How Long Can Your Cube With Stand Vaseline???

[pcwiz]

Have I tried what?

Have I lubricated my cube with petroleum jelly? Yes, I have.

Have I seen black gunk? Yes I have.
Has my cube destroyed? No, because I had it in the cube for about two weeks, then removed it.

Has my cube core been destroyed by silicone? No.

 

[coopersacatfilms]

I prefer silicone because it breaks it in right away after the first time and A LOT after 2-3 times

 

[pcwiz]

I prefer silicone because it breaks it in right away after the first time and A LOT after 2-3 times

Could you be more clear on that? Silicone doesn't break in the cube for you... it's a lubricant. Are you saying silicone works on the cube right away? 2-3 times solving or lubricating? Could you speak more clearly (in all your posts)?

Well for me, silicone makes your cube sticky at first, and it is HORRIBLE at cutting corners. Then after a few days of solving, my cube starts to move wonderfully, cutting corners like it did before lubrication.

Petroleum Jelly/ Vaseline, on the other hand (for me) works on your cube right away. Immediately, it starts to make your cube faster, without any draw backs....

 

[McWizzle94]

when I used vaseline it came off in a couple of days, so i had to reapply it for a while

 

[noobcuber]

Is CRC silicon spray the right type oil based??

and also after you have applied the silicon your cube will be superstiff right?? But eventually it gets better as the silicon moulds??

 

[masterofthebass]

Pcwiz, stop spouting facts when you are completely wrong about something. The reason why you don't see black gunk with silicone is because there is no gunk in your cube. The cube dust that happens naturally gets mixed in with the vaseline and that's what makes the dreaded "black gunk." Vaseline will not destroy your cube, and unless you have proof, (a cube with the core degraded) I can't believe your argument. I don't know why that you think that you are right even though you have no proof to what you are saying.

 

[Crzyazn]

Vaseline will make it smoother and maybe a little bit faster.

Silicon is what you want for speeeeeed AND smoothness

 

[rjohnson_8ball]

I had a couple cubes back in the 80's that I used Vaseline on. The core got brittle and broke after a month or so. One was a Rubik's Deluxe I picked up while in London. I don't want to use petroleum based lubes again. That's my 2 cents. I am happy now with silicon spray (hopefully the propellent isn't too bad) and the liquid lube from Rubiks.com (is that a wax?).

 

[Johannes91]

Have I lubricated my cube with petroleum jelly? Yes, I have. Has my cube destroyed? No, because I had it in the cube for about two weeks, then removed it.

So, what makes you think that the cube would've broken if you had continued using that lubricant? And how did you come up with the mystical "6+ months" time limit? And how do you know that all cubes will be damaged equally? If you don't know what you're talking about, then shut up.

Here are some *facts* for you: Many people have said that vaseline and other non-silicone lubricants work fine for them. Many people have also said that their cubes have become looser with time, even though they use silicone spray.

 

[blgentry]

Revealing my age here, but...

I had a cube in the early 80s that I lubed with petroleum jelly. I solved sort of a lot back then, but not nearly as much as a real "speed cuber" does today.

Around 1992 or so, I found the cube again, and the core was broken. Now keep in mind that I was a kid in the 80s and one of my first attempts to disassemble the cube was to throw it onto a carpeted floor. I'm sure that wasn't good for it. So who's to say if it was my abuse, or the petroleum jelly that eventually broke the core.

Either way, I know that cube lasted (with little use) for at least 7 or 8 years with petroleum jelly in it.

Brian.

 

[fanwuq]

based on my knowledge. Silicone quality varies A LOT and Petroleum jelly does not break the cube. I've used since forever and it never did anything to my cube. you do have to relube it like every other day. Just after a while, it didn't like the feeling of it anymore and I just started to use unlubed cube. I bought some liquid wrench silicone spray and it feels just like petroleum jelly on 3x3. It makes eastsheens really stiff after spraying and it just sucks. But I used the spray of someone at princeton (not sure of brand) and it was just amazing immediately.

 

[RivalDestiny]

For those people who had jelly, and switched over to silicone, how did you go about getting the jelly off? Do you simply take a towel and rub it off, or take water and throughly clean it off? From which I've heard, silicone and vaseline make a glue-type substance. I want to be 100% sure my cube is jelly-less before applying silicone.

Also...I'm only 15..am I allowed to buy silicone at a hardware store alone, or do I have a parent/guardian with me? Just a question to make sure..

-Thanks

 

[pcwiz]

For those people who had jelly, and switched over to silicone, how did you go about getting the jelly off? Do you simply take a towel and rub it off, or take water and throughly clean it off? From which I've heard, silicone and vaseline make a glue-type substance. I want to be 100% sure my cube is jelly-less before applying silicone.

Also...I'm only 15..am I allowed to buy silicone at a hardware store alone, or do I have a parent/guardian with me? Just a question to make sure..

-Thanks

"Do you simply take a towel and rub it off, or take water and throughly clean it off?"

You do both. First, soak it in water for like 10 minutes, you'll see all bubbly stuff at the surface of the water. Then, rub the all the pieces and core with something like a toothbrush. Then, use a towel to rub everything off.

This is simply a guide, so you don't have to follow it. Just make sure you don't seen any black gunk, and your cube pieces aren't sticky (after you clean the pieces). Then that should be okay.

About the age thing, I don't know.

 

[Crzyazn]

About the age thing:

It's lube man, not gunpowder. Home depot didn't do a background check or fingerprint me when i bought 3 cans of jigaloo (im 15).

If you were buying a lot of metal tubing and various herbicides however....

 

[rjohnson_8ball]

I think silicone spray is very dangerous (can be fatal to breathe), so the use and sale of it may be prohibited to children?

 

[shelley]

They carded me when I tried to buy fabric paints. You never can be too sure what crazy substances people are using as inhalants these days.

I wasn't carded when I bought silicon spray though, so you should be okay.

 

[fanwuq]

For those people who had jelly, and switched over to silicone, how did you go about getting the jelly off? Do you simply take a towel and rub it off, or take water and throughly clean it off? From which I've heard, silicone and vaseline make a glue-type substance. I want to be 100% sure my cube is jelly-less before applying silicone.

Also...I'm only 15..am I allowed to buy silicone at a hardware store alone, or do I have a parent/guardian with me? Just a question to make sure..

-Thanks

Only 15? I think that's not that young. Harris Chan is 15, I think, and he's the fast!

It really doesn't matter. Just try whatever.

 

[abbracadiabra]

I don't think silicone spray is a controlled substance, but maybe it should be. If you're concerned about its toxicity use something else.

This isn't rocket science, and let's not lose sight of the fact that we're talking about a $10 toy. It's not designed to last forever, and it's easily replaced.

People have used lots of different things successfully - including petroleum jelly. I use cube lube, which is a silicone liquid, and I'm happy with it. Johannes said he uses sewing machine oil, and he's happy with that. People have used floor wax, car wax, furniture polish and even vegetable oil.

If you try something you don't like, clean your cube and try something else. There's no big black cloud of doom that's going to follow you forever for using less than optimal lube in your cube. And no matter what, the more you use your cube the better the action will get until eventually it will get so loose (with or without lube) that it pops all over the place, at which time you might want to consider replacing it.