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How to make a 3x3x3 Speedcube
For a 3x3x3 SpeedCube I recommend a Rubik's Cube 1980 Arxon,
made in Hungary or a
Rubik's Ideal Europe 1980 version made in Hungary. The Rubik's cube from The Rubik's
Studio are also oke. See also on my buy page if you want a Rubik's Studio 3x3x3
cube. Contact me if you have questions email: Ton
Dennenbroek
 | On this page: |
Recommended Rubik's Versions for
speedcubing
Material that is available in shops
Steps to make a Rubik's Studio
speedcube
Experimental Adjustments
Rubik's.com cube speedcube tips
Trouble Shooting Guide
Rubik's versions I do NOT recommend
to use for speedcubing
| 1 x Rubik's Hungary version Rubik's Studio cube  |
| Silicone spray NOT oil based! Just 100%
silicone. *WARNING* do not use silicone
spray on just all your puzzles. Some puzzles have paper stickers, like many of the Rubik's
Oddzon versions with the new Rubiks's logo. Silicone will damage the paper stickers. |
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| Clean towel |
| Bold scalpel knife or kitchen knife  |
| Screw driver |
| Super glue |
 Disassemble position, rotate face 45o degrees, and push the two bottom cubies
down with one thumb and lift the edge with your other thumb. You may need some force. I do
not recommend to use a screwdriver for this.
| 1) First protect the logo with some clear PVC sticker. The logo will get
damaged doing speedcubing and also it will be protected against the silicone spray.
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| 2) Disassemble the cube, clean the cube with a dry towel if needed.
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| 3) Remove center caps with a bold knife (I prefer a
scalpel knife) on the axle.
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| 4) As an option you can disassemble the cube and
adjust the springs, grind or sand down the spring end flat. This
prevents major wear of the center cubie.
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| 5) As an option you can glue the tip of the screw,
this prevents the screw unwind.
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 Please note only apply
super glue on the screw end! Wipe of excessive glue, it should be dry when
you insert the screw in the center piece. Never put
glue directly in the centerpiece or on the kernel.
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6) Tune the screw tension, pull the centers apart of opposite sites,
if the screw tension is evenly they should have the same space (about 1mm)
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7) Assemble the cube. And adjust the screws a bit if
needed if the faces do not feel evenly
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8) Turn in the cube, do regular movement sequence like (F2 R2 B2 L2) x6
on each side, it must be turned for a while (1-3 hours).
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9) Remove center caps on the axle and fine tune all screws,
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You can fixed the center caps by making dents on the inside
of the center caps (method by Peter
Jansen)
Use a hammer and make dents, hold the hammer in an angle
The result are dents that will hold the center cap. If you
do not want to dents the center cap glue the
center caps when needed with a tiny bit super clue. Apply it with a needle.
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10) Dissemble the cube and clean the cube with a dry towel
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11) Lubricate with silicone spray every piece. Only apply silicone
on the outside of the cubies, before lubriacate "polish" and
clean the cubies a bit with a
dry cloth. *NOTE* do not apply silicone spray in the centerpiece on the
screw!
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This is a fast way to spray all the pieces, spray rotate the
corners three times then spray the edges let it dry for a minute or two, turn
over and spray again, let is dry for ten minutes. Wipe off the lubricant
of the faces (and possibly on the stickers) a bit but let it on the
extensions.
Assemble the cube and let the silicone dry for 15 min.
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Quick Method for lubrication (use this for maintenance):
Leave one edge out. Lubricate with silicone spray in the open hole. Only apply silicone
in the inside not on the outside. Assemble the edge and let the silicone dry for 15 min. *NOTE* do not apply silicone spray in the centerpiece on the
screw!
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12) Play with the cube for 1-3 hours, repeat from step 5 if it does not
turn correct.
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| If you see more dust in the center piece as usual,
compared to other centerpieces, you should check the spring. carefully sand down the ends
of the springs with a nail file so that is it less sharp and don't scratch into the center piece plastic.
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After some mails from Simon Page, a good idea to prevent major
wear of the internal center piece is the use of a small metal washer. A M2 metal
washer fits, but you have to drill the hole a bit larger
The metal washer is placed on the bottom inside the center piece
An other idea is to grind or file down the spring end flat,
as alternative to use a washer.
You can "test" if it is smooth enough by rotating the
spring end on your finger tips, it should not catch your skin.
An other idea by Simon Page is improvement is file down the
thread on about the top 10mm of the  screw,
this will prevents the spring jamming or snagging against the screw (see
image). The advantage is that the centre cubies move very smoothly along
their 1mm or so of travel, plus the screw thread doesn't enlarge the hole at the
bottom of the centre cubie with use. The downside is that it does take a while
to do!
picture provided by Simon Page
 As
alternative to file down the screw you can also fill the top end with fast
harden epoxy. Fast harden two compound epoxy can be found in autoshops, but they
might call it liquid metal. I used permanent repair (BISON). I addition you can
spray some silicone on the epoxy part. The result is very noticeable, if you
compare it to a normal screw spring set on the kernel with the center piece
only. Please note I did not fully test all of this during long
speedcubing, but I expect that this should
prevent major wear of the center piece and prevent the center piece coming lose.
