Older cubers discussions

You can add me to the list of people with a long streak of BLD DNF's at the moment. Am thinking of unregistering for 3BLD at the UK Championships to stop hogging a table and reduce pressure on the organisers.

Been doing some 3x3 practice recently which is rare for me since the previous comp. I think my trusty Thunderclap may be getting worn out as despite lubing as I would normally do, it's catching in ways that it didn't before. More investigation needed. Don't want to fiddle with the tensions though as I'm really happy with that cube when it's doing its job properly. Hoping to get a PB average at the next comp.

I was at a wedding this past weekend and my new brother-in-law's daughter had a cube with her so I got a chance to impress a few people. Although I didn't realise until part-way through the first solve that her cube had silver rather than yellow, which fazed me for a bit! :)

Most of my practice recently has been on big cubes. I've been doing a lot of Hoya on 5x5 but think I'll stick with regular reduction for the UK Championships. Managed a 7x7 PB single (8:19.90) this week and have registered to compete in that for the first time at the Birmingham comp in December as I'm now averaging below the Hard Cut.

Still not learned Pyraminx, which was my planned PB for the UK Championships. I think I have a good chance at a PB in FMC though so hopefully I won't mess that up.
 
@mafergut Thanks Miguel and very good observations too. My LL or turn speed are not that high and in truth my hands feel at least 10 years older than they did when I started speed cubing 6 years ago if that makes sense. I never was very ambidextrous but I still I do not have as much dexterity in my left hand anymore. I have given up OH as I fail very badly at it now. I also find my turning style gets lazier and lazier. I think this is why the high TPS training and solves I do have such a great affect. With my hands getting slower it is really paying off trying to push them to their limits.

I always try and be very self critical of my look ahead and it is something I have worked on over the years. When I find exactly the right turn speed which is about max-10% then I am hopeful I can hold on to look
ahead but I am often slow to stop looking at current pair and start tracking next. If you switch your gaze even 1 move later it can have a big effect.

Thanks for the comments on bigger cubes which have improved at the same rate as 3x3 but I am not globally sub 1 at 4x4, sub 2 at 5x5, sub 4 at 6x6 I just have some averages sub those milestones. In reality I am more like 4x4: Sub 1:05, 5x5: Sub 2:10 and 6x6: Sub 4:15.

You have improved so much, nail the pauses and 14.x ao12 is not only attainable, you could easily surpass it, of that I am sure :)

@Shaky Hands Andy, that is great progress on bigger cubes. What do you average globally now on 4x4-7x7? Will only be at day 2 of Birmingham so really hoping they schedule 6x6 or 7x7 for Sunday. I do have a spare Thunderclap in black if you want it mate? Hardly used as as you are aware I'm a stickerless junkie. Could bring it to Bristol this weekend mate.
 
Selkie said:
@Shaky Hands Andy, that is great progress on bigger cubes. What do you average globally now on 4x4-7x7? Will only be at day 2 of Birmingham so really hoping they schedule 6x6 or 7x7 for Sunday. I do have a spare Thunderclap in black if you want it mate? Hardly used as as you are aware I'm a stickerless junkie. Could bring it to Bristol this weekend mate.
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I think I'm around sub-1:50 (4x4), sub-3:10 (5x5), sub-6:20 (6x6) and sub-9:30 (7x7) with PB singles for each around 20% lower.

Thanks for the offer of the Thunderclap but I'm also stickerless-only these days. I do have 2 stickerless Thunderclaps, it's just that one of them was awesome (Mark was scrambling at the last comp and said it was the best cube in the round) but unless I can sort out its chronic arthiritis it may be due for the Cubing Retirement Home In the Sky.
 
halloween.jpg
 
Selkie said:
I believe a Yuxin Blue 4x4 is awesome with Thunderclap springs!
Click to expand...

Anyone know if this applies to the bigger (62mm) Yuxin 4x4 as well? I keep hearing how awesome the Blue is with the TC springs but even at n00b level I don't use my bigger Yuxin if I'm timing; the G4 is so much better for me atm.
 
@mark49152 I love the pic!That pumpkin is chewing on your cube, though ;)

@Shaky Hands You only need to shave off 15 seconds from your 4x4 and you will be perfectly balanced from 4x4 to 7x7. In my case it's the other way around, I'm comparatively faster at 4x4 and slower as I go up to 7x7. I have to say that I have barely practised 6x6 and 7x7 but I have practised 5x5 enough to expect being closer to my 4x4 times (in comparison, that is, twice my 4x4 times) but nope. I'm sub 1:30 at 4x4 (best Ao100 1:27.xx) but my best Ao100 at 5x5 is far from 2:54.xx, in fact it's 3:20.xx.

@pglewis, @Selkie Everybody keeps talking about this so I will have to swap springs between my unused Thunderclap and my unused Yuxin Blue 4x4. Maybe I can get as a result at least one cube that I want to use! :) The Thunderclap is not bad but I have cubes that I like better. The Yuxin Blue is, to say it plainly, unusable out of the box.
 
mafergut said:
I have practised 5x5 enough to expect being closer to my 4x4 times (in comparison, that is, twice my 4x4 times) but nope. I'm sub 1:30 at 4x4 (best Ao100 1:27.xx) but my best Ao100 at 5x5 is far from 2:54.xx, in fact it's 3:20.xx.
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I often see people comparing times across different puzzles like this. What do you use as a guideline for comparing your 4x4 times to your 5x5, 6x6, etc...? Do you just double the time as you go up each tier?

