Graflex No Nonsense - ANH Build - Noob Oriented

[engineer3.14]

Guys-

Starting my build thread. This is my first, so I'm going to try and put a lot of basic info in here to help other Noobs like myself.

Plan is to do a straight up Graflex ANH build. No crazy fancy crystals or high end fancy pants sound boards. That stuff is wicked cool, but I don't have the time or $$ for that.

Here's my Graflex 2 cell. First order of business will be disassembly and fabrication of a 3 cell bottom end. If you've looked on ebay, a clean 3 cell Graflex will easily go for $200, I got this little beauty for half that.

8859

It looks like these are stainless steel. The OD on the body is 1.5", ID on the pipe is 1.370". So I've got some 1.5" stainless steel pipe coming that I'm going to cut to length and have capped by a local welding shop. If all goes well I'll have a few spare 3 cell ends.

My research tells me the 3 cell end needs to be 4.6" long. (t-track grip is 3.6" plus 1" to go inside the clamp)

Here's a shot of the graflex disassembled. You can see the channels I'll need to cut in the open end of the bottom portion so that it fits in the clamp.

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I've got LEDs, blade holder and other parts coming from CSS. Will post info on those when they arrived. Hope to have them over the weekend then you other Noobs can learn basic LED wiring right along with me!

[engineer3.14]

Real quick update.

-Luke ANH MR soundboard is on order and should be in next week
-Got my materials to build the 3 cell bottom end, hope to have that started before the weekend is out
-Saw a big box on my porch that looks like its from CSS, won't know 'till tomorrow as my wife is holding it hostage as a father's day present...

[jedi hound]

Keep us updated.
Are you going with a TCSS blade holder? Who are you getting the exterior greebles from?
I have a 2-cell that I cheaply converted (static, no blade holder yet) but I've never been satisfied with the bottom end (or my adequate but rough dremeling of the slot pattern). It's "capped" but not solidly. There's no way to use a d-ring without the saber dropping. If you end up with an extra capped end, I might be interested.

[engineer3.14]

Hey there Jedi Hound-

Thanks for the interest in this project.

Yes, I'm using the TCSS blade holder. This one:

http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/LED-Graflex-adapter--P221.aspx

As for exterior greebles, I've got grips and D-ring coming from TCSS as well. Not sure on the activation box, saving that one for later. Will try and use the red button and lens from the graflex.

For the bottom end, my plan is to have the cap welded on so there should be no issue with it coming off when using the D-ring. Will keep you posted on that. I should have enough pipe to do 3 bottom ends.

Got the graflex disassembled tonight. Here's pic of all the parts:

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Couple things I learned on the disassembly:

1. You don't have to completely remove the red button, just unscrew it and let it hang
2. You don't have to completely remove the small toggle switch on the side
3. Regular finish nail will work to punch out the pin on the bunny ear clamp, but you have to drive it all the way through before it will come out
4. The plastic assembly is wedged in pretty good, I smacked it out with the handle end of my screwdriver, took some pretty good jabs to get it out

I may try and retain the big spring on the bottom end as a means to help hold everything tightly together, but we'll see. Got to figure out how to get my speaker down there and located correctly.

Hopefully, more to come tomorrow...

[engineer3.14]

Just dropped off stainless steel at the fabricators. Should have the 3 cell bottom end blanks done by next week.

Will now turn my attention to the electronics. Bench tested the LED this a.m. In my excitement to see how bright it was, I forgot to hook up the resistor, lucky for me I only had it on for a moment so the LED did survive. I'm using this for my LED (Seoul P$)

http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/Build-Your-Own-Seoul-P4-Electronics-Kit-P469.aspx

Very impressed with how bright it is. Can't wait to see it illuminating my blade.

[MrCafe]

Ooo. Enjoying what I am reading so far. I can not wait for your next update.

[engineer3.14]

Got my MR Luke ANH board tested last night. Wiring it up and getting sound was easier than I thought. I reviewed wiring diagrams and that along with the labels on the pcb itself made everything pretty straight forward.

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Here's where I got my wiring help:

http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com/showthread.php?8593-MR-Hasbro-FX-Wiring-Diagrams


I found this lens from a cheap LED worklight that I had. I should be able to cut the bubble off for my activation box.

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After trying (with no success) to find a push on push off switch to go under my red button, I went ahead and ordered this guy:

http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/751

Should work pretty good.

So my MR board needs 4.5V, and my Seoul LED needs 6 volts, anyone have a good circuit to get these two guys to play nice? Don't want to wreck my pololu switch either...

[Silver Serpent]

What Seoul LED do you have? I don't know of any that need 6v. If you got one of the P4 LEDs from TCSS, then they'll hook right into the MR board. The board does a fine job driving the LED by itself.

[engineer3.14]

Silver-

thanks for the note!

I got this kit from tcss:

http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/Build-Your-Own-Seoul-P4-Electronics-Kit-P469.aspx

It comes with a holder for 4 AA cells. With the resistor, I measured 5.6V out on my meter. The MR board takes a 4.5V input (3 AA cells), not sure I wanted to loose the brightness going from 5.6V down to 4.5V but maybe I'm splitting hairs?