So in short you speedcube will hold longer and run smoother!
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New improved screw spring set |
As you might know the new Rubik's.com cube do not have screws with a
spring, instead it has a rivet and a spring. They are like a nail with serrations on the
end that stop them from being pulled out of the core.
*NOTE* I do not recommend this type of cube for speedcubing,
but here are some tips from Mazwiz on twisty to
adjust this type of cube.
To adjust the tension on one of these newer cubes there are a couple of
things you can do. Any of this should only be done after a cube has been well worn
in (several hours random turning). If not you could end up with a cube thats too loose and
keeps popping pieces.
To loosen the cube you can compress the springs. Pull a center cubie out as far as it will
go and hold it there over night, two lolly pop sticks jammed in either side of the rivet
work well.
Another trick is to use a very fine flat blade needle file to flatten the underside of
each center cubie. The speedcubing championships rules allow for cubes to be sanded only
to remove manufacturing defects. The underside of these cubies are slightly bumpy, a light
sanding/filing to flatten them should not break the rules. The bonus is that it will
loosen the cube.
To tighten the cube you can remove the center caps and put a circlip between the head of
the rivet and the spring. You need circlip pliers to do this, but you can get away with
using the tips of long nosed pliers. If you go to a good engineering suppliers you should
be able to get many different sizes and thick nesses of circlips, they only cost pence, buy
many different sorts and try them out. This wouldn't be allowed under the speedcubing
rules, but I don't think many people would want to tighten a speedcube.
This information was posted by Mazwiz on twisty
| The new www.rubiks.com
cube is much better as the old ones, it has vinyl stickers but it has no screws. But if
you just want a nice cube and do not want to prepare it. Most speedcubers
just buy a few and if your are lucky the spring tension is even on all
faces. It must be noted that the Rubik's.com type provided at the 2003, the
where prepared and lubricated by Kroeger Inc Canada,
proved that a Rubik's.com can work but only if the spring tension is
correctly set at the factory. Also I got a new
prototype from SevenTowns and this one is just great from the beginning,
I wish they came always like this. |
| The center piece comes out
 | The screw does not fit exact in the kernel, apply a
tiny bit of super glue on the end of the screw. let it dry, now the
screw should fit tight in the kernel
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 Please note only apply
super glue on the screw end! Wipe of excessive glue, it should be dry when
you insert the screw in the center piece. Never put
glue directly in the centerpiece or on the kernel.
You can test if the screw hold, by using speedcube moves
like (U- L L-) 10 times, the
screw should not move
When the screw does not hold using several layers of super glue, you can
use Loctite (www.loctite.com). First insert the screw and spring in the center
piece than apply Loctite on the screw end. Insert the center piece and adjust
to the correct tension. Wipe of spilled Loctite on kernel and center piece
using some paper. Loctite needs to dry 24 hours.
 
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| The screw come lose if the spring is damaged (happens if you turn the
screw to fast), try to smooth out the spring
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| The spring is not smooth, carefully sand down the ends
of the springs with a nail file so that is it less sharp and don't scratch
into the center piece plastic.
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| The screw is crooked (can not be resolved). I always replace the screw
and spring to resolve this problem.
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| The screw is not smooth, sand under the head of the screw and the side a
bit
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Glue residue in the center cap that block the screw,
remove
residue that may block the screw turning
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Silicone spray on the screw. Never apply silicone spray in the center
piece. The silicone spray will lubricate the screw and unwind! Remove the screws and clean
them with a dry cloth, apply some supper glue on the tip and let it dry.
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| The center caps fall of
| You can fixed the center caps by making dents on the inside
of the center caps (see picture above). Else the center caps can be glued with a tiny bit (a very small drop) of
super glue. Apply with a needle.
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| The pieces pop
| On a old cube, adjust the tension of screws, if this does not help and
the cube corner pieces ramble when you shake the cube, your cube is worn out.
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| On a new cube, adjust the tension a bit tighter and repeat step 5
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| NOT recommend for speedcubing are:
| Rubik's Cube - Tsukuda Orginal, made in China |
| Rubik's Cube - Oddzon, made in China |
| Rubik's Cube - Jumbo, made in ? |
| Rubik's Cube - Ideal USA 1980, made in Taiwan |
| Rubik's Cube - Ideal Hollis N.Y. 1980,made in Hong Kong |
| Rubik's Cube - Tsukuda Orginal 1980, made in Hong Kong |
| Rubik's Cube - Ideal UK 1981. made in UK |
| Rubik's Cube Deluxe - Ideal 1980, made in Korea
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So in short Rubik's cube made in China, Taiwan, Korea and Hong Kong are not suitable
for speedcubing. All other brands I can not tell you, I never tried. Most likely it will
not work.
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