Ahsoka customs lightsabers in the graflex style

[eethan]

Hey there,
I'm currently doing both Ahsoka's lightsabers for my girlfriend cosplay.
you know, this girlfriend, that goes into crazy star wars mode when we receive a new vacuum cleaner:


So, the idea is not to replicate the series lightsaber pixel per pixel but to imagine what it would actually look like if it was in a live action starwars movie. It obviously looks like a mirror graflex emitter to me and I always liked obiwan's pommel in the phantom menace, so I'll use that too.
This is a partly scratch build, partly the custom sabers parts (that I haven't received yet: blocked at customs for more than a week). this will also be my first FX build, I hope it will go OK, don't have much time to learn there...

here we go for the scratch build starting with aluminium tubes:

base of the long one is made with a 5mm thick aluminium tube that I beveled by hand with a rasp. that took a long time. hell even cutting the tube with a hand saw took a long while... the result is obviously not perfect and would like to try to improve it a bit more, the bevel is a bit curved now but it's really hard to get a perfectly straight line so I kept it like that for now.

routing the emiter cut with my router and a wood guide (not visible here, it's actually a guitar pickup routing template)

the result on both sabers. the long thin cut is also made with one pass on the router with a normal bit cutting at 45 degrees on the tube which gives that bevel. My girlfriend didn't like it so I later on made it with straight wall with tiny rasps, that was fun too

filing the emitter shape, that was the easiest part so far:

a small collection on the work table in the meantime, also working on a sonic screwdriver metal kit. needed to fix a screw problem on a KR luminara saber. the real graflex for reference and drinking my tea out of the extra wrong color Alien mugs for fun

the current condition of the sabers after doing the straight walls mod on the long thin cut. also added two little square holes at the top of the long one to reproduce the graflex appearance here too.

More to come soon, we have a one week holiday this week to work on our costumes. we are doing Ahsoka and armored general Kenobi and have to finish them for FACTS Belgium the 8th of April. still a long way to go!

don't hesitate to comment, I'm posting for that
cheers

 

[Ridire Firean]

Hey eethan ! Looks like a good start! You could push the GRAFLEX appearance a little further still by going with 2-lobed bunny ears instead of 1-lobed.

It may be the flash, but your reflector mounting hole looks a bit off square. If you have a small file set you should be able to get it trued up just fine.

Have you picked out your soundboard and blade style yet?

Good Luck on your builds... and making your deadline too!

 

[eethan]

Hey Ridire Firean, thanks a lot for your constructive feedback.
Looking back at the picture of the mounting hole, it does seem off square, we looked at the object itself and we don't see it though. I will use extra care again to make sure it's perfect, already spent a long time with tiny square files to make it look nice but that was really complex.

Of course, everything that look like an actual graflex will be made, the double bunny ear was the main change planned.
A little bit more detail then,
I'll use a replica red button and bear tab for the long one as a retention screw for the blade and a replica glass eye for the short one. I'll also put all the small details of the graflex on the long one, square holes, contact plates, screw in between and small sliding switch on the side.

for the blades, I bought from KR saber. the electronics are coming from the custom saber shop, but are still stuck in customs. so I'm still waiting on the buck puck, rebel leds and switches. ah yeah, no soundboard for that first build, just light.

I have a little trouble with the switches as I wanted to put them at the bottom opposite the covertec clip as Ahsoka has two black buttons there but it doesn't seem logical. The only other solution is at the top were the red button is but that's my blade holder screw. she has tiny gold buttons under the red button in the show, but that was my bear tab screw here...

cheers guys.

 

[MCM]

Cool sabers and all, but DUDE, put a ring on it! A girlfriend that nerds out like that over a new vacuum cleaner is a special thing.

Seriously, though, this is a project I've toyed with in the back of my head, so I'm really pumped to see how yours turn out.

Sent from my SM-J700P using Tapatalk

 

[Halliwax]

im liking what i see!