[Silver Serpent]

The P4 blues and greens have a typical Vf of 3.25, with a maximum rating of 4v. Measure the voltage drop across the LED alone, and you can find the exact Vf of your LED.

As I recall, when working with the MR boards, you don't typically need a resistor for the main LED. You can check the LED output lines on the board to be sure its in a safe range.

The resistor you are using has been calculated assuming that there is no sound board involved, and that the LED will be receiving the full 6v of the battery pack. When you are using the sound board, this is no longer the case.

[engineer3.14]

Silver-

I think I've got this figured out. Per an online source, Voltage drop on the Seoul P4 is 3.3V. Max current is 1000 mA. Also, I measured 4V on the output of on the LEDs of the MR board. If I plug these into your calculator and using 900 mA for current (giving myself some safety factor) I show that I need a 1 ohm, 2 watt resistor.

So, I'll put a 1 ohm resistor in line with the output on the MR board and we should be good to go.

I wired this up tonight and everything looked good, but not sure if this was as bright as when I tested my blade straight without the MR board, but we'll see, I know my batteries are half dead.

Here's where I got the Seoul P4 specs: http://www.led-tech.de/en/High-Power-LEDs-Seoul/-3.5W-Seoul-LEDs/Seoul-3.5W-Star-LED--P4-Version--LT-980_121_78.html

[engineer3.14]

Some good progress tonight. Ok fellow Noobs, listen up:

Blade assembly:

This is not rocket science!

1. I got the cheap clear 1" blade from TCSS - http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/1-Thin-walled-Polycarbonate-40-long-P151.aspx Also got the bullet tip with reflector.

2. Next I went down to Micheals and got a roll of clear celophane wrap. Tim also has similar stuff in the store

3. I took a lint free dust rag and cleaned out the inside of my blade tube and dusted off my work surface. (lint in a blade looks bad)

4 I unrolled length of tube and wrapped it around a spare curtain rod I had sitting around. Things to remember:

*use good scissors to cut the celophane, you want very clean cuts
*wrap the celophane as evenly around your "ram rod" as you can.
*you'll want 4-6 layers of the celophane on the inside of the tube for the proper effect

5. After that I just slid the celophane into the tube with it wrapped around the rod then tapped and adjust the end.

Here's how she looks!

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If I've missed anything, I'll leave it to the masters to correct me...

[engineer3.14]

Seoul P4 Assembly with Graflex Blade Holder:

So, I'm doing a Luke ANH build, so I got Tim's blade holder: http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/LED-Graflex-adapter--P221.aspx

Also, not knowing how to figure out all the different LED stuff, I just went ahead and ordered the Seoul P4 kit: http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/Build-Your-Own-Seoul-P4-Electronics-Kit-P469.aspx

Here's how this little beauty goes together:

1. Solder a ground and hot wire to the face of the LED. Make sure these can be positions to pass through two opposite holes in the LED board

2. With that done, you can slide the heat sink from the base of the graflex blade adapter over the wires

3. The lens that comes in the kit slides inside the little holder. It looks like it is supposed to snap into place, but I had to sand mine a bit to get everything to fit

Here's how it looks at this point

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4. The lens and holder position over the LED with the feet that go into notches on the LED board like where the wires passed through. ***NOTE: the lens holder can only fit one way over the LED, be aware that your wires are not where the lens holder feet need to go***

Here's how things looks:

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5. I loose fit my stuff together, then use the adhesive pad from TCSS to stick the LED to the heat sink. I left the lens holder loose, as when you screw the heat sink and LED/lens assembly in, you can tighten everything down. Plus, by not mounting the lens permanently, i can swap for a different lens in the future if needed.

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[engineer3.14]

Ok, last post for the night then I'm clocking out.

Basic layout:

Here's my saber guts (I have my 2 cell bottom end in the pic for reference. 3 cell end should be coming Monday):

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-holder at the front
-battery holder with piggy backed MR board in the middle
-extra space in the end for speaker that I have on order: http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/Premium-Speaker-P77.aspx

It will be a tight fit, but should work. I hope my pololu board is not too big, cause I'm strapped for space as it is.

I'm open to ideas if someone knows a better way to do this!

[engineer3.14]

Got my new speaker last night from TCSS. Sounds great!

Have been going back and forth as to what I should do for the power supply. I've read where other guys have run these MR boards off of 6v; which is what I'd like to due such that I have max power potential for my LED, at the same time, I don't want to burn up my board by overdriving it.

Has anyone worked with a MR 2007 Luke ANH board running it off of 6v?

[engineer3.14]

Made lots of progress over the weekend. Including fabricating my own Graflex 3 cell bottom end. Here's the process:

1. Start with piece of 4.6"L, 1.5" OD (.06" ID) stainless steel tube

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2. Had this caped with a piece of .125" thick stainless steel. (.125" is thick enough to cut threads to hold the D ring)

3. Next I measured the old 2 cell end for the vertical portions of the slots and marked off the areas with masking tape

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3. Cut the vertical slot with my angle grinder (using cutoff wheel)

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4. Measured and cut horizontal portion of the slot. Since this is not a dueling saber, I simplied the slot. The original graflex design has an added step. My saber went together fine without using this. (sorry, missed getting a picture of this step)

Finished end matches up very well.

