Great Lakes Garrison & Base

n)As some of our Michigan members know, I've gotten pretty good at building sabers using parts from TCSS and your common sink drain pipe. Scott's been after me to build him a better saber to use with his Qui-gon Jinn costume for a while now, and I just happen to have some time to do it, so this topic will follow the build of his new saber. I know a few of the garrison members have shown some interest in how these get built, so I thought I'd show you guys first hand.

It won't be any type of replica of Qui-gon Jinn's lightsaber, but it will look really good when finished....I hope! The parts from TCSS (The Custom Saber Shop) arrived today, so here's what I'll be starting with:



Scott wanted it to be brass and black, so I ordered the parts powder coated in "Solar Flat Black." They look good!


The blade will be green, and we'll be using a Luxeon K2 to illuminate it. The copper disc is the heatsink and mount for the led. The other clear plastic piece ifs the focusing lens for the led.


There are two switches to pick from at the moment, but we can decide on that later. The battery pack is a 4-AA, for 6 volts. That's enough to power the led and the soundboard, which will be an Ultrasabers Ultrasound v2.0.


The Ultrasound requires a 1 watt, 8 ohm speaker, so we'll use the "premium" speaker from TCSS. There is also a black anodized, machined aluminum CT wheel so that Scott will be able to remove the blade, and hang the hilt on his belt.


This will be the speaker grill. A simple snap in sink strainer from the hardware store. I might change this out later on to a piece of simple black aluminum screen...we'll see how the chrome strainer looks on the black and brass saber and decide at that point.


Here's a closer look at the black sections of the hilt. This should be pretty cool when done!

I too also build sabers from time to time. I made the 4 we gave out at the last 2 MCCC's 2 of them were converted MR Force FX sabers. (1 Vader & 1 ROTJ Luke)

I look forward to seeing the build. This one looks like it will turn out very, very nice. I am sure Scott will be very happy with his new saber.

I just have one question about the LED you are going with. I see that you have a K2. Why did you not go with the 5 star led ? I have done a few with sound boards and the 5 star and overll with the Green LED's the 5 star is a bit more bright.

If it was a cost thing thats cool, The K2's are still pretty Darn bright. + with out the string of MR leds, He will be able to wack the heck out of it.

Well, we decided against the Luxeon V because of battery pack size, and cost of the led. $7.50 for a high-current K2 on a star base versus $23 for the V.

It's time to start cuttin'!!

I wrapped up the saber with some news paper to protect it from scratches and cut it off. I cut this nice and slow to prevent burning the edges of the brass where I cut it. I have a metal cutting blade in my compound miter saw. I've done this several times before, and it makes a really nice cut at whatever angle you like!

As always, before using any power tool, make sure you use the proper P.P.E. (Personal Protective Equipment)




Done! Now let's see if I burned it....


Success! One slightly discolored spot....not biggie! That should give it a little character.

Now to be-burr it:


I took it over to the drill press because it has a nice little vise on it and clamped the tube in place. I'll use an 80 grit sanding drum in my rotary tool to remove the burrs:



And a little teaser as I check the fit:

One of the designs I like to build has a cut-out window for the grips, similar to Qui-gon's and Obi-wan's Ep. I sabers. I'll do that for this one, too.


I got it set up to do the grip cut-out:

I'll use the pattern I used on the other brass ones for this one, too.


The pattern has the location for the switch already marked, and also for the mounting screws for the MHS adaptor.

I set it up in the drill press' vise again:


I'll use the rotary tool to cut it out using a heavy duty cutting disc. These brass tubes are commercial grade 20 ga. pipe, so they are a little thicker than the average tubes found at the hardware store. I'll probably have to change the disc; this one is a little used....

Awesome Jay!!! Cant wait to see this done. I always wanted to see one of these built!!

I thought you armor guys might get a kick out of seeing how a lightsaber can be built!

I could PM you some links to the other 17 or 18 that I've built this year, Wags, if you want!

I did some more work to this saber tonight:

I got it all set up in the vise, and began to cut out the grip window in the brass tube:


I'll do one side at a time...using as steady a hand as I have, I made sure to leave a little extra material in so I can file it by hand later to straighten it up.




With all four sides of the window cut, I'll need to cut across the corners to remove some of the extra piece:



I had switched out the smaller cutting wheel for a new one to cut the sides of the window, and went back to the smaller, worn wheel to cut across the corners. Now I had to use it again to remove a bit more of the material from the corners:


I'll switch to the sanding drum to do the rest:



Done!


Now to straighten everything up with a hand file:


I de-burred all of the edges and checked it for fit:


Hmm....needed a little more removed on the vertical edges....



That's better!


Now to get set up for drilling and tapping the mounting screw holes for the MHS adaptor:

[quote="Jay-gon Jinn"]I thought you armor guys might get a kick out of seeing how a lightsaber can be built!

I could PM you some links to the other 17 or 18 that I've built this year, Wags, if you want!

Dude, the work looks AWESOME!!! Yes, please PM me the links. This is something I would love to do!! I dont know though, I have so many projects, maybe I just have you make me one!!!! lol But really, I love the attention to detail. It is going to look kick arse!!

I need a blade for my Mace MR hilt that I..... have... ummmm... that is..broken off..... due to new years eve fun for the last 3 years... lol

Awesome work, Jason! That is going to look incredible when it's finished. It looks incredible now! Whenever we can afford it, you are going to make my Jason a saber! I might even want one!

