First Graflex lightsaber ?'s

[EliteFreestyle]

Hey guys, Newbie to both the forum and lightsaber building.

Here's the low down, I work part time as a babysitter, and me and the kid I babysit decided it would be a great idea to make lightsabers and using my film editing skills, film a battle scene as a fun summer project. I've decided that we will do your standard sink plumbing lightsabers this summer, but after doing some research and finding out about the Graflex sabers in ANH, I decided I wanted to build a replica for myself.

I already own the proper 3 cell Graflex flash, and just need some tips on parts and build tips.

Parts I own:
Graflex 3 cell flash

parts I am buying:
-The bubble tape for ignition box
-Rubber grip strips, size? count?
-D ring, and belt clip
-Mylar Tape

Here's the ?'s for you guys,

1) what length should the grips be, and how many should there be for the ANH style Graflex, and does anyone have a best practice for the application of them? I'm thinking of standard Epoxy, as I have become quite skilled with it over the years working on snowboards.

2) Any tips on how to apply the D-ring?

3) Any tips on the mylar strip, sounds pretty self explanatory but figured I'd ask.

4) I am thinking of buying the EL adaptor to allow me to attach a PVC pipe for filming purposes, what do you guys think of this? what diameter pipe can fit in it? and is there an LED adaptor out there? because one day I do plan on installing an LED blade and electronics.

5) Any other random tips or suggestions?

thanks

[theJUDGE]

for the t grips i believe there are 7 and they are 3 5/8 inches long. Usually people install them with double sided tape. if you buy them from tcss they should have the tape already on them. i recommend buying them that way. my saber has these style grips and the tape works great.

for the movie style D-ring, i would imagine drilling and taping a hole would be the answer. would be relatively easy on the bottom half of the flash gun handle.

the mylar tape should be exact length, just peel and stick.

there is currently an led holder for the graflex, but as noted on the store wish list it is something that Tim probably has in the works. you can email him i you like about it sense i dont know his plans, but if he is going to make one i would be patient and wait for it rather than buy somewhere else ( Tim's products are always the best quality as well as best price).

i recommend searching all over the internet for other info. a good place to start is google. you can find tutorials of how to take appart everything on a graphlex as well as grip placement templates. here is a good website for reference: http://www.partsofsw.com/skysab.htm


good luck with your lightsaber, and have fun :cool:

[EliteFreestyle]

Thanks for verifying everything, Just as easy as it sounds eh?

for the D-ring I don't have the tools to tap it, i was thinking of drilling and then just bolting it in with a nut on the other side, what do you think?

[TimeRender]

The judges advice is good, but since you claim to be a fan of LMGTFY, I thought I would add this...

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=graflex+replica

See results 1 and 3 in particular, or...

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=graflex+lightsaber

results 2 and 4 are good.

The only question this doesn't answer is about the EL adapter for the PVC blade. The adapter is not a bad idea, but you probably don't want to use PVC as your stunt blade. I would try carbon fiber, wood, or even the polycarb blades sold here.

[EliteFreestyle]

the reason i choose pvc is it easy to edit over in film, as I will be adding the "Light" in post filming,

lol and yes LMGTFY is AMAZING!, I did a fair bit of research over the last week on the graflex, and was mainly looking to reinforce what I already found on the interwebs :P

i just love the way you snuck in lmgtfy on that one post

[theJUDGE]

The judges advice is good, but since you claim to be a fan of LMGTFY, I thought I would add this...

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=graflex+replica

See results 1 and 3 in particular, or...

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=graflex+lightsaber

results 2 and 4 are good.

The only question this doesn't answer is about the EL adapter for the PVC blade. The adapter is not a bad idea, but you probably don't want to use PVC as your stunt blade. I would try carbon fiber, wood, or even the polycarb blades sold here.

lol

you could do that with the d-ring if you like, but it might end up loosening often and them swivleing around the bottom of the hilt (but if you arent going to be running around alot then it wouldnt really matter). a drill and tap set with tap handle arent too much money, less than ten bucks. it could be an investment that you could end up using agian later down the road.

