What king of oil/lubrication is best when oiling a rubik's cube?

Question

WD40, engine oil, I've heard a lot of stuff. What work the best though?

Answer 1

I have tried two things on two separate 3x3x3 Rubik's Brand Cubes:

Vegetable Oil: After using it, i took my time down from 1:12 to 56 seconds, but i am not sure what will happen to that cube

Petroleum Jelly (aka Vaseline):Works good, dropped my time for 1:12 to 58 seconds, but i am once again not sure if the cube itself will be damaged, though i have heard it does, but it's been 5 months and nothing.

* Both second solve times where recorded on the first time

Answer 2

Hey there.  I have an answer for your rubik's cube issue.  The company I work for, Jig-A-Loo makes a silicon based lubricant that will spray on clear, won't leave a greasy residue, and also will waterproof just in case you happened to drop the cube in a pool.  Jig-A-Loo will work great and enable you to twist and turn your cube with ease.  You can pick up Jig-A-Loo at any of these retailers: http://www.jigaloo.com/us/e_store_locato...  Best of luck!

~Lauren

Answer 3

The best is used by the pros.  We call it silicone.  You can get the spray at an auto place for under $5.  Here is a video on how to lubricate your cube.  Go on youtube and just search it and you will see tons of videos.

WD40 is very risky and can damage your cube.  I learned it the hard way.  Engine oil will also not work.

The pros also use protroleam jelly, but that is also very risky, and it could damage the cube.  

I used something called "lubricating gel"  It works beautifully and you can get it at some kind of salon place, because it is used to lubricate those hair cutting things when they get stuck.

When you first buy your cube, play with it for a while untiil it getse a bit smoother.  This will take maybe the first 100 solves.  To speed up this process, you can sand it but don't do it too much.  Then, you break the cube open by putting a flat object under one of the edge cubes and prying it out.  From then on, it is easy to take the rest out.  Then lay it out maybe on 3 to 4 layers of newspaper, corners with corners and edges wtih edges.  The thing that looks like an "X" and has all the center pieces can be put aside.  Then you spray the pieces a bit, wiat 10 minutes for it to dry, and then flip it to another side and repeat the process.  After you are done, you MUST put the cube back it THE SOLVED POSITION.  If you put it in ramdomly, only 1 out of 12 chances that it will be solvable.  First, you put in the edge cubes, and then the corners.  For the last corner, it is very difficult to put in, so u take out 1 edge cube.  Put the 2 corners, 1 on the left and another on the right so you will have the space where the edge cube is suppose to be in the middle.  Then try, with a little force, to push the little edge cube in.

Good Luck!

Justin

Answer 4

Silicone