# How often to lube the cube?



## Cubetrooper (Mar 23, 2008)

I lubed my cube with silicon spray and it's very smooth.
But the problem is, somehow it doesn't last as long. So I have to lube nearly every day :confused:

So how often do you usually lube your cube? Am I doing anything wrong?
I took apart all the pieces and sprayed them...


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## Inusagi (Mar 23, 2008)

Cubetrooper said:


> I lubed my cube with silicon spray and it's very smooth.
> But the problem is, somehow it doesn't last as long. So I have to lube nearly every day :confused:
> 
> So how often do you usually lube your cube? Am I doing anything wrong?
> I took apart all the pieces and sprayed them...



-Make sure you don't spray the center piece.
-You must wait to the spray is dry.

If you have done those things the spray should last very long... But if it doesn't, then idk.


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## tpsolver (Mar 23, 2008)

Sillicone lube doesn't dry, does it? Why shouldn't you spray the centre piece?


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## pcwiz (Mar 23, 2008)

*Of course silicone lube drys!*



tpsolver said:


> Sillicone lube doesn't dry, does it?



What do you mean by Silicone lube doesn't dry? Are you talking about the white stuff that comes from www.rubiks.com or you mean silicone spray? Silicone spray is a liquid, so liquids dry right? I mean does water stay in a puddle forever after it rains? Of course not! Even silicone lube from Rubik's (comes with DIYs) are liquid (I think) so it must dry. 

Well silicone lube doesn't go away after it drys, it just like turns into like a solid or something (I don't know) I guess it works like wax because it reduces the friction between the cube pieces.

Also, if the lubricant hasn't dried, you would see white stuff everywhere. When it has dried, you don't seen anything.


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## tpsolver (Mar 24, 2008)

pcwiz said:


> tpsolver said:
> 
> 
> > Sillicone lube doesn't dry, does it?
> ...



I opened up my cube and sprayed it, waited hours and it didn't dry. I put it back together and when I do some solving, the lube seeps to the surface and makes the cube all slippery so I have to dry it off. It doesn't do that anymore though, but it's not as smooth. Should I lube it again but wait a lot longer for it to dry?


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## Rama (Mar 24, 2008)

Clean your cube first and then lube it.


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## Arget (Mar 24, 2008)

I usually lubricate my cube every 2-6 weeks.


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## dave (Mar 24, 2008)

I had a similar issue. It would be smooth after it was lubed but get all mooshy after a few days. I just played through the moosh and it eventually smoothed itself out very nicely. I'd say give about a week or two to see if your cube smooths itself out. I'm using a DIY type A cube btw.


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## Cubetrooper (Mar 25, 2008)

After bying the silicon spray I wanted to lube immediately and wanted to know how much smoother my cube will become. So I disassembled the cube and sprayed one side, waited for 10 min, turn the cubies and sprayed another side.
But the lubricant hadn't dryed yet and my patience was gone, so I assembled the cube. It was smooth but I have to re-lube it often.

Okay, now I'll let the spray dry completely. Thx guys


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## tpsolver (Mar 25, 2008)

If I want to lube my cube again, shall I wipe off all of the silicone already on it before I apply the spray?


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## AvGalen (Mar 25, 2008)

tpsolver said:


> If I want to lube my cube again, shall I wipe off all of the silicone already on it before I apply the spray?


Wipe off the old lube
Apply the new lube
Let the lube dry
Wipe off the excess lube


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## tpsolver (Mar 25, 2008)

AvGalen said:


> tpsolver said:
> 
> 
> > If I want to lube my cube again, shall I wipe off all of the silicone already on it before I apply the spray?
> ...



Great, thank you . If my cube doesn't improve then I'll probably have to re-lube it.


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## pcwiz (Mar 26, 2008)

Seeing that you say you have to lube your cube everyday with silicone, you may not know what the lubricate cube is SUPPOSED to feel like.

When you lubricate it, it's goes really fast, but if feels sticky - meaning it's hard to turn and stop, and doesn't cut corners very well.

Solve it like 50+ times and your cube will move like a dream, and it will be fast, easy to move, and cut corners better.

