Making A Speedcube Lubing/Sanding/Loosing Out/Making a Speedcube Studio Cubes/Arxons/1980's cubes- Adjust tensions Adjust Screws Lube the cube with silicone spray (SNAP or TEMPO is recommended) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oddzon Cubes/Rubiks.com Cubes/Other Cubes Pull the centers apart in separate directions Lube Cube with Silicone (SNAP or TEMPO or Cube Lube or Car Wax) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hey everyone, this is Joseph Liao. Have you ever wanted to learn how to make an excellent speedcube? If you did, then this article is perfect for you. For this week's article, I will be teaching you about how to lube your cube correctly. Here are the sections: 1)Using Silicone Spray 2)Using Cube Lube 3)Using Wax 4)Using Home Made Silicone 5)Wiping out your cube 6)Cleaning your cube 7)Making a loose/fast speed cube/wearing out a cube 8)Sanding your cube 1)Using Silicone Spray               First off, when you are using silicone spray, you MUST check whether or not your silicone spray is silicone based, other wise petroleum based silicone like WD-40 will break your cube in about a day. We all know that pure/100% silicone spray is hard to find, so brands that I recommend using for spraying are: SNAP, Tempo, Eagle Rock, and pretty much any other brand silicone that uses silicone based silicone. Never EVER use Gunk or Dry Lubricant, it will make your cube stiffer than before and the dry lubricant will get caught into the axis of your metal and the metal holder!             When your are about to lube your cube with silicone spray, make sure that the inside of your cube is clean (wipe it out first *see section 5 for details*) so that the cube dust or dry lubricant from before doesn't turn into tar or gunky stuff.              After you make sure that your cube is clean, take the cubies apart and put the edges with the edges, and the corners with the corners, and the axis by itself (put then together in a way that you won't spray the stickers. Spray each side and let the silicone diffuse into the plaster mold a little bit (the cubies) and wipe it off with a towel or thick napkin. Then do the same to each side of each cubie other than the stickered side. Spray a little bit silicone on the axis wipe off the unnesscary silicone. Put together you cube and it shall be smooth and lubed (best if done on a semi-worn out cube). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2)Using Cube Lube            As we all know, all we have to do is popout an edge piece and inject some silicone cube lube into the cube. Next you put the edge piece back and spread the lube. Then you just let the cube rest overnight and your cube should go fairly smooth and pretty slick. _____________________________________________________________ 3)Using Wax          Never EVER use candle wax for lubricating a cube, because candle wax hardens over a period of time and will make your cube get stuck. So keep in mind that it will mess up your cube ALOT after a while. But you may use silicone wax to lube your cube (car silicone wax works really well). Just pop out and edge piece and the two corners right next to it and spray some on the wax in. After 3 hours, your cube should be really smooth and loose. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 4) Home made Silicone                  Be creative, add stuff and mix them ALL together really well and put it inside an empty cube lube injection bottle. I have tried many types of ingredients and they all work well. For best results, use ingredients that are made from silicone. ============================================================ 5) Wiping out your cube            Just take apart your whole cube and get a towel or napkin and put some alcohol on it and wipe your cubies along with the whole axis, the alcohol will take off all the dirt and unneeded substances inside your cube. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 6) Cleaning your cube             If you really want to clean out your cube (very useful before lubing, better results!), take apart the whole cube and put all the pieces into a container or a sink that has a plug to keep the cubies from falling down the drain. Then you fill up the container or sink with some cold water, after that, put a little hand soap or alcohol and just wash your cube in there  (just let it get a rinse and dip it in for like 30 seconds and rub off some dirt with your finger). There take out the cubies and release all the soap and alcohol and fill up the container or sink with cold water and clean off all the soap and alcohol. After this, wipe your cube and make sure your cube is dry (use a towel or napkin). Then your cube will be clean and won't get "stuck" as much. **************************************************************************************************** 7)Making a loose/fast speed cube/wearing out a cube             All you have to do is stretch out the centers in opposite directions (take off all the cubies of course), and it'll make your cube looser a bit. Using popscicle sticks and keep the centers apart over a night is even better. Another thing that you can do is turn every face continuously for about 800-1000 times, and it should become a bit more worn out (*note*= worn out cube getting lubricated equals a crazy good cube). Yes, it is as simple as that! """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" 8)Sanding your cube                         If you are planning to wear out your cubies a bit earlier, then the solution to that is sanding your cubies. First use any type of sand paper that is about 60 -85. It is very rough, causing it to wear out your cube. Then use a sand paper that is about 100-120 and sand your cube so that the cubies will become smaller and smoother. If your cube is very dry, then keeping the cube dust in there is very good (unless you are lubing it with something else) &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& ~Happy cubings, for more informations, details, and questions, feel free to email me or AIM me!

Good Cubes for Speedcubing What types of cubes? Alot of people lately have been asking what kind of cubes are the best? Here are all the cubes in order:   TOP 5 Speedcube Types 1)Hungarian Arxon Made by Ideal Toy 1980's or Rubik's Deluxe Edition or Rubik's Game Cube with Pegs < Deluxe Game Cube w/ Peg Holes <Hungarian Ideal Arxon Cube <Rubik's Deluxe Cube *The Best* 2)Regular Arxon from the 1980's-1990's 3)Rubik's Studio Cube 4) Rubiks.com DIY Cube:                                           ^Taken from Jon Morris' Site ( http://geocities.com/nascarjon2001 ) 5) Rubiks.com/Oddzon (2000's) non-arched (or sometimes arched) 5)Arched Cubes from Rubiks.com/Oddzon *Same as the above, except different mechanism (Just the Archs are included) At Chinatown, there are alot of $1 cubes, don't buy them unless you want the tiles, don't be cheap, the better the cube, the more pricey it is. Cube Prices Range from $1 to $35 (the common cubes) (no special treatment, just the cube) The moderate price is $9.99 from places like Wal-Mart or Toys R' Us, but the really good kind  (well the best kind) is the Hungarian Arxon Cube from the 1980's, then the Rubik's Studio Cube. You will find a HUGE quality difference if you've played with ALL the versions. In my opinion, I think that you should just order a Rubiks.Com DIY Cube with stickers and lubricant: -2 Sets of Strong PVC Stickers (Not the bad paper ones) -Tunable (Kind of like a lower quality studio cube, but still awesome) -Light -The new cube lube is AWESOME and super waxy -Doesn't Pop -Can be adjusted easily to a speedcube from the start -Easily constructed (about 15 minutes) it is obviously the best "normal" priced cube~ ~Joseph Liao

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