The 23.16 project: Bringing old-style mods into the present.

[Bingus Ringus McDingus]

It's soon to be 2024, and cubing hardware is at an all-time high. Factory magnetization at stupidly low prices. Core magnets. Maglev rings. UV coating. Hand-adjustable tensions. More core magnets, but this time in the edges. Adjustable magnets. Adjustable core magnets. And for the most part, increasingly low prices for nearly all these things. Think about this: the DaYan GuHong Pro is maglev, core-magnetic, hand-adjustable, and factory magnetized, all for just $20.

But what about the past? When things were simpler? Just a decade ago, in 2013, magnets weren't a thing yet, only a pipe dream of a guy that owned a Zhanchi with a mismatched corner piece. (It's a really cool video, try and find it. I dare you.) The best cube was the Zhanchi and ONLY the Zhanchi, and there were countless mods to make it better, but none of them from the factory. Go figure.

Fast forward to 2016, and magnets are a thing now. For an exponentially larger price, you could buy a Gans Air UM with magnets, maybe a Valk M, maybe a GTS2M. But not from the factory. You want magnets? Glue 'em in yourself. You want smoothness? Buy some Maru. Or...

Boron treatment. Imagine dunking cube pieces into some acetone and roach killer (boric acid) just to make it turn smoother. Now that's an idea! Bring on the toxic fumes!

Now it's 2023, and none of that is relevant. Unless...

I'm buying a Cong's Design MeiYing from HKNowStore.com (yes, you still can buy really old cubes from there, basically back to V-Cube times. Still no MF3RS2, though), magnetizing it, boron treating it, lubing it, and re-stickering it, for the nostalgia. Then, I'm selecting my QiYi MS as my next victim mod selection, to see how modern cubes take to old mod procedures. Let me know about some other ideas of resurrecting some old mod traditions!

 

[OreKehStrah]

Sounds fun.
I recently got an older cube I wanted but never got when I started. The Fangshi mini Jieyun. It’s actually quite good for its age

 

[Bingus Ringus McDingus]

Fangshi JieYun M? Maybe.

 

[Bingus Ringus McDingus]

@NebraskanSpeedsolver and @Fukuoka Kengo James, this may be something for the future of modding, as the two "speedsolver modding guys" that are the most active here. Please give me your thoughts, and maybe involvement!

 

[Mastermind2368]

I legitimately didn't realize that people don't magnetize their own cubes anymore. Are there really no modern cubes that people magnetize?

You could try double some spring swap mods. If I recall correctly, people used to take springs from the Yuxin Blue 4x4 and put them in the Yuxin Rex 6x6. There might've been some other common spring swap mods, but I can't remember. It would probably be hard to find a modern cube to do this to, but you could try Florian modding a cube.

 

[Bingus Ringus McDingus]

I legitimately didn't realize that people don't magnetize their own cubes anymore. Are there really no modern cubes that people magnetize?

You could try double some spring swap mods. If I recall correctly, people used to take springs from the Yuxin Blue 4x4 and put them in the Yuxin Rex 6x6. There might've been some other common spring swap mods, but I can't remember. It would probably be hard to find a modern cube to do this to, but you could try Florian modding a cube.

Spring-swapping has been something I've been doing for a while. One of my 4 mains (depending on how the day is going, I will use one of them) is a WRM V9 UV-ballcore (not special edition) spring-swapped with the spare springs that come with a WRM 2019.

 

[NebraskanSpeedsolver]

@NebraskanSpeedsolver and @Fukuoka Kengo James, this may be something for the future of modding, as the two "speedsolver modding guys" that are the most active here. Please give me your thoughts, and maybe involvement!

If you do anything with modern puzzles (like my mains) lmk!

 

[Bingus Ringus McDingus]

Yeah of course! Maybe a boron treated Dayan Tengyun or a boron'd stickered GAN 11 M Pro that you own. I'll try it with my own cubes first, but it could be something that makes it onto your mod site with me as a wacky experiments guy, with boron, UV and all that!

I should also mention that I'm taking all the best chemistry classes in my school, so if there's anyone who is active on the forums who should be handling moderately dangerous chemicals it's probably me.

 

[NebraskanSpeedsolver]

Yeah of course! Maybe a boron treated Dayan Tengyun or a boron'd stickered GAN 11 M Pro that you own. I'll try it with my own cubes first, but it could be something that makes it onto your mod site with me as a wacky experiments guy, with boron, UV and all that!

I should also mention that I'm taking all the best chemistry classes in my school, so if there's anyone who is active on the forums who should be handling moderately dangerous chemicals it's probably me.

Lol I no longer own either of those

 

[Bingus Ringus McDingus]

Lol I no longer own either of those

 

[NebraskanSpeedsolver]

Yeah of course! Maybe a boron treated Dayan Tengyun or a boron'd stickered GAN 11 M Pro that you own. I'll try it with my own cubes first, but it could be something that makes it onto your mod site with me as a wacky experiments guy, with boron, UV and all that!

I should also mention that I'm taking all the best chemistry classes in my school, so if there's anyone who is active on the forums who should be handling moderately dangerous chemicals it's probably me.

Side note, I now own the stickered 11 M Pro again. I traded it for some lube services to @White KB

 

[SpeakCuba]

I legitimately didn't realize that people don't magnetize their own cubes anymore. Are there really no modern cubes that people magnetize?

You could try double some spring swap mods. If I recall correctly, people used to take springs from the Yuxin Blue 4x4 and put them in the Yuxin Rex 6x6. There might've been some other common spring swap mods, but I can't remember. It would probably be hard to find a modern cube to do this to, but you could try Florian modding a cube.

Well, some people magnetize their cube's cores, and some add maglev, but that's about it.

 

[NebraskanSpeedsolver]

Well, some people magnetize their cube's cores, and some add maglev, but that's about it.

Lol
Guilty as charged!

 

[Bingus Ringus McDingus]

If you or anyone else would be willing to send some stickered puzzles that you have that I can experiment with boron treating, it would definitely be greatly appreciated! I tried it on an RS3M 2020 and next to a stock one, it feels much softer and more premium. The internals do get discolored though, which looks amazing on black cubes giving it this awesome swirly-grey pattern but kinda looks blah on the internals of regular cubes, but it still works. I'll show samples once I get my cubes back (Dad took them away for finals week so I don't get distracted.)

 

[White KB]

Side note, I now own the stickered 11 M Pro again. I traded it for some lube services to @White KB

Can confirm
I also have an Ow Sheeeeeeeee 6 now (you're welcome @NebraskanSpeedsolver )

 

[NebraskanSpeedsolver]

Can confirm
I also have an Ow Sheeeeeeeee 6 now (you're welcome @NebraskanSpeedsolver )

The 6x6 had nothing to do with me and everything to do with a $50 Amazon gift card

 

[Tony Fisher]

Your definition of really old is deeply amusing to me.

 

[Bingus Ringus McDingus]

Your definition of really old is deeply amusing to me.

This thread is pretty old, to be fair.

 

[White KB]

Your definition of really old is deeply amusing to me.

you've been cubing for longer than me lol

 

[Kami-Kun]

Your definition of really old is deeply amusing to me.

You've been cubing at least before I was born (going off of the creation date of your account)