Cube setup – how to make your cube even better

Set-up – a Polish-English dictionary defines it as "the way in which something, especially an organization or equipment, is organized, planned or arranged". In speedcubing slang, the term roughly means getting a cube ready for fast solving in general, which includes cleaning, lubing, tension adjustment, and sometimes changing the stickers or adding magnets. How do you set up your cube? Why do the cubes of professional cubers usually turn much better than the same models straight out of the box? In this post, we'll walk you through the basics of the topic and share a few tips.

Cleaning

Cubes often need cleaning after long, intensive use. Dust and dirt build up inside the puzzle, which slows down its turning and makes solving less enjoyable. When you notice that your cube doesn't turn as well as it used to, it's worth cleaning it. Here's what we recommend:

1. Take the cube apart by gently removing all the pieces so that only the core (often also called the "cross") and the centers screwed into it remain.

2. Take a dry tissue or a soft piece of cloth and thoroughly wipe the inner surfaces of the cube pieces. Make sure that after this first dry wipe there is no solid dirt, such as dust, left inside the cube. Make sure the material you wipe the cube with isn't too thick – something delicate, like a tissue, works best, because it absorbs moisture and dirt better and fits more closely to the piece.

3. Dampen a piece of paper towel or cloth and wash the pieces so that no leftover lube or dirt that the dry wipe didn't remove stays on them. Carefully clean every nook of each piece on the inner side, i.e. the side facing the mechanism.

4. Wipe the cube dry with a clean tissue and put it back together.

You can also clean the centers and screws of your puzzle. To do this, remove the center caps, unscrew the screws and then, with the cube completely disassembled, wash the centers just like the other pieces. Unfortunately, this means you'll have to adjust the tension from scratch, which can be tricky for beginners.

Tension adjustment

This is a key part of a good setup. Adjusting a cube means tightening or loosening the screws on each face, which can significantly change how it turns. To adjust the tension, remove the center caps on odd-layered cubes and on puzzles other than cubes, or on even-layered cubes simply slide the middle layers apart with your fingers to reach the adjustment screw. Then, using a screwdriver, you can gently loosen each screw so the cube turns faster and with less resistance – unfortunately at the cost of stability. Tightening the screw, on the other hand, gives the cube a more secure feel, so the puzzle doesn't "fall out of alignment" during a solve and the chance of pops and rolling pops goes down. It's worth learning how to adjust tension properly so you have more control over your cube.

Lubing

This is the quickest and most convenient way to improve how your Valk, Weilong or any other cubic friend turns. With the right lube, you can make it faster, slower or make it turn more "smoothly" and pleasantly. Solving something dry, without any lube, is usually not a pleasant experience, so it's worth lubing your cube properly. Depending on the lube's consistency and your own preferences, apply a drop of your chosen lube to the feet of the pieces and another drop to the edge wall, so that the lube can spread well inside the puzzle. With some lubes, one drop isn't enough and you'll need to apply more.

Recommended lubes for speeding up a cube: Lubest XMT; DNM-37; Compound V; MoYu v1; Lubicle One; DaYan

Recommended lubes for slowing down a cube: Lubicle Weight 5; Angstrom Compound X.

Magnetizing

These days there's no getting away from magnetic cubes. Practically all new high-end cubes come with magnetic positioning of the pieces. No wonder – magnets are an undeniable help when solving. Thanks to them, turns "snap into place" on their own, the puzzle becomes more stable and doesn't require as much precision during a solve as cubes without magnets. Investing in magnetic cubes is definitely a good decision, but you can also magnetize your puzzle yourself. For this you'll need glue (e.g. super glue) and small neodymium magnets. How many depends on the cube and the magnet setup – a typical magnetized 3x3 cube uses 48 magnets (two in each edge and three in each corner), and a 2x2 cube uses 24. You can see how to do it properly in this magnetizing tutorial on YouTube.

Good luck :)