Mieal_Deneb wrote:Awesome work, Jason! That is going to look incredible when it's finished. It looks incredible now! Whenever we can afford it, you are going to make my Jason a saber! I might even want one!

Thanks Rachel! I have an idea for one that might not be too expensive to do, and I'll let you know when I have one done, so you can get an idea of what you'd need.

Anyway, I did get more work on this done yesterday, but ran out of time to post the pictures, so here they are!

I put my pattern back on the saber with the MHS pieces inserted so I could drill and tap for the mounting holes for the MHS to sinktube adaptor:


I had it set up in the drill press, and drilling the holes went so fast, I forgot to get pictures! Oh well....I drilled it for 8-32 threads using the #29 bit in my tap and drill set, then tapped the holes:


I installed the screws to see how it looks...I think it'll look better with some black screws, or maybe some fully chromed ones....next I had to cut the brass tube off at the emitter, so it'll be easier to remove the emitter (you'll see why later!):


To keep the shroud from falling off the emitter, I drilled and tapped for another 8-32 screw:


This is on the "bottom" of the saber. I'll drill and tap for the CT belt clip wheel after I score the rear section of the hilt for the rear grip:


And here's a teaser of how the finished saber will look, basically:

Nice!

Hmmm all of us clones should have light sabers... you know with colors that match our paint scheme!

Ripcode wrote:Nice!

Hmmm all of us clones should have light sabers... you know with colors that match our paint scheme!

While that would be really cool, I don't think it'd be considered "canon" would it?

Jay-gon Jinn wrote:

Ripcode wrote:Nice!

Hmmm all of us clones should have light sabers... you know with colors that match our paint scheme!

While that would be really cool, I don't think it'd be considered "canon" would it?

We could say the sabers are Post Order 66 souvenirs.....

But concept stormtroopers had blue lightsabers .

terrell78 wrote:But concept stormtroopers had blue lightsabers .

Lightsabers for everyone!

Ripcode wrote:

terrell78 wrote:But concept stormtroopers had blue lightsabers .

Lightsabers for everyone!

Here ya go Rip

Those Stormtrooper sabers were pretty cool, and there are some makers out there that can produce them, if have enough $$$!

Scott suggested putting some o-rings on the rear section of the saber to even out the look color scheme a bit, so I picked up a few o-rings from the hardware to check it out:






It might look better if I used some thinner ones....those are 1/8" thick...I could take them back and try some 3/32" ones on there.

If I put that many on there, though, I'll have to put the CT knob on the larger flange area:



I'm not sure I like the o-rings, but I'll do it if he likes them. I have no idea how to make them stay put, though. I think if I used my tubing cutter to make some channels on the tube, that it may help hold them in place.

Scott decided against going with the o-ring grip, so I went ahead with the sanded type grips. The first thing to do is layout where the grip rings are going to be. I thought the smaller spaced ones would look good on this one, so I marked off evey 1/4" for a total of 3 1/2" of grip:


Then, using my tubing cutter, tightened up just so it was snug on the tube, I made the ring marks:

They turned pretty good. Sometimes the ends of the line don't meet up, as the cutting wheel may wander as you turn the tube, but I only had two of them that didn't quite match up, so I'll call that good, and get ready to sand the grip section for a "brushed" look:


I used simple masking tape, and a piece of 400 grit sandpaper. I laid the paper out in the palm of my hand, and wrapped it around the hilt. Then i just spun the saber in my hand unti lI got the desired finish:


I think it looks good:


It breaks up the polished brass, almost gold look to the rear half of the saber. Now I'll need to drill a hole for the switch.

Looks like you are having lots fun.

Oh, yeah, this stuff is fun....but sometimes it can seem like work!

I had a few spare minutes today after I took down all of my Halloween decor (http://www.fx-sabers.com/forum/index.php?topic=14369.0) so I worked on the pommel cap instead of drilling the hole for the switch:

I test fit the chrome plated sink strainer that I usually use in these, but it didn't fit in with the black and brass look (even though the rear grip sorta looks chrome now...) and used a piece of black aluminum screen from a screen repair kit instead. I cut out the circular piece with my wife's Cutco scissors (these things can cut a penny in half!!!) and hot glued it into place:


I could still see inside the saber, so I did what I usually do, and cut a piece of foam to fit in behind the screen:


I think that looks good:



Maybe I'll drill for the switch next!

Again, I started to drill for the switch, but since the #29 bit was still in the press, I decided I might as well drill and tap for the CT wheel. I needed to find out first, though, where Scott wanted it:

Position 1:


Or position 2:


He chose position 2 as it is closer to where Qui-gon had the knob on his saber. It will not be in the way when handling the saber there, as that's usually where I put them anyway, and so far I haven't had any complaints!

So I set it up:

And drilled it:


Next, I had to tap the hole for the 8-32 threads:


All done! Now to attach the CT knob:

That's one of the plus's to using a 20ga. tube, it'll actually accept a couple of threads, allowing you to actually tap a hole and screw on a part. I'll replace the screw with a black one before I'm done. I just happen to be out of them at the moment.

Now, I can drill for the switch:

I set it up in the vise, taking measurements to make sure it's centered, and drilled the hole:

Done:


Let's see how it looks with the switch installed:


Not bad.....


I like it!