So I decided to bust out my professor and try to speedsolve it. Last time I pulled it out was a month ago and I've gotten quite a bit better at the revenge since then. My PB went from 20 minutes to 17 minutes. I am VERY unhappy. I can also chalk about 5-8 minutes of that time up to it being a very stiff unmodded Rubik's brand. So... I have ordered an Eastsheen 5x5x5. Until then, I'm going to have to try lubing this thing.

After watching some videos on youtube of professor speedsolving, I quickly became jealous of Frank Morris' professor cube. Any advice for me on how to get mine to behave like his?

Just lube the Rubik's brand cube? Lube the Eastsheen one? Buy a Mefferts and lube it?

I say wait on the ES, then go from there. My PB on my rubik's before it totally broke? About 15 minutes. My PB on my ES? About 5:50. I would advise trying out the ES.

Others will disagree.


Apok

Do not lube eastsheen. Mine is unusable after 1 solve from lubing it.

I always found the ES very difficult to turn, and I've been having lots of problems with my 4x4ES jamming and some internal pieces falling out of place. My personal best on the Rubiks brand was around 4:15 but the inside corner piece keeps breaking. I got smart this time and ordered a bunch from cubesmtih so next time one breaks, i just replace it.

There were posts and threads about this, so check them out. But the best way to get your cube up to speed is to keep turning it. I think Frank solve in 230 moves or so, I'm more in the 300's ( haven't solved for a while, my pieces havent come in yet ) so just to get a 10 solve average (12 solves) I would turn the cube about over 3000 times. So to really break it in, it will take a lot of work. Also, like the 3x3, sometimes you just get a stiff cube that may never loosen enough.

Oh and lube is always a good idea.

Best of luck on your solves.

-Adam-

P.S. One last thing, best way to cut off time, is to use less moves to solve it.

so should I just losten the screws and add springs or not add springs?
Different people say that you should lube it and some say you shouldn't. I
don't know .

I just got my ES Professor's cube 2 days ago, opened it up, solved it once, cut 1 minute off my best time instantly. (5:55.55 to 4:4x.xx whatever is in my signature)

Some people say they dont like ES because they lock up, but I havent found that to be a problem yet. It turns much smoother than my Rubik's brand and doesnt pop. My rubik's one pops pretty much one out of every 7 turns.

[edit] now its 2 minutes off that original time 3:50.81

ES doesn't lock up, you just can't cut corners.If you are a steady cuber there is no problem but if you need to be rolling down a hill to solve i wouldn't get ES.

Sorry, but you may just have to try something. Alot of these suggestions are based on personal experience. I haven't had any luck with ES, but reading over this thread there are quite a few who don't have any with RB (rubiks brand). You'll just have to find what works for you best.

Lubricating a Rubik's 4x4x4 and 5x5x5 helps ALOT.
It used to take me 10 minutes to solve 4x4x4, but after some lubrication and some practice I got a PB of 2:33

Lubricating a Rubik's 4x4x4 or a 5x5x5 helps ALOT.
It used to take me 10 minutes to solve my Rubik's Revenge, but after some lubrication and practice I got a PB of 2:33

Why are you PBs different in the 2 poasts? I'm going to try lostening the
screws and see what that does. If it dosn't do anything I'm going to lube it.

Well, Rubik 5x5x5s need a LOT of preparation, wear, lube, and so on to turn well, but you can get them to be very good, and of course you can cut corners easily.

Eastsheens (which I prefer now ever since I started doing one-handed bigcubes) are good also, but different... they don't need so much lube, but they can be harder to control, since they don't tolerate much misalignment before locking up. On the other hand, unless you have a very, very good Rubik-brand cube you'll find it much easier to do the 3x3x3 part on an Eastsheen puzzle. You may want to tighten the screws on an Eastsheen a bit to prevent pops, especially if you drop it every once in a while.

You must know, though, that your choice of mechanism won't prevent you from being fast. Of the people who have averaged under 2 minutes, some use Rubik, and some use Eastsheen. I'd say to try out both (if you can, find a friend with a broken-in Rubik 5x5x5 and do a few solves on it) and just see which one fits your speedcubing style better... Of course, you can always change later.

i personally prefer the rubiks brand 5x5x5, they break a lot less once they are working propperly(i bought a cube for spare parts). I don't like to brag but my best time with one is 1 min 44 secs and i usually average about 2 mins. (my last one only took about a month to 'break in'). my eastsheens worked ok for the first few days after i lubed them but then got loose and kept jamming when i tried to speedsolve them (i have three and the cores have broken in all of them so any tips on where to get new ones would be nice). i also like to vary which brand of cubes i use so i don't get bored with them.

the eastsheen vertion is also a considerable size smaller than the rubiks vertion so the size of your hands may determine which you prefer as well. My hands are huge compared to most of my friends and eastsheen cubes are too small for me.

1:44?!? Wow, you're really fast! My best time is 2:36 at the moment. Can you give me any advice?

a name too perhaps? Great times!