If you spray each individual piece, it SUPPOSED to last for 1 month+ (depends how much you play with it)


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## Hadley4000 (Mar 26, 2008)

I generally re-spray once a week or so.


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## Dene (Mar 26, 2008)

Wow. I'm lazy. I lubricate once every two months if I can get away with it.


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## Leviticus (Mar 26, 2008)

i rarely lube my cube, it usually goes like crap, and i rather just wear it in without having it feel bad for the first 30 solves.


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## tpsolver (Mar 26, 2008)

Hadley4000 said:


> I generally re-spray once a week or so.



Do you wipe off the old lube first?


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## shelley (Mar 26, 2008)

After lubing I generally have to let it settle in for a week before everything's nice and smooth without sticking.

I don't lube my cubes all that often. I do it maybe once every couple of months, usually a minimum of one week before a competition (to give it the aforementioned settling in period).

Something else that might help is cleaning the dust off the cube pieces periodically. Usually when my cube is feeling less than optimal, I take it apart and scrub all the pieces using an old toothbrush. After that it feels freshly lubed again, without me having to go through the whole lubing process and breathing in silicon spray fumes.


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## ExoCorsair (Mar 27, 2008)

It depends on the cube. Usually once a month, though.

If a competition's coming up, I lube my [3x3x3] cubes a day or two before.


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## tpsolver (Mar 27, 2008)

When you guys re-lube, you wipe off the old lube, right?


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## Johannes91 (Mar 27, 2008)

I never wipe off the old lube before adding more. Would be just waste of lube and time.

Instead of asking and waiting for somebody to answer, you could've just tried. If it makes the cube turn worse, then clean it and lube again.


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## Cubetrooper (Mar 29, 2008)

I waited for the lube to dry (1 night) but still the cubies were wet WTF?! 
But now the lube lasts longer than usual, I don't have to lube everyday anymore


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## SVG84R (Mar 29, 2008)

same, even after one night, the surface will still be wet. just use a paper towel and wipe of the excess gently.


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## fanwuq (Mar 29, 2008)

Do you use liquid wrench silicone lubricant? I got it and has the same problem. It sucks. I tried someone else's lube at at princeton and it is amazing. I almost never lube my cube, I should probably go buy a better lube. Pure silicone, not that mixture of crap. After a week after princeton, it still is fine, so it feels like it should last a month or so.


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## Crzyazn (Mar 30, 2008)

Liquid wrench has petroleum distillates....


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## fanwuq (Mar 30, 2008)

petroleum seems to do nothing to my cube, has no lube effect or damages. The label for liquid wrench says it's fine for plactics.


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## fanwuq (Mar 30, 2008)

I have an interesting idea to speed up the cube. I'm trying it and I'm not quite done with the job. Take apart the whole cube. sand the core and bottom of center pieces to make it even. Blow off dust. wait a few hours. apply lube to the surface of core and part of the center piece that touches the core. That seems to allow the cube to turn better with the same tension.

you should probably clean that spot everyy time you clean. There was a lot of dust there after only a week.


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## Crzyazn (Mar 30, 2008)

I was under the impression that unless you have a very fine grain sander, sanding will only make turning rougher :confused:

And liquid wrench is "SAFE" for plastics....but doesn't do a very good job lubricating apparently

EDIT: Picked up some Jig-a-loo....stuff works like a dream with only 5min of drying (yaya im impatient)


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## pcwiz (Mar 30, 2008)

Crzyazn said:


> I was under the impression that unless you have a very fine grain sander, sanding will only make turning rougher :confused:



There is a way for people to sand their cubes without using a fine grain sander and it still gets smoother. Well this is how I do it and how some people on YouTube do it.

I file each individual piece 
Then I rubbed each piece with steel wool (It makes your pieces SUPER smooth)

It really works and I added some other stuff from Pestvic's video on YouTube, lubricated it with silicone (each individual piece), and now I can cut corners better and can spin the cube around with my finger!