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This was alot easier than I thought it would be. I would recommed an angle grinder for this over a dremel. The larger cutoff wheel really helped me get a smooth cut.

p.s. You will need to do a slot on both sides of the tube.

[engineer3.14]

trying to find if anyone else is running a Luke ANH MR board off a 6v battery pack...

[engineer3.14]

After having no luck finding a good authority to tell me if I can run my Luke ANH MR board at 6v I went ahead and wired in a voltage regulator that knocks it down to 5v.

Things coming together...

[Jay-gon Jinn]

I have run over fifty MR FX boards on 6volt battery packs over the years, your be fine without the regulator, it it certainly won't hurt anything.

[engineer3.14]

Jay-gon-

Thanks so much! I kinda figured, but those boards aren't cheap and I didn't want to burn mine up. Really appreciate it!

[engineer3.14]

Sorry that I kinda fell off the map on this thread. I did in fact finish the saber and am thrilled with how it turned out. Took in out trick-or-treating with my kids on Halloween and had great reactions from folks as we went from house to house. Learned a ton from the build. here are the pics:

-MR FX soundboard
-Seoul P4 blue LED
-Pololu latching switch pcb
-CSS blade holder
-thin wall blade with clear poly inner wrapping
-Genuine Graflex clamp and top end
-Custom bottom end aka "I can't afford $300 for an ebay graflex"

http://i1330.photobucket.com/albums/w569/cscarroll2/IMG_2615_zps7bdd713a.jpg (http://s1330.photobucket.com/user/cscarroll2/media/IMG_2615_zps7bdd713a.jpg.html)

http://i1330.photobucket.com/albums/w569/cscarroll2/IMG_2619_zpsfc23c2aa.jpg (http://s1330.photobucket.com/user/cscarroll2/media/IMG_2619_zpsfc23c2aa.jpg.html)

http://i1330.photobucket.com/albums/w569/cscarroll2/IMG_2616_zpsa92efe35.jpg (http://s1330.photobucket.com/user/cscarroll2/media/IMG_2616_zpsa92efe35.jpg.html)

http://i1330.photobucket.com/albums/w569/cscarroll2/IMG_2620_zpsaec57521.jpg (http://s1330.photobucket.com/user/cscarroll2/media/IMG_2620_zpsaec57521.jpg.html)

[engineer3.14]

btw Special THANK YOU to the seasoned sabersmiths who replied to my build thread on this guy an answered my noob questions.

[A Pieroway]

Hi,
Regarding the Pololu board, did you get the LV (low voltage) or SV (standard voltage?) version?
And, to confirm, you put the switch that came with it under the red button? Or did you use some other switch?
Any chance you can post a few close up pics of the switch assembly to give me and others some ideas where you ended up. It's odd that TCSS doesn't have some component that they could sell for just this issue we all come to eventually when converting a Graflex flash to a sabre. :)
Thanks,
Al

[engineer3.14]

Al-

Thanks for the question.

I used the low voltage version. Found here:

http://www.pololu.com/product/751

You'll want to confirm based on which battery you are running. But that worked for me. I think the range is broad enough that you can get some good battery options.

Yes, you can use the stock redbutton that comes with the Graflex top end.

Will see what I can do on some pics...

[engineer3.14]

Here's my switch that I put under the redbutton. The two wires go back to the Pololu board.http://i1330.photobucket.com/albums/w569/cscarroll2/20130630_162356_zpscd968433.jpg (http://s1330.photobucket.com/user/cscarroll2/media/20130630_162356_zpscd968433.jpg.html)

I used a scrap piece of electronics board to solder my switch too. Need to insulate the back of this so that if you have solder points on the back of the board they don't short out on the metal blade holder.

[engineer3.14]

http://i1330.photobucket.com/albums/w569/cscarroll2/20130630_162350_zps89aebf72.jpg (http://s1330.photobucket.com/user/cscarroll2/media/20130630_162350_zps89aebf72.jpg.html)

another pic

[The Grey Elf]

Wow, using the scrap board was a stroke of genius. When I did my Empire Strikes Back version (http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com/showthread.php?16291-Finally-finished-my-graflex!!!) which I just finished and posted a few days ago, I ended up just packing the hole with excess electrical tape, to basically fill it up and keep the Polalu button stable and upright. Seeing this I may have to track down some board and steal a trick from your book!

[engineer3.14]

Thanks Grey Elf! Necessity is the mother of invention.

[A Pieroway]

thanks!
pretty much what I expected you had done, but yes, the scrap board was a great idea. i figured i'd just use a plastic disc or something, but like your idea better.
al :)

[engineer3.14]

Yep. sounds like you got the idea. Lot's of ways to skin that cat, just need to allow for some trial error to get the switch to lay where you want it under the black graflex button.