qwr
Member
A while ago I bought a V-Cube 7 with Cubesmith tiles used on ebay for a good price (I don't remember what but probably like $20). It turned well but had some weird yellowish liquid residue and minor grime on the pieces.
Yesterday and today I finally got around to disassembling and cleaning the pieces. Some of the residue seemed to have been absorbed by the white plastic and couldn't be removed. The pieces were also very stuck together so I didn't bother prying the halves apart.
Mechanism picture I found online
The mechanism is pretty straightforward and I could figure out assembly without looking at a reference picture. There's only one "shell" layer that everything moves on, with huge center edges and corner pieces forming the central ball core.
Modern mechanism for comparison
The screws are bad. Not only do they strip easily and are stiff, but turning them seems to not do anything! I don't know if the core is stripped, but it's very disconcerting.
The center caps also pop off easily, but that can be fixed with some light glue.
The hardest part is getting the first layer started, because the cube isn't flat and the pieces don't nicely stick together like in magnetic cubes which are far easier to assemble. I used masking tape for each layer, which works much better than rubber bands or trying to use other cubes to prop it up. Once the cube is all assembled, with the last layer pieces forced in from the top layer turned at a 45 degree angle, the tape can be removed like bandages after a surgery.
Yesterday and today I finally got around to disassembling and cleaning the pieces. Some of the residue seemed to have been absorbed by the white plastic and couldn't be removed. The pieces were also very stuck together so I didn't bother prying the halves apart.
Mechanism picture I found online
The mechanism is pretty straightforward and I could figure out assembly without looking at a reference picture. There's only one "shell" layer that everything moves on, with huge center edges and corner pieces forming the central ball core.
Modern mechanism for comparison
The screws are bad. Not only do they strip easily and are stiff, but turning them seems to not do anything! I don't know if the core is stripped, but it's very disconcerting.
The center caps also pop off easily, but that can be fixed with some light glue.
The hardest part is getting the first layer started, because the cube isn't flat and the pieces don't nicely stick together like in magnetic cubes which are far easier to assemble. I used masking tape for each layer, which works much better than rubber bands or trying to use other cubes to prop it up. Once the cube is all assembled, with the last layer pieces forced in from the top layer turned at a 45 degree angle, the tape can be removed like bandages after a surgery.
