First build - Custom Saber from scratch. [Archive]

Rhianolord

12-24-2015, 10:07 AM

Ok, so with the new Star Wars movie coming out and my love of building things, I wanted to build a light saber. So, I asked my industrial design professor if I could build one for my final project in my Advanced Prototyping and Manufacturing class. His answer was a resounding "H*** YES"!!! I'm very new to the saber building scene, but I knew that I wanted to build mine from scratch. At my university, I have access to Bridgeport style mills and a few floor lathes. Ive had enough experience on these machines to feel confident that I could build one. After browsing the web and a few sketches in my sketch book, I honed in on a design/form factor that appealed to me. At this point, I must give an acknowledgement and a shout out to Rob Petkau at Genisiscustomsaber.com, the style/design I went with was inspired by his Corren Horn light saber.

This lightsaber is still under construction.
Currently its it about 90% completion (its functional, but needs a few kinks and finishing touches added.)
I'll post more when I get further along.

(Also, I'm by no means a professional machinist. You may see some setups and tooling methods that are unconventional and not necessarily what should be done. I tried to accomplish this lightsaber with the tools, fixtures and understanding that I have. Just about every step thing I did was done for the first time. I did do practice passes and test piece through out, because I only made one of each piece/component and I was a on tight deadline.)

(Lastly, I'm not an Industrial Design student, im working on my architecture degree and im not good at sketching, so be gentle...)

After buying all the electrical components and the blade, I got to work with the sketching...
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This design is the one I went with.
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After modeling the saber in some 3D software and making some CAD drawings, it was time to get my hands dirty.

My hilt breaks down in to into 6 main pieces... Pommel, Grip, Switch Sleeve, Switch Block, Emitter Sleeve and Emitter.

If you have any questions, let me know and Ill do my best to answer.

Rhianolord

12-24-2015, 10:21 AM

The pommel is made from 316 Stainless Steel. I choose stainless for its weight and anti corrosive characteristics. Its a pain in the A** to machine, but I love a challenge.

It started as a 2" hex bar stock.

Roughing the general profile...
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Boring the inside (lots of cutting fluid)...
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Further boring of inside profile...
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Inside profile mostly finished...
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This end of the outside profile finished...
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Rhianolord

12-24-2015, 10:33 AM

Continuation of the pommel build...

Starting the pommel groove detail...
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Pommel groove and bottom finished...
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After parting the pommel from the hex bar stock, I had to turn the inside of the unfinished (bottom) end of the pommel.
Here the pommel is held in a 3" 3-jaw chuck which is held by a independent 4-jaw chuck. (might not be the best method, but it worked well for what i needed)
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Finished end of the bottom of the pommel.
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CET

12-24-2015, 10:36 AM

Jealous. I have a soldering iron and a dremmel. :neutral:

Cire Yeldarb

12-24-2015, 10:51 AM

Fascinating to see your process!

Ty_Bomber

12-24-2015, 11:04 AM

Beautiful pieces, and great that you're doing it from scratch!

Rhianolord

12-24-2015, 11:11 AM

Ill post more today, sorry its taking longer than i thought to post this stuff...

Rhianolord

12-24-2015, 12:49 PM

After the pommel was "mostly" done, I had to move on to building the grip. The grip was made from 6061 seamless aluminum tube. Rough stock size was 1.25" ID and 1.5" OD. The inside diameter was governed by the size of the speaker and soundboard. The final outside diameter would be about 1.375", which I found to be the most comfortable grip size.

Squaring up the aluminum tube on the lathe between a 4-jaw ind. chuck and live center using a dial gauge.
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The grip after turning the tube to 1.375" and adding a shoulder on the upper end where the switch sleeve will attach.
Preparing for the knurling...
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Grip after the knurling... (I did a test knurl on some scrap stock before I did the final piece. You can see where the knurl started and wasn't completely engaged, oh well...)
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After parting the grip from the stock and test fitting with the pommel.
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Rhianolord

12-24-2015, 01:18 PM

Here is the mill setup I used the most for this build. Pictured here is a 3-jaw chuck mounted in the spindex which is all mounted in a milling vice. This "spindex" is a milling attachment that allows you to rotate stock 360 degrees about its center at 1 degree increments. Its great when you have mill or drill in round stock. For this part of the build, I needed to drill 6 holes at 60 degree increments around the base of the grip which would be threaded for fasteners to attach the pommel.
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Using 1/8" 3-flute milling bit to mill a flat spot for each hole, this helps to keep the drill bit from wandering off center.
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After milling a flat spot at each hole, using a centering drill to drill pilot holes.
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After threading the holes in the grip and the counter-boring holes in the pommel. (Sorry, I forgot to take photos of me milling the pommel. I got too excited and wanted to finish it.)
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Close up of the pommel and grip attachment. The screws are 6-32x1/4" anodized aluminum socket cap screws, complements of McMastercarr.com
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Cire Yeldarb

12-24-2015, 01:59 PM

I was actually just about to ask based on your last post how you are attaching the pommel to the grip, but you've just answered that!

