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Older cubers discussions

pglewis

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Joined
Sep 23, 2016
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1,268
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Cincinnati
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2016LEWI07
Hello fellow cubers. I was directed here by a fellow mature cuber, I will be 50 next month. So I was around when the Rubik’s cube craze started.
I am reading a few posts, and seeing a lot of abbreviations. Hopefully I will become conversant in time.
My main solve method is the cross then build the layers.
But I am now looking at the roux method,
I am currently considering a new speed cube.
A few years back I set myself a goal of a sub 1 minute solve and managed it. I even got down to 32 seconds but my long term goal is to get sub 20 seconds every time.
Another of my goals is to get my turning technique better. But I need to understand notation better.
But I am just enjoying solving my cube again.

Welcome! I'm about to hit 51 in a couple weeks, you're in the right place. Lots of helpful folks around here with similar stories. I had an original Rubik's back in the early 80s myself and rediscovered it a few years ago with all the renewed interest in the puzzle. "Enjoy yourself" is the only rule around here.

Hello oldies! I haven't been around in about 6 months, haven't had much spare time for cubing lately either. Work has been hectic and I also spent two months in Africa, where I would occasionally do some blind solving on the balcony, with a beautiful view of the Atlantic ocean, which makes me wonder why I chose an activity that required I have my eyes closed...

The other day I had some friends over who got interested in my cubes and to my horror I found my skills have deteriorated to the point where I cannot even remember any R-perms after a few glasses of glühwein. Looks like I need some more practice.

Any interesting developments in the scene? Any new hardware I need to check out? Any of you oldies set a world record yet? Is this thread still heavily focused on bld (from the looks of the last page looks like you're all doing mbld by now)?

Great to see you check in, I was just wondering how you've been last week. I picked up quite a few 3x3 tricks from you and you were getting respectably fast when life intervened. I'm still slowly inching down through the 20s; 18s and 19s aren't as frequent as I'd like yet but those only get a yawn now, takes a 16 or 17 single to raise my pulse.

Hardware: not a lot to speak of over the past 6 months, other than the latest Gan. I have a 354M and it's a very good puzzle and hands-down the most aesthetically pleasing 3x3 I've owned but they've pushed the price point on the 356X too far for my curiosity. And TBH, a $20-$25 factory GTS2-M is still hard to beat for my tastes anyway.

There is also a new-ish oldies group on FaceBook with many familiar faces and some new-to-me ones, if you frequent that territory.

I hope you get there quicker than me - when I was at your speed in competition (2010), it took me 3 more years before I got my first official sub-20. And to this day, I still only have 2 of them.

I think you were world class in mbld in 2010 so I imagine it was difficult to find the time to spam lots of 3x3 solves as well. Having just got back to peak on 3x3 and looking ahead to tooling up 3bld and mbld... dunno how some of you mbld and big bld gurus maintain anything else.
 

SpartanSailor

Member
Joined
May 21, 2016
Messages
730
WCA
2016DUEH02
. I'm still slowly inching down through the 20s; 18s and 19s aren't as frequent as I'd like yet but those only get a yawn now, takes a 16 or 17 single to raise my pulse.

@pglewis we are at the same exact point. If I get a string of 18s and 19s (like 3 in a row as happened last night)... that will get a fist pump out of me too. I did manage a 15.21 last night which I believe is my second fastest single ever...
 

pglewis

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Joined
Sep 23, 2016
Messages
1,268
Location
Cincinnati
WCA
2016LEWI07
@pglewis we are at the same exact point. If I get a string of 18s and 19s (like 3 in a row as happened last night)... that will get a fist pump out of me too. I did manage a 15.21 last night which I believe is my second fastest single ever...

We keep shuffling along together, I nearly catch up and then you hit a breakthrough. That should bode well for you :D.

I'm also still gearing up to join you with remedial 3bld. I've dusted off my letter pair app in order to prototype some things I need to learn for the day job, so I have an semi-valid excuse to practice a few 3bld solves while "working".
 

Boogie dude

Member
Joined
Jan 7, 2019
Messages
26
i have just ordered 2 cubes.
the gans 354m 3x3 cube.
and the xiaomi giiker cube.
the latter cube is for my 50th so I will have to wait til mid feb to try it.
but very excited to try the magnetic cube.
TBH when I was researching what cube to buy, my head was spinning.
I will report back on my progress.
 

JanW

Member
Joined
Oct 20, 2015
Messages
488
WCA
2018WANA01
Great to see you check in, I was just wondering how you've been last week. I picked up quite a few 3x3 tricks from you and you were getting respectably fast when life intervened. I'm still slowly inching down through the 20s; 18s and 19s aren't as frequent as I'd like yet but those only get a yawn now, takes a 16 or 17 single to raise my pulse.
Nice progress! I have no idea what I would average right now. Last weekend I did one timed solve when my friend insisted, first timed solve in 6 months, and somehow managed to clock in at 21 seconds despite the added pressure of an audience and resorting to 2-look OLL when I couldn't remember the case. So it seems it's still in there somewhere! I'll try to get in an Ao100 soon, just have to review some OLLs first.

