is part of the "F"?

 

[JasonK]

Then should it be "FOP" if the "C" is part of the "F"?

The name Cross-F2L-OLL-PLL is kind of silly, but it's the convention. It's a bit strange that the most popular method in existence doesn't really have a sensible name...

 

[F perm]

Then should it be "FOP" if the "C" is part of the "F"?

Cross, F2L, Oreintation, Permutation is kind of a misnomer; at least the F2L part is. In this case, F should really stand for something like Four slots or Finish F2L, because technically the cross is part of F2L.

FOP is nice, but it sounds close to something else inappropriate .

 

[sneaklyfox]

Maybe it's more like FOP but Cross-type FOP as opposed to FreeFOP where it could mean block building until LL, for example. So think of it as C-FOP which is how people say it anyway.

 

[OtterJuice]

I learned a lot from BadMephisto's guides on youtube when I was looking to improve my times. Might wanna check him out sometime.

 

[That70sShowDude]

I have about 6-8 second F2L without any algs...

sub10 avg12 w/ no f2l algs crew

 

[applemobile]

The cross does not even constitute one layer. So Cross followed by 'first two layers' is perfectly legitimate.

 

[JE007]

I really need some help for F2L!

My first 2 layers takes me 40s. I first solve the 2 layers (but one piece not). Than I solve the first layer and than the last piece of the 2 layer.

I know that isn't the right way and so I really want to learn it right.

I look at the videos of badmephisto but I just don't get how you get the corner and edge piece on the right place on the same moment.
I also don't know how you flip the edge piece right to do that.

Can somebody help?

 

[peterbone]

I really need some help for F2L!

My first 2 layers takes me 40s. I first solve the 2 layers (but one piece not). Than I solve the first layer and than the last piece of the 2 layer.

I know that isn't the right way and so I really want to learn it right.

I look at the videos of badmephisto but I just don't get how you get the corner and edge piece on the right place on the same moment.
I also don't know how you flip the edge piece right to do that.

Can somebody help?

You firstly need to learn the 2 basic types of cases for pairing and inserting F2L corner-edge pairs.
- Edge and corner have the same colour facing up on the upper layer. Put the corner at one of the adjacent corners to the one the pair has to go in and do RUR or LUL type moves to pair them, then insert the pair.
- Edge and corner have different colours on top (not the cross colour). Insert by putting the corner above the slot you need to insert into and do RUR or L'U'L' to pair and insert simultaneously. Use the previous trick to position the corner and edge relative to each other correctly first.
- If the corner has the cross colour up then it gets a bit harder.

Probably easier to look at examples than read this.

 

[JE007]

I have (again) searched for some movies about it.

On the forum I found this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGeTtD4tB5w
It's for me a great movie and now I understand it much beter.
So now I can begin practise

ps: thanks to peterbone for his quik answer

 

[Brest]

I have (again) searched for some movies about it.

On the forum I found this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGeTtD4tB5w
It's for me a great movie and now I understand it much beter.
So now I can begin practise

ps: thanks to peterbone for his quik answer

This might help too: Rido's Hunting Story

 

[advincubing]

I do most of my inserts into the front right or back right slot, using y rotations to avoid F and B moves. I suppose I should be less afraid of F moves than I am, but they're still not very fluid for me. A lot of my inserts require a d/Dw move, and I've gotten fast at them. As I watch more videos of very good F2L, though, it seems that most do U moves instead of D moves.

First: Is that accurate? Is that how most "better" cubers do it?

Second: Any suggestions on how to improve at that? It feels like re-learning everything I know about F2L! Practice, of course, but any tips?

Third: What's the common finger placement/tricks for F' U' F? When I end an algorithm (e.g., T-perm) with F', I push the right top corner to the left using my right index finger. That's easy for me, but doesn't seem to work for F' U F.

Thanks.

 

[NaeosPsy]

Middle slice inserts FTW.

 

[advincubing]

Middle slice inserts FTW.

I've experimented with middle slice F2L, but just through trial and error. Anyone have a good tutorial/video?

 

[yoshinator]

I've experimented with middle slice F2L, but just through trial and error. Anyone have a good tutorial/video?

What choubx's rotation less F2L video.

 

[advincubing]

Watch cyoubx's rotation less F2L video.

Interesting video (http://youtu.be/Js1LZscj18A). He sort of dimisses M slice F2L as silly (except for last layer edge control, which is far too advanced for me at this point).

Let me bump one of my questions from above:

What's the common finger placement/tricks for F' U' F? When I end an algorithm (e.g., T-perm) with F', I push the right top corner to the left using my right index finger. That's easy for me, but doesn't seem to work for F' U F.

 

[JianhanC]

R2 F R F' R

l R U' R' U l'