Older cubers discussions

[moralsh]

Polish is too cool!

I'll never forget, when I was in Warsaw some years ago, being in a train station and finding 2 doors, one with the sign wyjście and another with the sign wejście. I had to look a couple of times to notice they're not the same word, in fact they have opposite meaning (Exit and entry or the other way around)

No wonder there are so many top cubers in poland, to master that language you need a lot of wits

Nice solves, by the way

 

[h2f]

I'll never forget, when I was in Warsaw some years ago, being in a train station and finding 2 doors, one with the sign wyjście and another with the sign wejście.

He he he. You know I've never noticed before they differ by one letter.

 

[earth2dan]

Speaking of big cubes, who all has tried a Bochuang vs. the Yuxin?

I have both in stickerless, and I also have a black stickered BoChuang. Both are amazing 5x5's. They have a very different feel, and I still can't decide which I like better. The Yuxin is incredibly smooth, and it's probably the quietest 5x5 I've ever solved (for this reason it is my office 5x5). The outer layers are a little bit faster and smoother than the inner layers, but I really like that. 3x3 stage is a dream on the Yuxin. I've never lubed or adjusted tensions on my Yuxin, and it just gets better and better as I break it in. I lubed my stickered BoChuang and I mildly regret it, it was great at first but now it seems to be slowing down and feeling gummy. I don't plan to lube my stickerless BoChuang for fear of the same thing happening.

 

[mafergut]

@earth2dan: I think, sadly, the issue with BoChuang slowing down is a general problem that's happening to everyone as it breaks in. But it's nice to hear that my new stickerless Yuxin is gonna be so good

 

[mark49152]

@earth2dan , what lube did you use in that BoChuang?

 

[earth2dan]

@earth2dan , what lube did you use in that BoChuang?

I used Cubicle weight 3. I'll occasionally put a couple drops of Maru in there to speed it up, but that doesn't last long.

@earth2dan: I think, sadly, the issue with BoChuang slowing down is a general problem that's happening to everyone as it breaks in. But it's nice to hear that my new stickerless Yuxin is gonna be so good

Yeah, unfortunately it does seem to be a common problem. I wonder if it's the soft plastic shaving away and gunking up the internals. Might be worthwhile to completely take it apart and give all the pieces a good cleaning... My wife and kids are gone this weekend, could be a project for me And yes, I'm sure you're going to like the stickerless Yuxin. For some reason I had trouble with the red/orange at first, but I'm used to it now and I've really come to like this puzzle.

 

[mark49152]

I used Cubicle weight 3. I'll occasionally put a couple drops of Maru in there to speed it up, but that doesn't last long.

My BoChuang hasn't arrived yet, but I have gummed up a number of bigger cubes with diff oil, even 10k (equivalent of Cubicle wt1). I recently switched to 10k shock oil on the advice of Rob Yau and it is way better than diff oil on anything bigger than 3x3.

 

[Shaky Hands]

@mark49152 - thanks for sharing that tip... any particular brand of 10k shock oil in the UK you're using? Something like http://www.modelsport.co.uk/hpi-pro-silicone-shock-oil-10wt-60cc-/rc-car-products/364739 ?

 

[Chree]

@earth2dan - I had the same problem with my Bochuang. I usually lube all of my big cubes with 25wt Shock Oil, which is fairly light... but for some reason it made my Bochuang completely terrible. I had to disassemble it and clean it. Then on the advice of Chris Olson I put traxxis 50K in. It's been amazing ever since.

I know this is in opposition with what @mark49152 said, who suggested using a much lighter lube than what I first used. But maybe with the BoChuang, there's an "anti-goldilocks" range of lubes that just do. not. work. Gotta aim really thin or really thick... anything else causes problems. But that's just a guess.

Edit: Might as well mention... I just got my PB single with my Bochuang last night!

1. (1:15.75)
Scramble : D2 Lw U Rw2 U' Fw Lw' D Rw' Dw Bw2 Uw' Fw' Rw' Bw2 L B2 Dw2 Bw' Rw2 D' F2 U' R U Rw' Dw F' Lw' B' Uw' F' D' F2 L' Fw Dw Lw2 Uw' F2 L2 D2 R2 Dw F2 Dw' B L Dw Rw' Fw U Lw2 Bw2 U2 Lw B2 U2 F2 D'
Date : 16/05/04 21:54:14

 

[mafergut]

@earth2dan - I had the same problem with my Bochuang. [...] Then on the advice of Chris Olson I put traxxis 50K in. It's been amazing ever since. [...]