For some reason I've been playing a lot with my 6x6 the last couple of days. I think I have only solved it once or twice before, right after I got it. It's still very tight, but I'm not sure how I should go about adjusting the tensions. What kind of indicators should I look for to tell that it isn't too loose or tight? It's a WuHua, if that makes a difference.
 

JohnnyReggae

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Joined
Jan 21, 2015
Messages
557
Location
Cape Town, South Africa
WCA
2015BOSW01
I have a 354M and it's a very good puzzle and hands-down the most aesthetically pleasing 3x3 I've owned but they've pushed the price point on the 356X too far for my curiosity. And TBH, a $20-$25 factory GTS2-M is still hard to beat for my tastes anyway.
The 354m is an amazing cube which I'm currently using for OH. The 356X on the other hand is even better than the 354m for 2H. It has a softer turning feel and the pieces also feel a little rounder. The 354m has a sharp feeling in the hands. As for the price, yes I agree GAN are pushing it a bit. I did get mine from cubezz.com whose prices are a lot better than anywhere else. I paid $43 for mine whereas TheCubicle is $57 for the IPG v5 version.

i have just ordered 2 cubes.
the gans 354m 3x3 cube.
and the xiaomi giiker cube.
the latter cube is for my 50th so I will have to wait til mid feb to try it.
but very excited to try the magnetic cube.
TBH when I was researching what cube to buy, my head was spinning.
I will report back on my progress.
I'll also be celebrating my 50th this year. Not sure if I should be happy or sad about that yet as I will officially be "over the hill" as they say ;)

I'm considering getting the Giiker. Was close to hitting the add-to-basket button yesterday but it is $50 and then at least another $20 shipping, that's if I don't want to wait for the free shipping option, which unfortunately for me will be at least 4 months with our rather pathetic postal service. So $20 doesn't seem such a bad trade-off then.
 

One Wheel

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Joined
Feb 24, 2016
Messages
2,883
Location
Wisconsin
WCA
2016BAIR04
For some reason I've been playing a lot with my 6x6 the last couple of days. I think I have only solved it once or twice before, right after I got it. It's still very tight, but I'm not sure how I should go about adjusting the tensions. What kind of indicators should I look for to tell that it isn't too loose or tight? It's a WuHua, if that makes a difference.
6x6 hardware is finnicky, and requires fairly tight tensions for stability relative to other size cubes. Personally I loosen it until I start getting lockups, then tighten maybe 1/8 of a turn. If you have the time and/or money I strongly recommend a magnetic 6x6. In other cubes magnets are nice, for 6x6 magnets are a complete game changer.
 

xyzzy

Member
Joined
Dec 24, 2015
Messages
2,879
For some reason I've been playing a lot with my 6x6 the last couple of days. I think I have only solved it once or twice before, right after I got it. It's still very tight, but I'm not sure how I should go about adjusting the tensions. What kind of indicators should I look for to tell that it isn't too loose or tight? It's a WuHua, if that makes a difference.
6x6 hardware is finnicky, and requires fairly tight tensions for stability relative to other size cubes. Personally I loosen it until I start getting lockups, then tighten maybe 1/8 of a turn. If you have the time and/or money I strongly recommend a magnetic 6x6. In other cubes magnets are nice, for 6x6 magnets are a complete game changer.
I used to have my Wuhua on super loose tensions to make it not-slow, and my general strategy was to hope that it didn't pop… but it popped a lot, so maybe that wasn't the best idea. (There was a comp last year where I decided not to register for 666 because I was afraid of the cube exploding mid-solve.)

I think one of the major benefits of magnets (especially in big cubes) is that they reduce the occurrences of minor lockups a lot, and while individually each of those little lockups don't add much time, a 666 solve is long and there'll be many opportunities for the cube to lock up. Even if speed isn't a concern, (i) it's probably better for your hands and (ii) it makes the puzzle more fun to play with.
 

Mike Hughey

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I agree with magnets on 6x6x6 being a game-changer. The only puzzle where I think they make an even bigger difference for me is megaminx, where the difference is just huge. Then again, I still solve megaminx in my hands, not on the table; I doubt magnets would make as big a difference on megaminx if I were willing to solve it on the table, but solving on the table still feels like cheating to me. :)
 

JanW

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Oct 20, 2015
Messages
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2018WANA01
Thanks for the tips all! I might consider a magnetized 6x6 one day. For now I'll keep loosening the tensions until it locks up too much. It hasn't popped yet. I can admit that I fear that moment a bit, since I've never taken apart and put together a cube of this size. Maybe I should take it apart to get over that fear.

I remember seeing a video review of some 6x6, I think by Kevin Hays, where he said he would break it in with 500-600 solves before giving his final verdict. If that's how many it takes, I'm guessing mine will never be properly broken in.
 