I really like the color on those screws!

Greenie

12-24-2015, 02:52 PM

I'm loving this thread. Can't wait to see the final product. :mrgreen:

cannibal869

12-24-2015, 03:23 PM

ditto that ^^ strong work so far!

FenixFire

12-24-2015, 09:25 PM

Miraluka

12-24-2015, 09:31 PM

I'm super jealous, here. Great looking pieces.

Rhianolord

12-25-2015, 03:32 PM

I'll try to get the remainder of the build photos after tChristmas because I'm traveling.

Rhianolord

12-27-2015, 03:21 PM

At that point in the build, the grip still needed to have external threads cut into the upper end. But because I had never cut threads using a lathe before, I put off doing that so I could make progress on the next piece, the switch sleeve. Ideally, I would have made this part from bronze, but with the budget and deadline a concern, i had to make other arrangements. I had a piece of 2" round brass bar stock left over from a previous project, so that suited fine. I prefer the darker orangish-brown color of bronze over the yellowish color of brass. I had worked with brass in the past so I was comfortable working with it again. (for those of you that don't know, brass is wonderful material to machine. its relatively soft compared to steel and has a very nice surface finish. i know that brass and aluminum are not technically galvanicly compatibly, but I don't foresee their application for this build to be of too much concern.)

After surfacing the face and supporting the stock with the live center.
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Roughing down the profile...
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Another view of the part...
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Looking for 1.5" OD... I think thats close enough :)
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Carefully chamfering the edge before boring the out the middle. (this is the part where I might have to say don't follow my example. A seasoned machinist might argue that I have way too much "unsupported" stock for this particular setup. I made sure the cuts very slow and light.)
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Rhianolord

12-27-2015, 04:06 PM

Continuing with the switch sleeve... Not pictured are the successive drill bores that I did prior to getting to this point. I believe this is after the first or second pass with the boring bar.
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Sorry for the poor quality of this photo, its a still frame from a video I did of this boring pass(bad practice, don't follow my example. Getting up close and personal with a metal lathe is beyond extremely dangerous. The metal lathe is one of the the only shop tools that can literally kill you if something bad happens... anyway, enough morbid stuff. This was just before the finishing pass, so I had some confidence that no issues would arise and I had someone else operating the controls.)
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The keen eyed observer might notice that while this is the same part, its now being held by a 4-jaw chuck instead of the 3-jaw chuck and there are some gouges on the inside of the brass sleeve. Well my friends, this is what happens when your part comes loose on the lathe. After I finished the inside profile, I needed cut the switch sleeve from the remainder of the stock. Instead of leaving it on the lathe, securing the other end with the live center and using my parting tool, I choose the harder and dumber route. I opted to remove the switch sleeve from the lathe and use the smaller 3-jaw chuck(same setup used to finish the pommel's bottom end). I wanted to do it this way so I could hold the switch sleeve and on inside instead of the outside and cut the remaining stock from the other end. Anyway, when I brought the parting tool into switch sleeve, the smaller 3-jaw chuck was not tight enough to hold it and it slipped off. No real harm was done, except for the gouges on the inside.
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Here is a close up of the damage. Luckily, this was the end that the emitter would slide into and i had not made that part yet. I would like to note that this did not occur during a filming session. It happened because I didn't check to make sure everything was tightened down properly.:eek:
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After I re-bored out the switch sleeve, its looking better. I think I had removed an additional .020" to get it down to this point. No big deal really. Live and learn.
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Rhianolord

12-27-2015, 04:29 PM

What university are you at? Most ID programs have dropped the hand prototyping skills for makerbots or cubes. It is refreshing to see that some of the programs are still teaching some of the hand skills.

BTW from a 15 year ID vet, your sketches are not that bad. The only issue that stands out at an initial look are the ellipses, work on them and you are in good shape. Honestly your sketches are as good as most of the first semester juniors that I mentor.

