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Older cubers discussions

Bantler

Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2012
Messages
8
What the hell are these magnets I'm hearing about and where do you put them and why???!!!
 

One Wheel

Member
Joined
Feb 24, 2016
Messages
2,883
Location
Wisconsin
WCA
2016BAIR04
What the hell are these magnets I'm hearing about and where do you put them and why???!!!
They go in the edges and corners, so that when the cube is in cube shape (as opposed to mid-turn) there is additional friction holding the cube in that shape. To a lesser extent they also pull, so that if the cube is close to aligned the magnets help align it. They are very helpful, especially for higher-order puzzles.
 

Tabe

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Joined
Feb 6, 2017
Messages
2,021
Location
Spokane, WA (USA)
WCA
2017TABA02
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What the hell are these magnets I'm hearing about and where do you put them and why???!!!
To follow up on One Wheel's excellent answer - the placement of the magnets (and size and strength and so on) matters a lot. You have to make sure polarity is correct and so on. It's actually very easy to magnetize a 3x3, more challenging to do higher-order cubes (since they're harder to reassemble).
 

efattah

Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2016
Messages
711
New 3x3 Ao5 PB today, 13.17. I think it is time to pull out the video camera and start videoing solves again

Generated By csTimer on 2019-07-25
avg of 5: 13.17

Time List:
1. 13.23 U L2 F L2 F' L2 R2 B D2 F' U R B2 F D' F L R' U2
2. 13.49 F' B' R B' L2 U' L' B2 R2 D2 B' R2 B U2 D2 L2 B L2 U' F
3. (14.87) R' D' F' D' F2 U2 F2 D' B2 U' L2 F2 R2 F L' F L2 B U2 R2
4. (12.47) D B U2 B2 F2 U' L2 F2 D2 L2 D' F2 D' B2 F' U' L' F D2 U2 F2
5. 12.80 U' D' F' U R' L U B U2 B2 R' B2 R2 U2 L B2 U2 R D2 L2 F'

Happened after struggling with a poorly functioning Gan 356X, getting super frustrated, finally adding a bit of lube, and then suddenly enjoying the absence of lockups.
 

mark49152

Premium Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2012
Messages
4,719
Location
UK
WCA
2015RIVE05
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Mini comp report from Leeds Open 2019.

5BLD - started with a 13:17 success, PR by 8 seconds and first official success since 2017! That was a long time coming and felt good. I fantasized briefly about getting a mean, but messed up the second solve by having a brainfart during the parity alg. Rushed the third solve hoping for another PR, and lost the plot somewhere.

3BLD - started with a tense 1:07 and relaxed knowing that should be enough to make the final. Rushed the second going for a single PR but stumbled memo and got 1:02. Not caring about the mean, i rushed the third and got a 51 - not PR single but enough to get a PR mean of 1:00.47. Funny how I now care about the mean after the fact :).

3BLD final - late in the day and I was tired, but it was nice to get a 59 single. That's two rounds with a sub-1, which makes me happy since my results so far in 2019 had been pretty poor. Full 3style now feels comfortable and I'm back to the speed and accuracy I had with advanced M2.

My splits on the 51 were 25/26 - time to work on my memo perhaps, since it has barely improved in the last 2 years!

Nice comp in a good venue, and great to catch up with @Shaky Hands and the UK contingent, as always! Good luck tomorrow!
 

Mike Hughey

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Jun 7, 2007
Messages
11,303
Location
Indianapolis
WCA
2007HUGH01
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Nevertheless. Hopefully we can pull something together Friday then when ya most likely to have the most people in town.
I guess all I can see on the list who are on this thread often are you, me, and Jae. It would be nice to actually spend some real time talking to you guys - I hope we can work something out.
 

pglewis

Member
Joined
Sep 23, 2016
Messages
1,268
Location
Cincinnati
WCA
2016LEWI07
As I mentioned in the FB group my latest 3x3 fad has been VHLS in order to get some more advanced EO control in my tool belt. I know it's not going to provide a huge benefit on its own but I decided to take it on anyway because 1) there aren't many algs, 2) the algs are all fairly short, and 3) recognition is very very easy.

The bigger story is the deeper rabbit hole it has sent me down on fundamentals: grip and finger tricks. I had already started to pay attention to keeping in neutral grip as much as possible during F2L in slow solves and drilling the VHLS algs seemed like a perfect exercise to work on that as well.

The first problem to overcome is the lack of a U2' move with my left. I learned a lot of my algs with a right hand re-grip at the start to accommodate the fact that I could only do U2 with my right. Slowly examining what I do for U2 with my right made me realize I've been gripping too low on the back with my left ring finger. With smallish hands that makes it difficult or impossible to get a good flick with my middle finger for the 2nd turn. And just like that, now I have a usable U2' for the first time and a bazillion algs with a bad re-grip habit to break.

Next up is the hope of smooth F/F' moves without a re-grip, I'd definitely like to get a workable sledgehammer without re-grips. It's a beautiful thing when the whole last slot + OLL flow nicely without a single re-grip.

Regardless of whether or not I end up actually using VHLS much my F2L is going to be so much better once i break some of my instinctive right hand re-grips and am comfortable with the finger-trick alterations.
 