Ok technically that's not sanding the cube but it works


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## McWizzle94 (Mar 31, 2008)

fanwuq said:


> Do you use liquid wrench silicone lubricant? I got it and has the same problem. It sucks. I tried someone else's lube at at princeton and it is amazing. I almost never lube my cube, I should probably go buy a better lube. Pure silicone, not that mixture of crap. After a week after princeton, it still is fine, so it feels like it should last a month or so.



I used to use liquid wrench. It sucked. Just yesterday I got some CRC Heavy Duty Silicone Spray. It is amazing! And I don't even need that much for it to be that smooth! CRC rocks!


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## tpsolver (Apr 22, 2008)

I decided to re lube my cube. I'm using sillicone based lube I got from halfords (I'm in the UK), and it's taking insanely long to dry. I sprayed my cubies a few days ago and they're still not dry. I'm waiting till when they dry to put it back together. My friend lubed his cube and he said it took 10 minutes to dry. What's wrong? and what should I do?


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## pcwiz (Apr 22, 2008)

How much did you spray? You should only spray a little, and the inside of the cube should only look like it is wet. If you see white stuff all over the place (that's silicone), you've put on too much, and it will take a long time to dry.


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## *LukeMayn* (Apr 22, 2008)

I lube like once every 3 weeks. FYI CRC silicon is the best, drys quick and easy, makes a cube slide like magic.


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## tpsolver (Apr 23, 2008)

Maybe I sprayed on too much, I'm getting impatient so I think I'll wipe off the excess.


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## Harris Chan (Apr 23, 2008)

Once again, I wish I could get my hands on those CRC. Jig A Loo melts the plastic, and sometimes turn into a glue even.


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## masterofthebass (Apr 24, 2008)

CRC isn't great either. It has acetone, and makes everything looser. I really liked Rowe's "Snap" lube, but I can't seem to even find it online! Michael Gottlieb also said to try food grade silicone lube, as it won't react with plastic at all.


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## Harris Chan (Apr 25, 2008)

Yah, it seems Nakajima uses the "KURE" CRC silicon food spray.


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## info (Apr 25, 2008)

*Jig-A-Loo Damaging What Kind of Cubes?*



Harris Chan said:


> Once again, I wish I could get my hands on those CRC. Jig A Loo melts the plastic, and sometimes turn into a glue even.


Oh no, thanks for the warning Harris! I saw some videos recomending Jig-A-Loo on YouTube and just used it yesterday. At first, my cube felt smooth but a tiny bit sticky, so I added a bit of the standard red can CRC silicon spray and it became super smooth (better than it has ever been). I'm using a store bought cube which I would hate to damage as it is quite nicely broken in. It seems OK right now. What kind of cube does Jig-A-Loo melt down?


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## pcwiz (Apr 25, 2008)

Jigaloo melts down all cubes. It has some chemical reaction when it comes in contact with PLASTIC, and cubes are made of plastic. So you have to let it dry for a while, make it totally solid, and then put the pieces back together (if you lubricate them separately)


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## hdskull (Apr 25, 2008)

How come my CRC silicone turns white, after it dries ? Sometimes it doesn't...


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## info (Apr 27, 2008)

pcwiz said:


> Jigaloo melts down all cubes. It has some chemical reaction when it comes in contact with PLASTIC, and cubes are made of plastic. So you have to let it dry for a while, make it totally solid, and then put the pieces back together (if you lubricate them separately)


I see, so my understanding is that it's OK to use it as long as one allows it to dry properly. Thanks.


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## alexgoldberg (May 19, 2008)

The regular red can of CRC silicone spray always make my cube very smooth and fast after it dries, but after a few days / couple weeks it becomes slightly gummy. It's still relatively quick, but there's an obnoxious gumminess. I've since turned to Prestone silicone spray, which works just as fast, but doesn't have the gummy after-effect.

CRC doesn't impress me, and I've been trying to find a replacement. Prestone seems like it doesn't last long; I find myself spraying in the cube more often than I feel like it should be necessary.

I'm ordering CRC's food grade silicone to see how that works out, and I'll try the Rubiks.com liquid later. I can't remember where I saw the post about the bulk rubiks.com liquid silicone... the single syringes don't seem like they're worth the money.


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