Edit: Might as well mention... I just got my PB single with my Bochuang last night! 1. (1:15.75)

Interesting how difficult lubing effect is to understand or even find any logic / soundness to it

Nice PB!!! That's just 1 second slower than my own PB... for 4x4

 

[Shaky Hands]

Some of you will recall I had some success with returning to the Thunderclap 3x3 yesterday where I beat a bunch of PB's. I've gone and done it again today with another 100 solves with the same cube:

New PB Ao12: 24.90 (previous best 25.60)
New PB Ao25: 25.91 (previous best 26.22)
New PB Ao100: 27.26 (previous best 27.45)
Total time for 100 solves: 45m 49s (previous best 46m 07s)
Percentage of Sub-25 solves: 29% (previous best 20%)

I think I'm finding the cross easier with this cube. Maybe as I've transitioned from stickered to stickerless. Whatever it is, I've managed to surprise myself. Now I've got my first ever Sub-25 Ao12, I think I have a good chance of getting to a regular Sub-25 average by the end of the year, which is one of my main goals.

Feeling happy anyway and wanted to share the news. Cheers all.

 

[mark49152]

@mark49152 - thanks for sharing that tip... any particular brand of 10k shock oil in the UK you're using? Something like http://www.modelsport.co.uk/hpi-pro-silicone-shock-oil-10wt-60cc-/rc-car-products/364739 ?

That is exactly what I use, and even the same shop .

@Chree, it's entirely plausible that the effect is different in different cubes and at different tensions, and of course depends on personal preference. In my AoChuang, I have 10wt shock oil on top of some residual 10k diff oil that I didn't fully clean out, and I think that is even better. My theory is that the stickier lube eases corner cutting but increases friction on normal turns, and the lighter lube on top reduces that friction without degrading the corner cutting. However, having regretted it more times than not, I no longer like to put diff oil in new big cubes so haven't tested that combination on anything else.

 

[earth2dan]

@mark49152 and @Chree Thanks for the tips guys! I actually have both traxxas 50k and some light shock oil so I may consider lubing each of my BoChuangs differently to see what works best for me.

Chris Olsen uses Traxxas 50k for EVERYTHING!!! haha. I think he prefers a slower, more controllable cube. I lubed my MoYu AoSu heavily with traxxas 50k as per Chris Olsen and initially I hated it, but I stuck with it and broke it in... now it's magical

@Shaky Hands Nice PBs! I initially bought a stickerless thunderclap and fell in love with the way it feels, but the green shade just doesn't work for me. For some reason I get it confused with the yellow all the time. It screws up my F2L and OLL. I then bought a stickered one so I could put my own shades on it, but it just doesn't feel the same. I wish I could get a stickerless thunderclap with better shades for me, because I really like it.

 

[newtonbase]

I know little about lube. I use Maru which speeds up my 3x3s after a few solves but the only other stuff I bought was shock oil 2 years ago. I gummed up my cubes with it so gave up. One was 100 CPS and the other 500 CPS whatever that means?

 

[mark49152]

Today's accomplishment: my first half-decent full BLD success using only comms for corners, 1:50.

 

[newtonbase]

Today's accomplishment: my first half-decent full BLD success using only comms for corners, 1:50.

Very nice.

 

[h2f]

Today's accomplishment: my first half-decent full BLD success using only comms for corners, 1:50.

Nice. I'm out of bld for some time. Need rest, clear memo and make better small details in my memo.

 

[Chree]

@earth2dan The tricky part with traxxis 50K is NOT to go overboard with it. It is way too easy to over-lube... making things gummy and slow. It's not that traxxis slows things down... it's that TOO MUCH traxxis slows things down. I've messed with Chris's thunderclap... and it's WAY faster than mine, but we both use traxxis. The difference was: I used too much.

Think of it this way. Pour a little bit of water on a tile floor and it becomes slippery. But flood the same floor with a foot of water, and it's much harder to move through it.

That all said... putting traxxis in big cubes is kinda easy, because there's so much more surface area inside, it's hard to over-do... but not impossible (as you well know =D)

 

[earth2dan]

@Chree no doubt. I used to use traxxas 50k for all my puzzles. Maybe I've just always over lubed. My puzzles always started out gummy and needed a good break in before they started feeling really good with the 50k. One day I lubed an AoLong with cubicle weight 3 and it was instantly awesome. So I started using it for everything I also have a bottle of traxxas 30k and 10k which, near as I can tell, are about the same viscosity as cubicle weight 3 and 1 respectively. It's been over a year since I've lubed any puzzles with 50k, maybe it's time to give it another go. I'll be mindful to apply it very sparingly now though.

 

[mark49152]

I use 50k for 3x3 and 2x2 and agree it is awesome, as long as used sparingly.

More BLD adventures...