I average around 1:25 on 4x4 and around 2:40 on 5x5. I "feel" like I'm better at 5x5, but that could just be because I enjoy it more...
 
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One Wheel said:
That's really probably a large part of the problem, that I haven't gone back to figure it out. When I started I think I was undoing setup moves incorrectly, and ending up with a completely scrambled cube. Now a typical attempt might have 3 edges and 3-5 corners out of place, which suggests to me that most likely I'm having an issue with breaking into new cycles.
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It does sound like memo errors. Either solving the wrong piece or cycle break errors. As you say , set up errors tend to screw everything up.
Feel free to post scrambles and your solutions if you want us to check for errors.
 
pglewis said:
@Logiqx to the rescue again, he has this in his sig: https://www.speedsolving.com/forum/threads/relative-solve-times-for-2x2x2-7x7x7.47405/
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@earth2dan Exactly my source of comparative information for times across different puzzles. It looks like from 4x4 up to 6x6 it's all twice the time but then 7x7 is just 1.5x times the 6x6 times. For me it's just a lot worse than that but at least I did another 3 6x6 solves today and the Yuxin seems to not want to pop anymore after tightening. So thanks @mark49152 for your advice.
 
I just had to sneak an order in at the Cubicle while the Halloween sale is still going on. Expanding my horizons: ShengShou Skewb and a stickerless QiYi WuShuang 5x5 on the way. Getting one because with all the talk, c'mon, how can I not: Premium Valk 3. Also a set of replacement stickers for my G4 because I can tell it's going to need them before long, and a couple sets of Thunderclap springs because Thunderclap Spring All The Things.
 
newtonbase said:
It does sound like memo errors. Either solving the wrong piece or cycle break errors. As you say , set up errors tend to screw everything up.
Feel free to post scrambles and your solutions if you want us to check for errors.
Click to expand...

Thanks! It seems like I have developed a habit of completely forgetting my memo immediately after (or sometimes even before I finish) execution. I also use a slightly unorthodox lettering scheme. But the last one I did before I saw this was the last scramble from the WC. I'll give it a shot:

Scramble: F2 D F2 D' F2 D B2 F2 D' B2 D' B' D F' L D2 L' D2 R F' U'

Lettering scheme:
U: cw from UBL is A B C D.
F: cw from FUL is E F G H
R: cw from RUF is I J K L
L: cw from LUB is M N O P
B: ccw (cw looking through the cube) from BUL is Q R S T
D: ccw from DBL is U V W X

Corner memo: LH CG / KBK / NE PU (U2 R-perm U2)

Edge memo: (can't remember what I did, best I can figure out. Pretty sure the last two cycles are the same.) R / XG AO / TE MT / VSK / FHF

This results in 4 bad edges and 5 bad corners.
 
One Wheel said:
No, I'm still on straight OP. I kind of want another success before I learn the additional algs for M2.
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Have you tried executing the above memo sighted and checking the state after each target? Your corner memo looks OK. I can't figure out your edge letter scheme but I make it two 3-cycles and three 2-cycles, same as you. It's hard to talk about it with non-standard letter scheme :)
 
mark49152 said:
Have you tried executing the above memo sighted and checking the state after each target? Your corner memo looks OK. I can't figure out your edge letter scheme but I make it two 3-cycles and three 2-cycles, same as you. It's hard to talk about it with non-standard letter scheme :)
Click to expand...

I'm not using three cycles, at least as I understand them. That would be like an A-perm or a U-perm, right?
mark49152 said:
Have you tried executing the above memo sighted and checking the state after each target? Your corner memo looks OK. I can't figure out your edge letter scheme but I make it two 3-cycles and three 2-cycles, same as you. It's hard to talk about it with non-standard letter scheme :)
Click to expand...

I just got a chance and double checked it. I think in this case most of the problem was using the wrong R-perm, but I also had errors in both corner and edge memo. CG should have been CN for corners, and I'm still not sure how I ended up with A in my edge buffer slot.

Regarding lettering schemes: I'm obviously not all that proficient yet, I imagine it's not too late to switch to a standard scheme. Is it worth it, or should I stick with what I've got?
 
One Wheel said:
I'm not using three cycles, at least as I understand them. That would be like an A-perm or a U-perm, right?


I just got a chance and double checked it. I think in this case most of the problem was using the wrong R-perm, but I also had errors in both corner and edge memo. CG should have been CN for corners, and I'm still not sure how I ended up with A in my edge buffer slot.

Regarding lettering schemes: I'm obviously not all that proficient yet, I imagine it's not too late to switch to a standard scheme. Is it worth it, or should I stick with what I've got?
Click to expand...
CG looks right to me. You are finishing off your cycle with G. It's only the buffer piece that shouldn't be solved.
If you can switch your lettering scheme then I would recommend it for situations like this. It's very useful to be able to compare memos. Hopefully it wouldn't be too confusing to make the change at this stage .
 
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