Ravi
Regular
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2006
- Messages
- 113
- Location
- Kirksville, MO, USA
- WCA ID
- 2005FERN01
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How do you make sure the cube doesn't rotate on you?
This is a significant challenge--not only keeping the cube from rotating out of control, but also throwing it in such a way that it does rotate into the orientation that you need it before making a move, or at least close enough for you to catch it that way. I have two pieces of advice for this:
1. Do moves only (or almost only) with your OH hand. If you're like most cubers, your OH hand is non-dominant for most purposes, like juggling, so this has the added advantage that the throws setting up each move are done with the steadier of your two throwing hands. I have managed to do a solve or two with all the moves done by my non-OH hand, but this is significantly harder. Also, one of the main difficulties of solving while juggling cube + ball in one hand (another thing I've tried a couple times but not completed yet) is that the strong OH hand tends to rotate the cube out of control, but the strong jugging hand has trouble doing moves.
2. Practice. It may help, for example, to practice just throwing the cube without rotating it, inspecting a cross while juggling, solving a cube in a 3-ball pattern but without the other two balls, or doing a PLL while juggling the cube with the balls. Also, using smaller juggling balls should help avoid collisions, which are always a significant concern when you can't concentrate fully on your throws. Don't start with three cubes, because then almost every collision you have will result in a drop.
I'd like to make a sort of cube-juggling tutorial some time, but my school year just started up and college does interfere a fair amount with such things. Maybe I'll have time one of these weekends though.