My eastsheen dosn't turn so well . It is about as hard to turn as the
rubik's brand right after lubing but it lockes up alot more. should I losten
the screws? Oh by the way CONGRATZ ON THE PB TIME!!

thanks, my name is breandan mcelhill, i've never been to any tournaments and i don't know anyone that lives near me who have. anyway, i think bigcubes is the best website for speedsolving the 5x5x5. my MSN is in off topic if you want to know anything else

You really should try to go to some tournaments (how about the 2007 UK Open (not announced yet)?). They're a lot of fun, and making your fast times official (as well as meeting other cubers) can't possibly hurt.

sounds fun

Neeaawwwww Have you memorized the 5x5x5 for speed cubing.

I'm having trouble with it actually after I get the top layer and the bottom 4 corners in place. Do you then move on to the edges? or the center layers?

what method do you use?

I solve the top layer, then the four corners, then I work on getting the edges in place. I don't have a method beyond that, because I haven't gotten it past that point.

i'm afraid you're probably better at that method than i am.

you're talking about the 5x5x5 right? why not try solving the centers, then the edges then solve like a 3x3x3?

Just got the Eastsheen 5x5x5 in and.. [Censored. Please see rules!].

All of my prayers have been answered. Time to try and speedsolve it now and see how much time I knock off of my PB.

It's preference.

Most competitions let you use any brand.

At the UK Open, there seemed to be a fair mix of Easty and Rubik's users...

As for Frank, I think his big hands fit better around a Rubik's.

Although my hands are fairly large, I have not been able to have any luck modifying my Rubik's brand but my Eastsheen, after only two runs I was able to beat my PB by almost 2 minutes. From 10:15 to 8:23. I, will be using the Eastsheen cube over my Rubik's, that's for sure.

I must have just been unlucky and gotten a horrendously stiff Rubiks.

yes, I do have giant hands. I guess that the eastsheen's don't mesh with my style very well.

I can't solve the 5x5 consistantly without help (becuse of the last couple edge pairs), but with the method reeeech mentioned, I was able to solve the whole cube (besides the part mentioned above) without any additional learning (as in, things I couldn't figure out on my own from solving the 3x3 so much).

Hey all,

My pieces came in from cubesmith and i've picked up my 5x again. But i've been noticing more and more that the puzzle WANTS to explode. I'm sure I can knock a lot of time off my clock if I am not expecting it to fall to pieces. and almost every solve (at least once, if not 10 times) the inside corners twist. RB in case you didn't know yet (mentioned it in an earlier post).

Is this just a part of the breaking in process? Or is my puzzle shot as far as speedcubing goes? Any suggestions to help?


nytelyte ,

Whats your PB now? its been a week or so. Have you noticed any improvements yet?

I also don't remember if you brought it up, but whats your method?

-Adam-

Well...

My PB went from 10:01 to 8:23 when I got the eastsheen professor. It's so smooth and awesome, I can't describe it.

I solve centers, then edges... then I use a pathetic layer-by-layer method to solve the reduced 3x3x3.

I used to consistently solve around 10-11 minutes with the rubiks brand, and the eastsheen has knocked my average down by 2 minutes.

No twisting pieces, nothing. The only issue I've had was the center caps falling off, but once you push them in hard a few times... they stop popping out. Day 2 and they don't pop out anymore. Eastsheen is god.

yeah, thats all part of the breaking in process, my first 5x5x5 cube did that all the time, the best way to break it in is simply to repeatedly turn each layer back and foreward as fast as it will allow you to (i did it about 20 turns per layer at a time). it might take a couple of weeks but its worth it. Until then the best way to stop the inside corners twisting is to hold the cube firmly while solving it. eg. when twisting the outside layers i use my left thumb to cover up the top of the front center, my middle finger and small finger to cover up the top and bottom of the back center and my index finger to make sure the top layer is in line after twisting it.

Well at least I'm not the only one who's dealt with this. It does go away then?
I hope to break 4 min by next weekend, of course, I've been wanting to break two minutes since I got this cube ('04).

Ha, I fixed my eastsheen problem, you have to open it up and clean off all
the dust on the inside then it is all good.

I thought I'd post this:
I just conducted a comprehensively holistic personal assessment test between Eastsheen's and Rubik's 5x5x5, summarized in the picture below.

are those impossible patterens? could you give us the alg if it is not? Cool

They're perfectly possible. Just commutators.
(The back sides look half scrambled)

I don't think I know any commutators.

That picture is *WIN*.

What about those Eastsheens that rubik's is selling?

The description claims it's a DIY...

http://www.cube4you.com/87_Eastsheen-M5.html

Sounds good to me.

The only difference between the M series and normal is that the M series comes with the dome case.

The picture is awesome by the way. The only reason why I would buy a rubik's version is that it is guaranteed to be competition legal and you can by replaceable parts at cubesmith. The whole corner cutting thing is not as important as you end up breaking a bunch of pieces if you try.