 

[eethan]

Thanks guys !
MCM, read your message to the girlfriend and she said, ok then but it has to be a green lantern ring she's just pretending, she doesn't care that much about my props obsession. :lol

thanks halliwax, much appreciated.

so, I worked on them sabers quite a bit today but my computer died on me, that will make my updates difficult. That computer is a one year old Alienware that has been causing me problems since day one, so disapointed. sorry guys, will try to update from the girlfriend's computer but that's a bit more complicated, same than mine with a smaler CPU but this one is miraculously working perfectly since day one... :facepalm

 

[eethan]

Hey there, here is an update despite my technical problems. I'm currently on a tiny tablet, resized the pictures with paint, couldn't correct the colors or luminosity and spent half an hour trying to figure out how to connect to my ftp... I'm totally lost without my computer.

so first, here was the plan I drew before starting on the build

drinking out of the right color of Alien mug today, the girlfriend picks the mugs ;-)

made the holes to put the blade holders on both sabers. Don't really like the color and surface of that replica red button. Don't know who made it, it came with my graflex, with the real in a plastic bag. I tried to improve the surface later in the day and screw it up even more with the dremel. will have to find a solution for that...

Now, routing a small recess on the inside tube to mimic the graflex pins port, it kind of worked. this tube will be black of course

screw hole next to the glass eye, that will be the pins hole on this one.

now that was fun little thing to do, my graflex came with a flat head screw were the glass eye is. I just ordered a replica screw from KR sabers but I turned that screw into a curved head screw with my drill for the ahsoka saber. it kind of worked too I guess:

comparison between graflex and ahsoka's, starting to look like a graflex-alike:

At this point, the girlfriend is like, "the lamp is broken, do you have a M5 screw?", me "sure :lol":

AT this point, I don't know if you realised already but I kind of got caught in the fun of that build, I'm going a bit crazy and I kind of forgot my own costume... >I took old scrap parts from a canon flash and turned them into graflex contact plates, the fun is in the details... my planning doesn't seem to agree with me...

And I finally was able to slide the saber sleeve into the larger bottom part. it's technically the same diameter but it didn't fit, had to do quite a bit of filing to slide the 6cm of length there was

I'm very scared about not finishing on time. The parts from the cusom saber shop are still stuck in customs. My costume is not really moving forward much. At least my girlfriend's sabers and Ahsoka costume are on tracks

I hope you like it. don't hesitate to comment. sorry for the poor picture quality and technical issues I'm having.

 

[eethan]

Ah yeah, I forgot, I have a question for you good folk here, does anyone know what is the thread size of that graflex screw next to the glass eye and also that screw that KR saber is selling that goes in the sliding little tab on the side of the graflex? If no one knows I'll probably contact KR sabers to ask him the size of the screws he sells but It might be common knowledge here as it's a graflex screw.
https://thesaberarmory.com/product/korbanthparks-accurate-graflex-2-0-emitter-screw-display-version/
https://thesaberarmory.com/product/korbanthparks-graflex-2-0-accurate-slidetab-thumbscrew/
I bought a complete set of threading tool for metric size threads and I'm really happy I'm finally able to thread holes, it's something I've been wanting to do for a long time. I now need to buy imperial tools but am a bit lost at the variety of sizes there are. I would like to be sure to get at least the size I need for that screw.
thanks a lot :thumbsup

 

[Halliwax]

I am freak’n loving this!

 

[Anakin Starkiller]

Looks great. It would be cool if you could borrow a graflex shoulder puller to use on this build.

 

[eethan]

thanks guys, really appreciated!
yeah the shoulder puller would be really great, I even considred trying to build one but the aluminium is 1.5mm thick so I afraid the result would't look nice. Also I don't have much time so I might not have the time to borrow from someone. I might try to make some kind of washer that look the part, don't know.
I'm also a bit afraid of the bunny ears attachement, the aluminium being too thick here too for it to be bent I'm afraid.

Anyone knows the screw size?
thanks a lot :thumbsup

 

[3 CELL PO]

looking good. I was wondering how long until someone else saw the vacuum nozzle handle Tano saber style. My family have a milé make. Also since it was so cool seeing this with the cat out the bag, check out counter fastened mechanical corkscrews, also cool.

