Stretching out the springs

[gn17]

Hey. I haven't seen many people mention this part of making a speedcube, so in case nobody knows about this, I figure I'd mention it.

So I just received my new DIY about a month ago and have been working at making it into a speedcube. First I broke it somewhat in by using it for a couple of days. Then I lubed it the long way, which is taking apart the whole cube and spraying each piece with silicon (I didn't lube the centerpiece, though). Then after playing around with it for a month or so, I did this to spread the springs apart:

I took pairs of playing cards (Bicycle brand), put them back to back to each other, and then placed them between into as many layers of the cube as I could. I left it like that for 24 hours, and then I did the other layers that I missed. I still had some more after that, so I did the remaining layers after that as well.

The difference is amazing. My cube turns a lot more smoothly and a lot faster now. It was good before, but now it's awesome. I still need to get used to it, but I figure that I'd throw this out there if any of you want to try this out too.

 

[annon]

Why didn't you just loosen the screws?

 

[gn17]

Sorry. Edited. I mean stretch out the _springs._

 

[annon]

Originally posted by gn17@Mar 8 2007, 03:45 AM
Sorry. Edited. I mean stretch out the _springs._

I know what you meant, but you still didn't answer my question. It seems like intentionally wearing the springs down and loosening the screws would have the same effect.

 

[gn17]

It may, but from experimenting with my cube before, any looser and pops would be pretty frequent. By stretching out the springs, my cube turns better with the same tension on the screws as before. So even though it's looser, it still isn't as likely to pop as if I were to just loosen the screws.

Edit: Typo. Springs, screws, argh. >.<

 

[AvGalen]

I posted a topic about this about 9 months ago. Only I didn't use playing cards but I used the lemmets of knifes (I used matchsticks later). Playing cards are an even better idea though!

 

[Harris Chan]

Hey, can you take a picture to show how exactly it's suppose to look like? I think I did it right...but just to make sure XD

-Harris

 

[gn17]

Sorry, I don't have a digital camera nor a scanner, so it would be hard to take pictures and put them on my computer. I did, however, find a picture of a random cube online and decided to make a diagram that one.

So, on the first day, you may want to place each pair of playing cards (I used two because I think the thickness of one card might not be enough) in the slots indicated in the following picture (marked with blue squares): http://img19.imageshack.us/my.php?image=numberoneid8.jpg

Then on the next day, you'll take out the cards and then put them in the following manner: http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/9734/numbertwocj1.jpg

It doesn't really matter what order you do it in, as long as you get all of the slots. Keep it in each slot for 24 hours, then switch it, and then repeat until you get every single slot.

 

[Inferno.Fighter.IV]

Hmmm... I'll definitely have to try this. Sounds interesting.

 

[apoplectic]

i did almost the same thing but i cut up index cards small so i could do all six sides without other cards getting in the way.i also did it in between the center cubies and the central thingy they screw into.

 

[icke]

i heard that you can also change the springs. so you could buy a pair of springs which are already more stretched. i used plastic knifes for my 25th anny cube.