Kenneth
Not Alot
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- Aug 10, 2007
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- 2005GUST01
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Kenneth's big cubes method
This guide is not for beginners who are looking for a method to solve a big cube, it is written mostly for advanced cubers who are looking for something that is maybe faster than the usual reduction method, I'm pretty sure it is if one is willing to paractice it enough.
I myself can't prove it doe because I'm not fast enough, mostly because I suck in look ahead and finger trixing. My 4x4 turn rate is about 1/sec, if you are twice that fast and does this method, then you are in the top rankings =)
People who tried Thom Barlow's K4 will find this wery familair, this method is definitly in the same group.
Introduction:
The most common way to solve a big cube is to use reduction, that is to block up certain pieces (centres and edges) so it functions as a 3x3x3 in the end solve. The worst problem using reduction is that it is turn intensive.
My method do not use reduction, here everything is put in place directly and that saves turns. The problem with direct solving is that it is slice intensive (seems to go for all direct methods, not just mine) and slices are slower than the face and double face turns that are mostly used in reduction.
As always, there are pros and cons...
But something can be done about that, see the post about speed optimizations below.
Method outline
There are three mayor steps, F2B, M-slice and LL, these are divided into smaller steps:
F2B builds two opposite centres, R and L (I never use my U and D colours for this but any of the other two pairs). After that the RD and LD deges (tredges and so on depending on the size of the cube) are paired and placed. A variation is to place edges while building the centres, it saves some turns but has slower recognition. Next pairs are built and placed to compleate the first two blocks.
At this point you can use MCLL to solve the first LL step because from here the cornes are not affected by the rest of the steps and it saves a few turns on average (see post about speed optimizations/MCLL4 lover in this tread).
The M-slice part compleates the first layers (F3L on 4x4x4, F4L on 5x5x5 and so on). Easiest is to build the D centre first and then add B centre, use the empty F-side as keyhole to pair the BD dedge and then place it. But you can also solve centres slice by slice, it's sometimes easier. Then the M-part ends by solving the F-side, at 4x4 I usaly block up two centres and one edge to a tripple that is placed, on 5x and bigger the same is not that easy to do so I usaly bring as many centres as possible while doing the edges and then I solve the centres that was left out, sometimes in blocks using double slices.
The Last layer is pure brute force, first the four corners are solved using CLL and then there are three ELL steps, the first solves the RU dedge, the second the LU dedge and the third solves both BU and FU, paritys and all in one alg. For 5x5x5 you have to add another ELL step for the mid edges, best is to use 3x3x3 ELL as the first of the ELL steps.
For 5x5x5 LL you can use OLL/PLL to solve corners and mid edges and then use the theree ELL steps for the dedges.
There are many cases in the ELL but not many algs are used, once understood it's pretty easy to learn. The part that is hardest to learn for this method is CLL if you do not know it before.
This guide is not for beginners who are looking for a method to solve a big cube, it is written mostly for advanced cubers who are looking for something that is maybe faster than the usual reduction method, I'm pretty sure it is if one is willing to paractice it enough.
I myself can't prove it doe because I'm not fast enough, mostly because I suck in look ahead and finger trixing. My 4x4 turn rate is about 1/sec, if you are twice that fast and does this method, then you are in the top rankings =)
People who tried Thom Barlow's K4 will find this wery familair, this method is definitly in the same group.
Introduction:
The most common way to solve a big cube is to use reduction, that is to block up certain pieces (centres and edges) so it functions as a 3x3x3 in the end solve. The worst problem using reduction is that it is turn intensive.
My method do not use reduction, here everything is put in place directly and that saves turns. The problem with direct solving is that it is slice intensive (seems to go for all direct methods, not just mine) and slices are slower than the face and double face turns that are mostly used in reduction.
As always, there are pros and cons...
But something can be done about that, see the post about speed optimizations below.
Method outline
There are three mayor steps, F2B, M-slice and LL, these are divided into smaller steps:
F2B builds two opposite centres, R and L (I never use my U and D colours for this but any of the other two pairs). After that the RD and LD deges (tredges and so on depending on the size of the cube) are paired and placed. A variation is to place edges while building the centres, it saves some turns but has slower recognition. Next pairs are built and placed to compleate the first two blocks.
At this point you can use MCLL to solve the first LL step because from here the cornes are not affected by the rest of the steps and it saves a few turns on average (see post about speed optimizations/MCLL4 lover in this tread).
The M-slice part compleates the first layers (F3L on 4x4x4, F4L on 5x5x5 and so on). Easiest is to build the D centre first and then add B centre, use the empty F-side as keyhole to pair the BD dedge and then place it. But you can also solve centres slice by slice, it's sometimes easier. Then the M-part ends by solving the F-side, at 4x4 I usaly block up two centres and one edge to a tripple that is placed, on 5x and bigger the same is not that easy to do so I usaly bring as many centres as possible while doing the edges and then I solve the centres that was left out, sometimes in blocks using double slices.
The Last layer is pure brute force, first the four corners are solved using CLL and then there are three ELL steps, the first solves the RU dedge, the second the LU dedge and the third solves both BU and FU, paritys and all in one alg. For 5x5x5 you have to add another ELL step for the mid edges, best is to use 3x3x3 ELL as the first of the ELL steps.
For 5x5x5 LL you can use OLL/PLL to solve corners and mid edges and then use the theree ELL steps for the dedges.
There are many cases in the ELL but not many algs are used, once understood it's pretty easy to learn. The part that is hardest to learn for this method is CLL if you do not know it before.
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