Logiqx

Member
Joined
Jul 10, 2012
Messages
1,427
Location
Herts, UK
WCA
2015GEOR02
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I've added a page to the senior rankings, listing future competitions with senior competitors registered. Hopefully it will prove useful to people attending competitions and especially newcomers who might not know any of our little community. If you meet anybody who isn't on the list then it's also a great opportunity to share the group details! The registrations pages will be refreshed at the same time as the rankings themselves - i.e. several times a week.

https://logiqx.github.io/wca-ipy/Future_Competitions.html
 

Tom Joad

Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2016
Messages
137
As I mentioned in the FB group my latest 3x3 fad has been VHLS in order to get some more advanced EO control in my tool belt. I know it's not going to provide a huge benefit on its own but I decided to take it on anyway because 1) there aren't many algs, 2) the algs are all fairly short, and 3) recognition is very very easy.

The bigger story is the deeper rabbit hole it has sent me down on fundamentals: grip and finger tricks. I had already started to pay attention to keeping in neutral grip as much as possible during F2L in slow solves and drilling the VHLS algs seemed like a perfect exercise to work on that as well.

The first problem to overcome is the lack of a U2' move with my left. I learned a lot of my algs with a right hand re-grip at the start to accommodate the fact that I could only do U2 with my right. Slowly examining what I do for U2 with my right made me realize I've been gripping too low on the back with my left ring finger. With smallish hands that makes it difficult or impossible to get a good flick with my middle finger for the 2nd turn. And just like that, now I have a usable U2' for the first time and a bazillion algs with a bad re-grip habit to break.

Next up is the hope of smooth F/F' moves without a re-grip, I'd definitely like to get a workable sledgehammer without re-grips. It's a beautiful thing when the whole last slot + OLL flow nicely without a single re-grip.

Regardless of whether or not I end up actually using VHLS much my F2L is going to be so much better once i break some of my instinctive right hand re-grips and am comfortable with the finger-trick alterations.

1. I know exactly what you mean with that holding too low with the left hand at the back. I never really fixed this per se but instead just do minor adjustments during the solve when lefty U2 comes up.

2. I’ve never sorted a regripless sledgehammer. I can’t even imagine how this works. Everyone regrips for the F’ at the end right?
 

pglewis

Member
Joined
Sep 23, 2016
Messages
1,268
Location
Cincinnati
WCA
2016LEWI07
I’ve never sorted a regripless sledgehammer. I can’t even imagine how this works. Everyone regrips for the F’ at the end right?

It's still awkward, I'm not sure I can explain it well, and everyone's hands are different... but I may have something workable using index finger over the top. My main issue is keeping the S slice from moving which I'm attempting with the opposite hand either with my pinky on the bottom, index on top, or a combination to keep it stable. Thumbs on front held lightly to hold position and allow the F face to turn.
 

Logiqx

Member
Joined
Jul 10, 2012
Messages
1,427
Location
Herts, UK
WCA
2015GEOR02
YouTube
Visit Channel
I've added a page to the senior rankings, listing future competitions with senior competitors registered. Hopefully it will prove useful to people attending competitions and especially newcomers who might not know any of our little community. If you meet anybody who isn't on the list then it's also a great opportunity to share the group details! The registrations pages will be refreshed at the same time as the rankings themselves - i.e. several times a week.

https://logiqx.github.io/wca-ipy/Future_Competitions.html

This page now includes competitions which use external websites for registration:
  • zawody4event.pl
  • speedcubing.pl
  • cubingchina.com
  • cubing-tw.net
  • cubecomp.de
  • speedcubing.nz
  • canadiancubing.com
I think this covers the vast majority of competitions that use external websites for registration.

Please let me know if any others need to be supported in the future.
 
Last edited:

40yearstosolve

Premium Member
Joined
Jun 4, 2018
Messages
102
Location
Cheshire, UK
Hi everyone, not sure if any of you remember me, but I was here a lot when recovering from being poorly last year. Normal life resumed that meant the cube didn't see any action for what must be nearly a year. My eldest picked a cube up again yesterday and we all started back up again.

Tell you what, returning to the cube after such a long gap is an odd experience, everything feels unfamiliar but familiar at the same time. After a few hours of reading our old notes and some hiccups along the way and we are nearly back to sub 2 minute solves again.

I'll tackle iF2L at some later point :)

Anyway, thought it'd be nice to say Hi and also say thanks for all the help you gave me last year, I see some familiar names in the latest thread updates :) ..I hope you are all doing well, healthy and happy.
 

pglewis

Member
Joined
Sep 23, 2016
Messages
1,268
Location
Cincinnati
WCA
2016LEWI07
I’ve never sorted a regripless sledgehammer. I can’t even imagine how this works. Everyone regrips for the F’ at the end right?

I'll see if I can get this on camera in the next week or two, I'm already convinced I can make this work. Adjusting to this new stuff is going to seriously slow me down for as much as a couple months but once the new habits are instinctive it's gonna be a huge boon for my solves.
 

Tom Joad

Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2016
Messages
137
I'll see if I can get this on camera in the next week or two, I'm already convinced I can make this work. Adjusting to this new stuff is going to seriously slow me down for as much as a couple months but once the new habits are instinctive it's gonna be a huge boon for my solves.

Cool, I hear you. I’ve put my timer away and I’m just incorporating all the edge and corner in the wrong slot f2ls into my slow solves now... will take months but I’m up for the challenge.

Many steps back to eventually take an extra one forward but the long game is where it is at!

Ao50 of 13 seconds is my target... one day... then I get an official sub 10 when the planets align... haha
 
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