One Wheel

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Feb 24, 2016
Messages
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Location
Wisconsin
WCA
2016BAIR04
Thanks for the tips all! I might consider a magnetized 6x6 one day. For now I'll keep loosening the tensions until it locks up too much. It hasn't popped yet. I can admit that I fear that moment a bit, since I've never taken apart and put together a cube of this size. Maybe I should take it apart to get over that fear.

FWIW: I’ve disassembled and reassembled several 6x6s. I timed reassembly of my last one, the Yuxin Little Magic after magnetizing. From completely disassembled to completely assembled it took an hour and seven minutes.

I remember seeing a video review of some 6x6, I think by Kevin Hays, where he said he would break it in with 500-600 solves before giving his final verdict. If that's how many it takes, I'm guessing mine will never be properly broken in.
I’ve worn out at least one 6x6 with that many solves, there’s obviously going to be some variation, but I’d guess you’ll see significant improvement up to about 100 solves.
 

SpartanSailor

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May 21, 2016
Messages
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2016DUEH02
6x6 hardware is finnicky, and requires fairly tight tensions for stability relative to other size cubes. Personally I loosen it until I start getting lockups, then tighten maybe 1/8 of a turn. If you have the time and/or money I strongly recommend a magnetic 6x6. In other cubes magnets are nice, for 6x6 magnets are a complete game changer.
100% about the magnets in larger cubes. I used to hate my 6x6 and 7x7. The inner layers moving all the time ruined whatever enjoyment I could hope to get. With magnets, I enjoy all the larger cubes now. I’m still slow, but I enjoy them.
 

SpartanSailor

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Messages
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2016DUEH02
I agree with magnets on 6x6x6 being a game-changer. The only puzzle where I think they make an even bigger difference for me is megaminx, where the difference is just huge. Then again, I still solve megaminx in my hands, not on the table; I doubt magnets would make as big a difference on megaminx if I were willing to solve it on the table, but solving on the table still feels like cheating to me. :)
I’m holding out to get a Mega with magnets... I just don’t solve it enough to worry about it. Of course, the reason is the same as was for 6x6 and 7x7. It’s not any fun because the layers just move whenever they want. grrrrr!

I may just pull the trigger on a magnetic one and see. I dont use the table either. But I’m also not fast with the Mega either. Maybe if I get fast enuff there’s an advantage for doing it that way? Idk. I don’t see that happening.
 

Mike Hughey

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I may just pull the trigger on a magnetic one and see. I dont use the table either. But I’m also not fast with the Mega either. Maybe if I get fast enuff there’s an advantage for doing it that way? Idk. I don’t see that happening.
You should definitely try a magnetic megaminx. At 20 bucks for a Galaxy V2M, it's cheaper than most magnetic cubes, and it really makes a huge difference. My average time dropped by over 30 seconds instantly when I got one, because prior to that, like you said, the layers just moved on me whenever they wanted. I used to hate solving megaminx because it was so unpleasant with all the lockups, but now I actually rather like solving it.
 

SpartanSailor

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May 21, 2016
Messages
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You should definitely try a magnetic megaminx. At 20 bucks for a Galaxy V2M, it's cheaper than most magnetic cubes, and it really makes a huge difference. My average time dropped by over 30 seconds instantly when I got one, because prior to that, like you said, the layers just moved on me whenever they wanted. I used to hate solving megaminx because it was so unpleasant with all the lockups, but now I actually rather like solving it.
Have you tried the galaxy V2M L? I am partial to a slightly larger puzzle (physical size).
 

Boogie dude

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Jan 7, 2019
Messages
26
I have been watching some tutorials on speedcubing and different methods.
And it all seems a little mind blowing.
Can anyone tell me if when they started speedcubing thought they would never break through barriers.
I solved my cube around 10 times in a row my best time was 49 secs. And slowest was 1:02.
I know it’s very early but is there hope for me. Please give me some hope.
I am still using CFOP.
Thanks.
 

xyzzy

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Joined
Dec 24, 2015
Messages
2,879
I have been watching some tutorials on speedcubing and different methods.
And it all seems a little mind blowing.
Can anyone tell me if when they started speedcubing thought they would never break through barriers.
I solved my cube around 10 times in a row my best time was 49 secs. And slowest was 1:02.
I know it’s very early but is there hope for me. Please give me some hope.
I am still using CFOP.
Thanks.
There was a time I thought I'd never break a minute, and then I did.
There was a time I thought I'd never break 20 seconds, and then I did.
There was a time I thought I'd never break 15 seconds, and then I did.

These days I think I'll never break 10 seconds, and… I'm not there yet, not even close, but I'm still trying!

If you're just starting out, don't focus on the people who can solve it almost ten times as fast as you are. There's no way you'll get close to that level with only a few weeks/months of practice; those are people who have dedicated years to the craft. Start on the barriers that seem achievable first, e.g. trying to go under 50 seconds consistently. Then gradually go lower, and lower, and lower, until you're satisfied with the times you're getting.
 
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