[Help Thread] Lubrication Thread

windhero said:
My guess is that high viscosity lube is 50k weight differential oil and medium is 30k or maybe even lower (10k?). I read some stuff on this on some RC-forums and everyone just said that mixing is possible and that they do it all the time for their cars. I suppose this means that you can just pour them in a bowl, stir them and suck them up in a syringe if you want to.
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The difference in viscosity comes from the difference of the lenght of the molecule's backbone. That's why mixing equal portions of 10k and 50k will not just yield 30k. If you mix 10k and 50k to a mixture which has the same viscosity as 30k, it will still have different thermal properties. However, for cubing it would definitely suffice as long as you don't cube in extreme temperatures. :p

I use 50k diff. oil for the core and 20k diff. oil for the cubies on my dayan zhanchi and I think it works great. :)
 
ySoSrs said:
The difference in viscosity comes from the difference of the lenght of the molecule's backbone. That's why mixing equal portions of 10k and 50k will not just yield 30k. If you mix 10k and 50k to a mixture which has the same viscosity as 30k, it will still have different thermal properties. However, for cubing it would definitely suffice as long as you don't cube in extreme temperatures. :p

I use 50k diff. oil for the core and 20k diff. oil for the cubies on my dayan zhanchi and I think it works great. :)
Click to expand...

I know that the calculations are different: http://scriptasylum.com/rc_speed/oil_mixer.html

But how do you mix them in practice? Do you just stir them? Do they just mix easily?
 
Well I usually cube in a volcano, so I guess that won't work for me. :p

Hmm. So I guess I'll find a way to apply the medium viscosity, probably via cotton swab, and use high on the core.

Seems, though, that not too many people are familiar with calvin's lube. What kind of comparative viscosity is Lubix? Haven't tried that either, but I get the feeling it's about like the high viscosity.

I've noticed that it's a little hard to find actual viscosity stats on the lubes. I guess most people don't pay attention to that.
 
Lubix obviously wants to keep their mixture a secret, but I'm guessing it's around 38k-43k weight. Same applies to all other lubes. Not that hard to figure out once you start experimenting so I don't see why bother trying to keep it a secret anymore.
50-50 mixture of 30k and 50k diff oils ends up with 38,75k weight. That could be what Lubix is too since it's fairly easy to mix with a 1:1 ratio.

Just pour the medium viscosity lube from the gaps and break it in immediately. No need for cotton swabs.
 
Eh the problem is that I got the stuff in a syringe, and it tends to spit out way too much if I'm not careful. Anyway, just applied it to the cube, and it seems to work fine though I added a bit too much. One issue I see is that the high viscosity I put in the core seems to be a bit thick and sticky, but I'm hoping that gets better as I work it in.
 
windhero said:
But how do you mix them in practice? Do you just stir them? Do they just mix easily?
Click to expand...
Yes, you can mix them by stirring them in a bowl or something. Make sure to mix them up properly to assure a uniform mixture. They should mix fairly well.
 
dalsio said:
Eh the problem is that I got the stuff in a syringe, and it tends to spit out way too much if I'm not careful. Anyway, just applied it to the cube, and it seems to work fine though I added a bit too much. One issue I see is that the high viscosity I put in the core seems to be a bit thick and sticky, but I'm hoping that gets better as I work it in.
Click to expand...

The high viscosity lube makes the cube sticky at first, but it shouldnt take more than a day for it to spread out and start actually speeding the cube up.
 
Any Traxxas or other differential oil available on Amazon UK or other UK stores? Any help or suggestions much appreciated :)
 
If I were to get only one weight, which would you recommend? I'm thinking 20 as it's middle ground.
 
20k weight middle ground? No way.
What puzzles do you have? If you mainly do 3x3 50k weight is the best option. If you do bigger puzzles go for 30k. You can use 30k on a 3x3 but it's going to make the cube way too fast.

I recommend buying from ebay. It might take a week or two, but its cheap and safe.
 
Aha I know very little about it, I've only ever used Maru lube so you can tell from that I'm a noob to the topic. I'll check out ebay too, is there a specific brand I should look for? Traxxas seems to be mentioned a lot.
 
The brand doesn't really matter, diff. oil is diff. oil, it's all silicon oil, only the viscosity matters. The diff. oil in the link I gave you is fine. I use 50k for the core and 20k for the cubies, it makes the cube very fast indeed. I've never used Maru but I thought it had a pretty low viscosity compared to lubix and made the cube also very fast? So if you're used to that, 20k diff. oil for the cubies would be fine I guess.
 
Maru is shock oil as far as I know. The benefit of using higher viscosity lubes in a small puzzle are that very little lube goes to waste and the lube spreads up evenly. The heavier the lube (higher viscosity) the stickier it is. Lower viscosity lubes are runnier. Shock oil is not sticky at all.

20k diff oil makes the cube way too fast if you ask me, but it's all about opinions here. 50k would be a good buy since its the best there is for cores of any puzzles imo and it works really good with the pieces too. Don't put too much in, you only need a tiny little bead for the whole cube when you lube the pieces.
 
Many people have different preferences for different lubes and it differs sometimes per cube.

Ideally, if you intend to buy a large supply or buy over and over one kind of lube, I would buy very small amounts of each kind of viscosity and test them out yourself. Most people seem to prefer higher viscosity oils for the core and lower viscosity oils for the cubelettes. I wouldn't go too far below 20k weight or above 50k weight (if you can even find oil that high), though. Below 20, it gets difficult to manage and apply, and above 50 it can make your cube a bit gummy.

However, if you're just looking for a small amount, you're low on budget, you want some right now in a pinch, or you just don't want to do all that work, you can't go wrong with 50k as an all-around lube. The thickness of 50k is perfect for lubing the core, and suitable for the friction surfaces. If you can find (by some miracle or by making it yourself) some 40k weight oil, that would be even more versatile, good enough for the core and better than 50k on the friction surfaces.
 
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