Introduction
Lubricating your speed cube is a simple yet impactful maintenance step that improves turning speed and smoothness and reduces noise.
Using Cubelelo Cube Lubricant, you can give your cube a silky-smooth, consistent turning experience. In this guide, we'll walk you through step-by-step how to lubricate your speed cube, which lube to use when, and what to avoid for best results.
What are Cube Lubricants?
Almost everyone in the cubing community uses cube lubricants of some sort. But what are they? Well, cube lubricants are basically a way to make your cube faster or slower, depending on which one you use.
Cube lubricants allow you to have more control over how a cube feels. If you prefer slower and more controllable cubes, you can get that feel by using a heavy lubricant, whereas if you want a really fast cube, you can get that feel by using a light and watery lubricant. Now let’s get to why we use lubricants!
Why Do We Use Lubricants?
There are many uses for lubricants. Lubricants delay the slight wear and tear on the cube that can result from doing many solves. Dry cubes tend to get more affected by friction, and the plastic wears off and the quality of the puzzle deteriorates.
Lubricants prevent all of that and provide an extra layer in between the pieces rubbing against each other, reduce friction by removing the dryness, and ensure that your cube is going to last long! Lubricants also have many other perks as well, so let’s discuss them!
Lubricants can be used to make your cube super fast almost instantly. This is extremely useful in competition scenarios, where you need the best performance possible. Loosening the tensions is also an option, but it makes the cube more prone to pops, especially in bigger cubes like 4x4 and 5x5.
Even if you don’t want your cube to be super fast and just want it to be reliable and controllable, lubricants are a great option.
Just use a thicker lubricant and you’re all set to go. Lubricants can be used to alter the way a cube feels. Amazing, right? Lubricants have even more benefits, which include reducing or eliminating spring noise and making a cube quieter, which can be a real lifesaver if cubing noises annoy you!
Types of Lubricants
Lubricants can be classified into multiple types. I’m going to explain the types of lubricants that are most common and can all be found in our Cubelelo standard and premium range of lubricants.
It is very easy to get confused after seeing the weird “weight 5” or “weight 1” symbols or the viscosity levels in your lube box, but it’s really easy to understand. Let’s go one by one.
Weight 1 Lubricant
Weight 1 lubes have the lowest viscosity. Low-viscosity lubes perform best when applied to the pieces. Weight 1 lubes are not as long-lasting as the higher-viscosity lubes, but they make the cube turn much faster.
They are watery and thus provide speed to the cube. The best options for weight 1 lubricants are the Cubelelo standard Hurricane and the Cubelelo premium Velocity lube.
Weight 2 Lubricant.
The lube becomes thicker and thicker. Weight 2 lubes perform best when applied to the pieces, but they don’t provide the same speed as you’d get from a weight 1 lube.
Weight 2 lubes are perfect if you don’t want your cube to be out of control but still want it smooth. Cubelelo standard Storm is a good weight 2 option.
Weight 3 Lubricant
Weight 3 lubes are meant for both the pieces and the core. Applying this lubricant on pieces makes it even slower than the weight-2 lubricant.
Make sure to apply a really small amount on the pieces to avoid making the cube gummy. This lube can also be used on the core. A recommendation is the Cubelelo standard Swift lubricant.
Weight 4 Lubricant
Weight 4 lubricants are meant to be used only on the core. They provide stability and smoothness to the core.
As you keep increasing the viscosity, the long-lasting effect keeps on increasing. Cubelelo standard Breeze is a really good choice here.
Weight 5 Lubricant
Weight 5 lubricants are the thickest. They are meant to be applied on the core only. Applying this to the pieces will make the cube really gummy.
There are plenty of options here. Cubelelo standard Calm here is a good option, but if you want to go for the premium range, the options include Cubelelo premium Nucleus and Steady 30k.
Now that we’ve gotten a slight idea about what types of lubricants we get on the market, let’s move on to how to lubricate your cube!
Watch: Cubelelo Lubricants—
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-G0HBR3Ezk&feature=youtu.be
How To Lubricate Your Cube
A) If you’re in a competition environment, just put in 2 drops of any thin water-based lube and you’re ready to go. The perfect lubricant for your cube would be the Drift Cube Lubricant.
B) In competition environments, there isn’t enough time and space to get to cleaning the cube and then lubricate the core and pieces. Moreover, if you apply thicker lube to the pieces during a competition, it’ll take a lot more solves to break it in and spread it evenly across the cube.
C) If you’re at home, do this. Disassemble your cube. Wipe down all the gunk and make the cube really clean and dry. I’d recommend disassembling the core and cleaning it too.
D) Now that you have all the pieces apart, start with the core. There are two types of cores nowadays, one having springs and the other using the Maglev tech that we’ve seen so much of in the recent cube releases.
E) If you have a Maglev cube, just apply a small amount of Weight 5 lubricant on the screw, and you’ll be all set to go.
F) Reassemble the magnetic core, and then apply lube on the pieces; we’ll discuss lubing the pieces later in this blog.
G) If you have a spring and screw on your core, start by applying a small amount of thick and viscous lubricant on the screw, and then put the spring in and attach it back to the core.
H) Do the same with all the centerpieces and attach them to the core. After having all of them attached, you can tighten them up, but make sure to not make it too tight because we need to reassemble our cube as well.
I) Also, make sure that all the sides are evenly tensioned. After that, assemble your cube back together. While assembling your cube, you may apply some medium-viscosity lube on one or two edge pieces; it’s just trial and error, and you need to figure out what works for you.
J) I skip this step because I prefer my cube not to be gummy. After assembling the cube, I put in 2-3 drops of thin, watery lube to speed it up.
K) Again, this is my personal preference. You might also skip the core lubrication if you don’t prefer to do it. Try lubricating your cube differently each time to see what works best for you. Furthermore, you can refer to this video if you want a more visual explanation.
Watch: How To Lubricate Your 3x3 Cube | Full Tutorial |
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onEunnRkp8A&feature=youtu.be
Conclusion
I hope you understood all you needed to in this blog!
Obviously, this method isn’t the only way to lubricate your cube. This is just what I do. There are a lot of different tutorials that you can find on YouTube, and I’d recommend trying all of them out to get the best setup for you!
