Rubik's Brand 3x3x3 Modding/Lubing
- Thread starter kunparekh18
- Start date
mark49152
Premium Member
I can imagine it would smell dreadful after a while.
kunparekh18
Veteran
Yeah, lol you're right. I'll try
- Breaking in
- Sanding
- Lubing
In that order. I'll post the results.
Kattenvriendin
Veteran
Better order:
sanding, lubing, breaking in.
sanding, lubing, breaking in.
mark49152
Premium Member
Yeah I got a couple of new cubes recently and was wondering about this. What's your logic to this order? I concluded to break in first, then sand (including anything obviously starting to be worn by breaking in) then lube last on the basis that lubing will reduce friction and making breaking in less effective.
Kattenvriendin
Veteran
my logic is that you are not doing things twice.
If you break it in first and then start sanding you could have done the breaking in much faster by the sanding.
If you break it in, then lube it, and then want to sand you will have to clean the innards before you do so.
You have the cube for a little while now, I am sure you used it, that should be plenty to see where things can have improvement. The rest of how to mod is basically looking and thinking
Maybe there are youtube vids out there on modding a rubik's brand cube, but I for one am not doing the breaking in before the sanding, after is much more effective and less time consuming
If you break it in first and then start sanding you could have done the breaking in much faster by the sanding.
If you break it in, then lube it, and then want to sand you will have to clean the innards before you do so.
You have the cube for a little while now, I am sure you used it, that should be plenty to see where things can have improvement. The rest of how to mod is basically looking and thinking
Maybe there are youtube vids out there on modding a rubik's brand cube, but I for one am not doing the breaking in before the sanding, after is much more effective and less time consuming
kunparekh18
Veteran
Will this procedure also reduce lock-ups?
Kattenvriendin
Veteran
I don't know how much it will reduce lockups. I have never modded a Rubik.
kunparekh18
Veteran
I see. I doubt I can find silicone based lubricants like CRC/Traxxas/Lubix here, so I'll have to search for some alternatives. I'll try looking for differential oil in a car garage.
Zeotor
Regular
- Joined
- Sep 1, 2012
- Messages
- 108
kunparekh18 said:
I think that the order should be: sanding, breaking in, lubricating.
Here's my logic. Like mark49152 said, "lubing will reduce friction and making breaking in less effective." So, break it in before lubricating. As for sanding first, breaking it in will smooth the plastic somewhat. You want to smooth the rough/recently sanded areas. I don't think that lubricating rough/recently sanded pieces, then using the cube, will allow them to get much smoother.
So, sand the cube then break it in through repeated solves. Then lubricate it later.
By the way, I think that you should clean the cube out before lubricating it.
mark49152
Premium Member
I guess it depends what you mean by breaking in and what you want to achieve by modding. What I want to achieve is to make the cube smoother and quieter and perhaps reduce lock-ups and glitches, but generally I'm pretty conservative and only want to remove the minimum amount of material necessary so as to not make the cube unstable. By "breaking in", I mean an hour or two of random scrambling while watching TV, to loosen up a new cube and give it a little wear. Then when you take it apart you can see where the pieces have been scraping, or which burrs have been catching, or where the cube dust is starting to accumulate, etc., and you can see where best to sand to smooth things off.
There are several videos on modding and much of the advice makes sense, but I'm a little reluctant to just start sanding things that other people sanded without at least investigating for myself what's scraping what inside the cube when it moves. Plus deciding your own improvements is part of the fun!
Kattenvriendin
Veteran
That is exactly how I modded my mf8/dayan 4x4. Without the breaking in part that is. I simply turned and looked to see what was catching, and when that was pretty much removed I went for a bit better corner cutting. Not much, because too much destabilizes the cube YOu can always go back in and sand some more, you cannot put it back on.
Well, you can.. with milliput, but it's a pain in the tush to use on small areas without the right tools.. I used it to create four inner pieces of my ss6x6 which had them (gasp!) missing.
YOu can always go back in and sand some more, you cannot put it back on.Well, you can.. with milliput, but it's a pain in the tush to use on small areas without the right tools.. I used it to create four inner pieces of my ss6x6 which had them (gasp!) missing.
kunparekh18
Veteran
The speedsolving Wiki says that for Rubik's brand cubes, use Vaseline to ease breaking in, clean it after a month and then use a silicone lubricant. One question : is sanding necessary after this procedure?
Sent from my A75 using Tapatalk 2
Sent from my A75 using Tapatalk 2
Isaac Paurus
Veteran
no, not necessary, but recomended. i would do what the wiki says, use some CRC spray in it, or jigaloo, or something like that, or something even better like lubix. just break in the cube ALOT and if you want better performance, you could sand it down a little.
sneaklyfox
Legend
Why bother with all this? By the time you finish sanding it, breaking it in, and lubing it, your Zhanchi would have arrived. 
kunparekh18
Veteran
Why bother with all this? By the time you finish sanding it, breaking it in, and lubing it, your Zhanchi would have arrived.
My 9 year old brother is interested in cubing like me, so want to give him a better cube for starters.
@Isaac final question :
CRC or Traxxas or Jigaloo?
Sent from my A75 using Tapatalk 2
panyan
Veteran
Why bother with all this? By the time you finish sanding it, breaking it in, and lubing it, your Zhanchi would have arrived.
Because doing things for yourself is more noble, more reputable, more educational
TimMc
Premium Member
- Lubricant: CRC808 or H4000.
- Pull the cube a part: Turn the top layer 45 degrees, use the handle of a fork or something to gently pop the edge piece out.
- Clean the cube: Use a dry rag or some paper towels to clean every piece.
- Lubricate the pieces: Arrange all the pieces on a paper towel so that the black of each piece is facing upward (stickers facing down). Hold the silicone spray about 7cm away and spray all the pieces for about 3 seconds in total (move your hand across with the can to get all the pieces). Use a paper towel to gently wipe off most of the lubricant (all the pieces should look shiny);
- Assemble the cube and solve it;
- Loosen the cube: Perform U' but turn it about 30 degrees instead of 90. Hold the upper layer in this position with your left hand. Try to perform R2' with your right hand. This should put force on the core and loosen the cube a bit. Repeat for each face several times.
- Solve the cube heaps of times and then repeat the above process a few more times.
Tim.
kunparekh18
Veteran
Because doing things for yourself is more noble, more reputable, more educational
Another reason for this experiment of mine.
Thanks a lot! That really helped. Now I have to find someplace that sells CRC. Does anyone in India have any idea?
Sent from my A75 using Tapatalk 2
TimMc
Premium Member
CRC make a lot of different products. You may want to search for CRC808 specifically. Some of their other products may damage your cube.
Check Google for images. Usually they're sold in: automotive stores, electronic stores, hardware stores... I'm not sure about local stores there sorry.
You might want to try Traxxas diff oil instead (toy car shops, hobby shops). It's probably cheaper and better.
Tim.
Similar threads