I go to North Carolina State University. I am working on my Master's of Architecture degree. While I cannot directly comment on the Industrial Design program, the College of Design at NCSU (which architecture and industrial design are apart of) is very tight knit collection of students and I do have friends in the ID program. Based on my observations, most of the professors and former Dean believe the actual act of building and making is paramount in the design process and physical models are of significant importance. The College of Design has a great shop that fosters that sort of philosophy. The shop has a full wood shop (table saws, band saws, planers, lathes, sander, drill presses, cnc router etc.), metal shop (mills, metal lathes, breaks, benders, shears, bandsaws, 2 CNC mils, CNC plasma cutter, mig and tig welders, etc.) Sorry if that sounds like a plug for the school, I actually work in the shop as TA.

Thanks for the encouragement on the sketches. I don't practice like I should. I make the "bad" excuse that I'm architecture student and don't draw round things that often. Round objects in perspective are the worst.

CET

12-27-2015, 04:31 PM

Luckily that little slip up is on the inside. Mistakes on the outside emotionally traumatize me. The other day I dropped an emitter. I cussed and swore as I watched it hit the ground in seeming slow motion. Now that piece has a little ding on the end. :o

Quixotic Jedi

12-28-2015, 02:57 PM

The pommel is made from 316 Stainless Steel. I choose stainless for its weight and anti corrosive characteristics. Its a pain in the A** to machine, but I love a challenge.

It started as a 2" hex bar stock.

I'm curious why you used hex stock instead of round barstock, was that the only material you had available? Could have saved yourself some time turning and not had to deal with the interrupted cutting of the hex. Just my opinion. Your machining looks really good btw.

Rhianolord

12-28-2015, 03:34 PM

I'm curious why you used hex stock instead of round barstock, was that the only material you had available? Could have saved yourself some time turning and not had to deal with the interrupted cutting of the hex. Just my opinion. Your machining looks really good btw.

Yeah, I would have loved to use round stock. The hex was all I had. It was a real pain in the A** to turn. I broke one of my indexable carbide cutters on it in the beginning. I used a much heavy duty cutter with a brazed-on carbide cutter. That stood up to the abuse of the hex bar much better. Once i got the hang of it, it went ok. I was happy with the results. Thanks for the comments.

Rhianolord

12-29-2015, 12:06 PM

While there were still more things to do the switch sleeve, I was waiting on some parts to come in mail and i couldn't proceed with out them... So I moved to starting the switch block. It was made from a 2" bar of 6061 aluminum.

Here, I only removed enough material to make the part perfectly round.
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First boring hole...
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After the last of my drill bits, time to start using the boring bar.
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After boring to a hair over 1.500". It was time to start milling details of the part. This is the same setup I used earlier to drill the holes in the grip and pommel, only this time I'm doing some end-milling, and drilling and counter boring.
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The switch block after milling 3 flat spots at 120 degree increments around the outside. For those that are curious, I was using a 2-flute solid carbide end mill.
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Rhianolord

12-29-2015, 12:25 PM

Another view after the flat spot were finished...
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Counter boring the holes for the socket cap screws... (3 total; one for each of the round sides.)
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Preparing to drill the 5/8" hole for the switch. I know the bit looks to be in rough shape but this was the only 5/8" end mill I had and I was concerned that the drill bits had wouldn't be accurate or rigid enough.
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The end mill was a bit dull, but punched through without too much fuss. It did leave a bit of a burr on the surface, but nothing a little de-burring couldn't fix.
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Mock up with switch and screws after de-burring, cleaning, light filing and sanding... I was pretty satisfied with the outcome.
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Cire Yeldarb

12-29-2015, 01:15 PM

Seriously loving watching this come together!

Greenie

12-29-2015, 03:50 PM

^^ditto^^. Your giving people ideas about the store's claw mount ;)

Rhianolord

12-30-2015, 12:22 PM

Ok, so now comes the time I have been dreading... Threading. I have done the traditional threading with various taps the dies, but I have never done threading with a lathe. My design calls for the grip and switch sleeve to be screwed into each other. Originally, I thought I could do the threading with a large tap and die set, 1-3/8"x12. I wanted to use the tap and die because of my inexperience with threading on the lathe and if I messed up, I would be screwed(no pun intended). Only after purchasing the tap and die did I realize that it would not work. The depth of the threads (or major diameter) would cut much too deeply into the wall of the grip tube only leaving less than 64th of an inch of material... not good. A thread pitch of 1-3/8"x20 would give yield a much thicker wall thickness, but a tap and die set at that size doesn't exist... So it was time to man up and learn how to thread on a lathe. After a few videos on youtube, it was time to do a few test runs. I decided I would need make a test internal and external 1-3/8"x20" part that I could use as a reference to match the final parts up too. So after a successful reference part, it was time to start threading the grip. (for those interested, I ground my own HHS cobalt lathe blanks for the threading, I did not use pre-ground indexable threading bits.)

