# Improving a Rubik's Cube keychain



## Kabuthunk (Jun 18, 2010)

Bit of backstory, I like to keep a cube with me to play with when I'm... wherever. But since it isn't winter, I don't have a jacket or other article of clothing with large pockets to comfortably hold a regular Rubik's Cube.

Thus, I ordered a Rubik's Cube keychain to fill that need, but turns out it generally turns pretty poorly. If the seams aren't exactly, perfectly lined up, you can guarantee that the openings in one of the other pieces will catch on the middle square and stop it from rotating. Very irritating. I therefore set out to fix the problem.

My solution... fill in the cubies! Since the compound I was using, JB Weld, isn't cheap, I mostly filled the cubies with cut-off pieces of bamboo meat skewers. This will make it weigh less, and I'll use less JB Weld.








Next up, after filling all the holes (I had a bit extra, so I filled the out-jutting holes too... after all, why let it go to waste) and letting it dry for 24 hours, I shaved all the excess off of the cubies.






And then finally, after removing any rough edges left by the injection-moulding process, I sprayed it all down with a silicone lubricant before reassembling, let it dry, and put it together. You can see the grey inside the cubie from this angle. 






Not very visible, and the cube turns like a dream. Not regular-cube quality, but a thousand times better than it originally turned . It never catches any more, and rotates pretty smooth. Probably about as good as it's possible to convert one of these keychains into, given their lack of spring-based center. More pictures and details at my site over here.

All in all, I'm quite happy with it.


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## guinepigs rock (Jun 18, 2010)

I just got a keychain cube it pops every time i turn it


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## Kabuthunk (Jun 19, 2010)

guinepigs rock said:


> I just got a keychain cube it pops every time i turn it



Mine's never popped yet. Could it maybe be that one of the pieces wasn't completely 'filled' from the injection-moulding machine or something? I'd try to see if there was one piece that was ridiculously loose and kept popping out and see if I could adjust it. Other than that, the only thing I can imagine is that you're going too fast for it, and the openings in the cubies are catching with yours the same as they did with mine.


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## daniel0731ex (Jun 19, 2010)

NICE! very creative (sorta) idea!

though you could've just simply got a maru mini, which is a lot cheaper and superb quality (i bet you could get sub-20s on it).

PS: I love your website.


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## Kabuthunk (Jun 19, 2010)

daniel0731ex said:


> NICE! very creative (sorta) idea!
> 
> though you could've just simply got a maru mini, which is a lot cheaper and superb quality (i bet you could get sub-20s on it).
> 
> PS: I love your website.



Huh, never even heard of that. Given it's 3cm across, that's apparently identical to the size of this one. As well, it's white plastic, which I prefer for some reason.

I'm also intrigued by the fact that their site has what the Rubik's Wiki claims is a fairly decent 2x2. The only 2x2 I have is the Rubik's brand one... which as all claims everywhere have stated, is horscrap.

Although, the maru 2x2 is on the marucube site, the maru mini is not. It shows a maru keychain, but I don't know if that's the same one you're referring to.


Although, I'm pretty sure buying a set of both (likely at the same time, if I can find them both in the same place... shipping costs are worth more than the cubes themselves!) will come sometime after this modified keychain cube falls apart or gets lost. Don't particularly want to put this much effort into it only to shelf it 


Also, glad you like the website. Although, I think it's somewhat converted now from a webcomic site to moreso about my various hobbies


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## dillonbladez (Jun 19, 2010)

Kabuthunk said:


> daniel0731ex said:
> 
> 
> > NICE! very creative (sorta) idea!
> ...



http://popbuying.com
or
lightake.com
should do nicely 
It's kind of hard to find the cubes, with acronyms and all, though.


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