[TimeRender]

One of the problems with PVC though is that the dimensions listed on it aren't the actual dimensions of the pipe. I posted a chart at some point that explained all this, but I forget what thread it's in. Hey, here's another chance for you to look something up for yourself. Anyway, it's also pretty wobbly when you swing it around, so I'd skip it.

[EliteFreestyle]

isn't that why electrical tape was invented?

or duct tape? hell back when I used to race shifter karts, i think i had more duct tape holding that thing together than nuts and bolts

[TimeRender]

Not in this case. PVC pipe is always larger than what it listed, so it's not as simple as shimming it with tape. If you insist on using it, take your adapter with you to the hardware store so you can be sure to get the pipe that is the closest fit. And when I say it is wobbly, I don't mean it wobbles at the joint. I mean the whole thing is too flexible. It's like dueling with spaghetti. You need something more rigid.

[theJUDGE]

i dont know anything about blades other that MR or polyc, but would a dowel rod work? maybe it would be too heavy?
i just remember some of my friends making some home movies like you are planning and they used dowel rods. turned out great. just a thought though. just my 2 cents.

[TimeRender]

Dowel is not so great, but you can get wooden handles in 1inch diameters and they are pretty sturdy. If you need to make it brighter for the rotoscoping, try white electrical tape or even just white paint.

[EliteFreestyle]

yeah, i was looking into dowel, but i actually like the "wobbly" pvc, because should actually help with the digital effects, at least my trials into it look okay, I have a friend who worked on the saber effects in the battle between anakin and obi-wan, so I'm going to see if he has any idea on what they used for filming, just trying to see what other people thought, and timerender, I really appreciate your input, You definitely helped with the decision making process, because the last thing I want is a pvc tube flying in someones face

[EliteFreestyle]

yeah, thats what i liked about pvc as well, its white

[TimeRender]

They used carbon fiber in the films, and there is only one place where you can find it now. I will PM you with the link.

Edit: Nevermind, you haven't been here long enough to have PMs unlocked. We usually avoid sending people to other stores, but I'm pretty sure even members of the Council have offered this link in threads before, so here you go. http://randomsabers.com/blades.php

[EliteFreestyle]

lol where do i find my pms on this forum?

[EliteFreestyle]

thants dude, surprisingly cheap , and since the adaptor is 3/4 i should get the el adaptor from the store?

[Jedi-Loreen]

lol where do i find my pms on this forum?
As Timerender alluded to, you can't yet send or receive PMs because your account is too new.

You have to have been registered for 15 days, and make 10 posts before you that ability.

[ARKM]

EliteFreestyle, I have tried several types and wall thicknesses of PVC for stunt blades and all of them tend to shatter and leave sharp edges. Since you are dueling with a child, this may not be an issue as I'm guessing you will be used light force.

Also, white is definately not the best color to rotosocope over. I and many others before you have found this to be true. White tape is ok for markers such as four, thin bands of white tape at different points along the blade but not for the overall color. Orange or red/orange tape seems to work the best when not using "markers". Of course, depending on your clothes and filming location, white may work out ok... but I don't recommend it.

[EliteFreestyle]

thanks for the tip on the rotoscoping, im just getting into it, normally i just film and edit snowboarding, and my test run was in front of a green screen, with me in dark clothing, so i guess when i take it into the real world its better for me to use orange eh? i saw this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZM4Hkw5CPk and it says they used pvc, so thats what i was going after,

but yeah, orange blade is gonna be my next try, thanks for the help man!

[EliteFreestyle]

to orange county jedi, Timerender edited his post, post me posting the pm ?

[Jedi-Loreen]

Huh? :confused:

[EliteFreestyle]

timerender edited his post about pm's after I made my post, basically you posted info that was already answered for me, which orange county u from?

[Jedi-Loreen]

California.

[EliteFreestyle]

lol, u guys were on the news a while back right?

[Jedi-Loreen]

"us guys"?

On the news for what?

[EliteFreestyle]

OCSWS, were u the guys on the news a while ago battling in parks?