- - - Updated - - -

looking good. I was wondering how long until someone else saw the vacuum nozzle handle Tano saber style. My family have a milé make. Also since it was so cool seeing this with the cat out the bag, check out counter fastened mechanical corkscrews, also cool.

 

[3 CELL PO]

those babies

 

[Ridire Firean]

Hey @eethan ! Here's some measurements for you on my GRAFLEX "SCREW - TOP ASSEMBLY TO TUBE #25900":

Head Width - 7-32"
Overall Height - 15/64"
Thread Length - 1/8"
Thread Width - 7/64"
Threads = 4
Thread Pitch - 40
Head Bevel Height - 5/64"
Head Crown Height - 1/32"
Head Slot Width/Breadth (side to side, not length) - 3/64"
Head Slot Depth - 3/64"

I hope this helps you!

 

[3 CELL PO]

Screw that

 

[eethan]

Hey @eethan ! Here's some measurements for you on my GRAFLEX "SCREW - TOP ASSEMBLY TO TUBE #25900":
I hope this helps you!

Hey, thanks a lot, yes I think that helps, it means I should get a 7/64" thread tap if I got it right. I just didn't understand what you mean with your first sentence, are you the guy from KR sabers? of are you quoting a graflex parts plan or something? sorry if this is a dumb question.

So, I didn't do much today on the sabers, focussed more on my Obi Wan armour, don't know if I should start a thread for that too...
I saw a thread where people were showing their messy workspace and that made my smile as I'm kind of an OCD person and my worktable, despite being used and quite full of stuff was super organized when I got there this morning after seing that thread. SO I took a picture for fun.

I started doing the slide tab on the side of the graflex. It's really far from perfect I think, especially in close up with the camera and compared to the real one, but it should work when attached to the saber.

cheers guys

 

[Ridire Firean]

Hey @eethan ! You're welcome! Yes 7/64-40 (I don't know the # size for the screw itself). No relation to KR sabers, nor do I currently have any of their lightsabers, l meant that I measured my screw out of my GRAFLEX this morning to answer your call for the size of the one between the two rectangles in front of the glass eye. Yes, the techno speak comes from the GRAFLEX Manual. One of these days I need to compile all the measurements I've taken of mine and go have a shop make me one in Stainless Steel. And the head on the one you made for you Ahsoka looks more correct than the one in your GRAFLEX. Did your GRAFLEX not have one there when you bought it? I thought it was weird that you were asking for measurements on a screw that you already had, but I see now that it looks different from my original one.

Looking forward to your Obi-Wan Armor thread!

 

[eethan]

Thanks a lot for the dimensions of your real graflex screw then! now I get it also for the techno speak
so, the screw on my graflex is a replica from KR sabers that I just bought, my graflex came (not so nicelly) converted to a lightsaber. I got it for a decent price so I was happy with that but I removed all of the conversion parts, bought guts from someone as they were missing. I'm still left with a missing screw, two pins, a contact plate and a bulb spring to hold the glass eye. Although maybe the glass eye can just be glued maybe?

The actual reason I was asking for measurements is that I have no way to measure my replica screw to know what size of tool to buy to tap a thread in my aluminium tubes. I have no ways to measure imperial threads and it seems there is so much size variation that I was scared I would buy a set of taps and I wouldn't get the right size for that specific screw.

thanks a lot

 

[Ridire Firean]

Hey eethan ! If I'm doing it correctly, it should be a 4-40 tap. I just boogered two 4-40 tap holes in my custom lightsaber. They'll work, but just barely. That little tap is difficult to keep straight. I did a MUCH nicer tapping job on it with my 5/8-24 tap hole.

I'll double check if my other 4-40 screws fit down in that hole for you in a little bit to confirm the size.

You guys need a Harbour Freight over there in Brussels, they sell digital calipers that measure in inch fractions, decimal inches, and millimeters for less than $20.00!

 

[Ridire Firean]

Yep, it's 4-40!