Making my own magnetic Rubik's cube
Magnetic speedcubes are all the rage right now. As far as I know, Cubicle Labs was the first to really delve into and popularize magnetic cubes, and we've since seen mass-produced ones from Gan and now Moyu. It seems that all the top cubers are using magnetic versions of their mains, and even 4x4s and 5x5s are being magnetized now.
First, let's establish what I mean by a "magnetic cube". Making a magnetic cube involves gluing small neodymium magnets inside the cube so that they attract when the cube is in its cubic shape, i.e. no partial turns have been made. For a 3x3 cube, this means gluing a total of 48 magnets inside the cube, three for each corner and two for each edge. The magnets are not strong enough to complete turns for you — in fact, you can't even feel them when turning at top speed. It simply gives a different feel to the cube, most commonly described as being more stable; basically the cube better maintains its cube shape while preserving corner-cutting and other attributes of the cube.
I was interested in trying out a magnetic cube, but I wasn't prepared to drop 50 USD on a 3x3 without knowing what I was getting into. There are dozens of tutorials on YouTube where people show you how to add magnets to your 3x3. Check out this one from SpeedCubeReview. The general consensus I got was: it's pretty easy to make your own. You just need a cube, 48 magnets, and some super glue. I already had a WeiLong GTS, which is apparently one of the easiest cubes to magnetize because of the cubie-caps. So I hopped on Amazon for some Gorilla Glue, eBay for some cheap 2mm x 4mm N52 magnets, and was all set to make my magnetic cube.
Going in I was sure I had nothing to lose. I personally didn't enjoy solving the GTS as it was, the materials were cheap, and I didn't even have to take the cube apart because I could just pop off the cubie-caps. Easy money, right?
Things I did not take into account:
- Neodymium magnets are tiny as hell. Might as well be subatomic particles.
- Neodymium magnets are strong as hell. Stronger than (drying) super-glue, it must be noted.
- Gorilla Glue expands A HELL OF A LOT when it dries, and turns from transparent to opaque.
- Apparently I suck at making magnetic cubes.
Most of my problems probably stemmed from not taking the cube completely apart and doing one piece at a time. In an assembled state, magnets you've already glued in will actually start attracting to each other while the glue is drying, so if you haven't placed them properly they will snap together and you'll have to glue them back in place again — also, magnets you haven't glued in will get zapped as if by magic to ones drying in the cube. When trying to pull out these stragglers, the ones that were glued in will be pulled out, and you'll have to glue those back in. It's tough to describe all the scenarios I encountered, but suffice it to say that I had magnets flying everywhere I didn't want them to be, and hands covered in super-glue very quickly.
Speaking of glue, I used way too much. I wouldn't recommend Gorilla Glue for cubes simply because of the expanding that I mentioned. It did the job fine, but I got it everywhere, and the air bubbles that develop and the opaque white that it turns made it difficult to keep track of the tiny magnets (more on that below).
I thought I was very careful with the polarities (if you glue in a magnet the wrong way it will of course repel instead of attract — you want it to attract for a magnetic cube). But when I thought I was finally finished, I checked the polarities with spare magnets when the glue was mostly dry and found that I had no fewer than eight magnets flipped incorrectly. I like to think that one of the magnets actually got flipped by one of its counterparts without me noticing under the giant white blob formed by the glue, but in all likelihood I just wasn't careful enough. So I had to summon my inner Hulk and rip out eight magnets (rest in peace my fingernails and two old mechanical pencils — I had no nail-polish remover or equivalent to dissolve the glue), and glue them back in ever so carefully. During that time I think I spend at least half an hour trying to pry one magnet out before realizing that it had already come out and was stuck to one of the other magnets — I just hadn't noticed because of the blob of dried glue. Sad face.
But finally I was finished. I double checked the polarities, waited until the next day for the glue to fully dry, went to put the cubie-caps back on and — dang, I got glue in some of the tiny holes where the caps attach to the cube. More sad faces. I was able to scrape it out for the most part but there's still one edge piece whose cap does not go fully down due to the penetration of the glue. Somewhat unsatisfying. I also got glue on the center cap stickers. Even more unsatisfying.
The result was okay. I like the magnetic GTS better than the plain old GTS; it's quieter and noticeably more stable and has that nice bumpy magnetic feel when you turn it slowly. But it caused me so much grief to make it that I cannot bare to gaze upon its ghastly visage lest I be triggered with tumultuous memories of trauma and tragedy (not really, I just want to be alliteratively melodramatic about the whole thing).
I would do so many things one thing differently:
Take apart the whole cube and do one piece at a timeUse a lot less glue, and probably a different makeKeep all the magnets very far from one another when dryingTriple-check the polaritiesTake off the center caps (mind you, I probably would have managed to accidentally glue the screws in place somehow)- Just fork out the money for one from The Cubicle and save myself a bucket load of consternation
Seriously, the only more tedious and frustrating thing I have done in recent memory was assembling a 6x6 (which I have had to do more times that I care to remember). Unless I really am that bad at projects like this (which is very possible — I am a software engineer for a reason), its not worth the time and effort. And now that Moyu's GTS2M is ~26 USD, it's more reasonable to get a magnetic cube to try out. So save yourself your sanity — or just don't be bad at making stuff — and buy a magnetic cube today!