# Ball Bearing Rubik's Cube



## lazercrocdt (Jul 11, 2011)

Hello, I was just wondering is there any cube which has ball bearings? I don't mean something like the mf8 legend but a cube with actual rolling balls inside and it wouldn't have to be lubricated? And if there wasn't then whould ball bearings be TOO frictionless?


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## antoineccantin (Jul 11, 2011)

Pyraminx


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## Drake (Jul 11, 2011)

He mean's a 3x3, i think, and the mf8 legend don't have ball bearings .


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## Meep (Jul 11, 2011)

lazercrocdt said:


> Hello, I was just wondering is there any cube which has ball bearings? I don't mean something like the mf8 legend but a cube with actual rolling balls inside and it wouldn't have to be lubricated? And if there wasn't then whould ball bearings be TOO frictionless?


 
In terms of them being 'TOO frictionless', you can just adjust how hard the bearing will be pressing down on the surface. As far as I know there aren't any mass produced 3x3 with them. However, it shouldn't be too difficult to add them, especially with cubes that let you split pieces apart.


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## MiPiCubed (Jul 11, 2011)

Someone should create a cube with magnets mounted in each piece so that they all repel and never actually touch, with ball bearings for extra smoothness. Make it out of like, carbon fiber or something. I would totally buy that cube. No friction, eva.


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## Joël (Jul 11, 2011)

lazercrocdt said:


> And if there wasn't then whould ball bearings be TOO frictionless?


 
Yes, I am sure one day we will one day we will buy cubes with new inventive mechanisms to _add_ some friction .


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## ianography (Jul 11, 2011)

MiPiCubed said:


> Someone should create a cube with magnets mounted in each piece so that they all repel and never actually touch, with ball bearings for extra smoothness. Make it out of like, carbon fiber or something. I would totally buy that cube. *No friction, eva*.


 
It sounds like you want an Eastsheen...


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## OMGitsSolved (Jul 11, 2011)

You want no friction? I don't even think that is possible. And if a cube really did have no friction it would never stop spinning and it would be uncontrollable to use. If you just meant "No friction, eva." as in a small amount of friction it would still be really hard to control.


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## lazercrocdt (Jul 11, 2011)

MiPiCubed said:


> Someone should create a cube with magnets mounted in each piece so that they all repel and never actually touch, with ball bearings for extra smoothness. Make it out of like, carbon fiber or something. I would totally buy that cube. No friction, eva.


That would be an awesome cube and I love carbon fibre! There still would be friction because of the air around it when it turns! I dont think magnets would be a good idea because it could mess up electrical equipment and when you're in the middle of turning the pieces repel each other making it easier to pop!


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## Erzz (Jul 11, 2011)

My noncuber friend is always joking about making a cube with ball bearings so you could do U270 with one flick.
Not single bearings like skewb or pyraminx, the ring things, like in good yo-yos.


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## vcuber13 (Jul 11, 2011)

JyH said:


> skewb


 


antoineccantin said:


> Pyraminx


 
you're *****s


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## daniel0731ex (Jul 11, 2011)

I have had this concept in mind for a long time, but knew that it's actually impractical. Most of the friction in a cube came from the plactic cubies rubbing against each other, so having a ball bearing at the center piece only reduces a very minor portion of the friction.

However, another idea occured to me some times ago, that if there would be individual rollers on one side of every contacting surface, the turing resistance would be reduced significantly. Similar concept as the tracks on cubes like A2, Alpha mini, Alpha CC, etc. But it then have the problem of stability, which is much harder to solve than having simply raised tracks (which have already been refined significantly now).

BUT, the roller idea may be applied to improve the reverse corner-cutting. Instead of placed at the center of the surface, they could occupy the contacting edges on each pieces, which allows the pieces to glide easier in a misallignment. However, it won't work at certain angles when the pressure is directly perpendicular to the roller; plus, the method of using leverage to overcome the misallignment (i.e. Dayan Guhong) have already proven to be an extremely effective method. 

Therefore we may conclude that roller systems on speedcubes are impractical and only adds production cost to the products, raising the already skyrocketed prices of speedcubes now(since when did the Guhone cost $15?)


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## ikcebos (Sep 17, 2012)

I'm working on the cube base on bearings and I was just made first prototype with 48 bearings 3x7x3 inside! You can see it here:
http://youtu.be/FlEMznEAZQw
http://youtu.be/mp9Ob7uofuM
Enjoy!


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## Stefan (Sep 17, 2012)

ikcebos said:


> I'm working on the cube base on bearings and I was just made first prototype with 48 bearings 3x7x3 inside! You can see it here:
> http://youtu.be/FlEMznEAZQw
> http://youtu.be/mp9Ob7uofuM
> Enjoy!



Oh wow, quite nice. Not the kind of bearings I expected (I was thinking of those in Pyraminx/Skewb). Can you show us some close-up photos of the pieces?


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