[Help Thread] I ruined my cube..

[BarioM]

Hello, I have a stickerless Yj Yulong that was mooving pretty good without lube so I stupidly decided to put WD 40 in it.
Suddenly it became really stiff and felt very tight and stuck all the time. I thought that leaving the pieces and the core overnight in soap and water would help, but when I assembled it again it was the same way.
Is there anything I can do to fix it? I know its a cheap old cube and I can get something better for like 5$ but I really want to just fix my current cube.

 

[Hazel]

Putting WD-40 in a cube is, from what I've heard, a death sentence for it. Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think there's a solution.

 

[PetrusQuber]

Putting WD-40 in a cube is, from what I've heard, a death sentence for it. Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think there's a solution.

Agree with that. Oh well.Try hand washing all the contact points on the pieces and then blowdrying it.

 

[Electrical]

I've never done this before, but I think you should take the cube apart and clean the pieces, but don't use water, use tissue or something else. Then you can put the cube back together. But again I've never done this before, so it might not work.

 

[Ash Black]

Hello, I have a stickerless Yj Yulong that was mooving pretty good without lube so I stupidly decided to put WD 40 in it.
Suddenly it became really stiff and felt very tight and stuck all the time. I thought that leaving the pieces and the core overnight in soap and water would help, but when I assembled it again it was the same way.
Is there anything I can do to fix it? I know its a cheap old cube and I can get something better for like 5$ but I really want to just fix my current cube.

Sorry, but i think your cube is beyond saving, WD-40 melts the plastic a little bit, which is why it felt so stiff, i would recommend buting a new cube, along with some lubes, from TheCubicle.com if you want your cubes fast, i recommend buying DNM-37, or Mystic

 

[BarioM]

Your cube s not ruined. Far from it.
The reason why soaking the puzzle didn't help is that water on its own has little effect on the residue from WD40. It is a water displacement (WD) treatment and is designed to fend off water. You can, however, just dissassemble the puzzle, wipe the residue off the pieces with a rag and then scrub them clean with straight washing up liquid. Scrub them thoroughly and then, when the WD40 is completely gone, wipe the pieces down with a clean rag and wash them with washing up liquid and water to get them really spotless. I would also take apart the corner and edge pieces and clean inside them as there's no telling how far the WD40 and washing up liquid could have worked their way into the puzzle and it's parts.
Dissassemble the core and clean the plastic pieces as above and the metal pieces with an alcohol based cleaner to ensure they won't rust in the future and then put everything back together. If there's any WD40 still left in the puzzle you will feel it. If that happens, take the puzzle apart and clean it again. Wash, rinse and repeat as needed.

Thank you very much! It actually worked

 

[BarioM]

Update:
I took the cube completely apart again, but this time I used alcohol to clean the mechanism (screws, springs...) and also all the pieces so that the WD40 would go off completely. So far my cube is much better than before (not before the WD40 of course) and now I just have to tension and lube it with normal lube and so it will be good as new or even better.
my cube is happy now