Squaring up the grip in the 4-jaw lathe chuck. I used the blue tape help reduce the chances of the jaws marring the surface of the grip.
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Sorry, I forgot to take photos of the process of the threading, but it worked out pretty good. Aluminum is a bit tricky thread perfectly. This part matched up very well with the reference part. The shoulder detail at the base of the threads is there to stop the sleeve at the proper depth.
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Final boring of the inside of the of the switch sleeve. I wanted to remove as much material as possible to keep the weight down a bit.
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After the boring the inside down the proper minor diameter for the threads.
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After the threading finished... I tested screwing the grip into the switch sleeve and removed .001"-.0005" on the spring passes until the fit was just right. I couldn't afford any mistakes at this point.
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Rhianolord

12-30-2015, 12:28 PM

Ok, so before I moved into milling the final touches to the switch sleeve, I did a quick mock up of the parts so far...

Still to build, the emitter and emitter sleeve.

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Rhianolord

12-30-2015, 04:21 PM

So back to the switch sleeve... The switch sleeve ended up being a rather major component in the light saber design. Apart from being the major connection between the emitter and grip. It also has to house the main on/off switch, red LED switch and volume control. The original idea for the lightsaber was for it to have 3 colors, red, blue and pink/purple (Giving the lightsaber a pink option was at the request of my wife ;) and lets be honest, Mace Windu's purple saber is pretty bad a**). Anyway, after a few wiring issues, (im not the best at electrical stuff, i have to figure it out as i go...) I found out that I was only going to be able have the LED work as blue or purple by turning on and off the red. The Red LED was causing the wiring to overheat because of a resistor. When I removed the resistor, the red LED was too intense for to make purple/pink light. So I scratched the red only option and opted for a blue and purple laser, life moves on... Anyway after the switch arrived, I could mill the holes for the it and the potentiometer for the volume control.

Same setup as used before on the mill and using a much newer/shaper 5/8" end mill for the switch hole.
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Closeup of the holes for the screws to pass through...
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Another view before drilling the holes to their final diameter.
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Mounting holes for the switch drilled. (there is a wood block clamped in a second milling vise supporting the end of the switch sleeve. I was concerned that pressure of milling on the sleeve with nothing supporting the end could cause excessive vibration or worse, the part to come off the lathe chuck. Its not the most glamours of setups but it worked rather well.)
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The switch sleeve after milling a channel and slot for the switch to be set within. (for those interested, i milled the channel with a solid carbide 4-flute 1/4" ALTIN end mill and the slot was milled with a solid carbide 2-flute 3/16" end mill.)
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Rhianolord

12-30-2015, 05:11 PM

So now with all the parts up to this point at 90% completion, it was time for another mock up.

Close up of the freshly painted pommel. I painted it with black wrinkle paint; its by the brand VHT and can purchased at auto parts store. The paint was cured by baking in a oven... It was always my intention for the lightsaber to be dark grayish or black. I have the intention of anodizing the aluminum pieces dark grey. I know some are likely to cringe at the thought of this and what not... but I don't want a flashy/shiny looking lightsaber, I want it to have rough, worn looking one. Like its been in few battles...
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Close up of the on/off switch and red LED switch...
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Another view...
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Full shot of the lightsaber up to this point... You may notice that the grip and switch sleeve are not completely screwed together. I made the threaded portion longer than it needed to be with the intention of trim it to size later.
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It felt good to actually hold it in my hand at this point...
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Greenie

12-30-2015, 05:16 PM

Oh man! That is looking good so far......8-)

Cire Yeldarb

12-30-2015, 06:12 PM

^^ditto^^ lol. That is seriously looking awesome! I am a little sad it has to get "un-shiny" but I'm sure it'll look great after the painting as well!

Silver Serpent

12-30-2015, 08:21 PM

That's some fine machine work there. I'm liking the design.

Rhianolord

01-01-2016, 03:09 PM

Now its time to tackle the emitter... My original plan and desire was for the emitter to be built from...wait for it... Titanium(grade 5... the good kind!!)!!! Now before you get too excited to too critical. My current emitter is built from the same 2" 6061 aluminum bar as the switch block. Because this lightsaber is not 100% complete, I still plan on building a titanium emitter to the same spec as the aluminum one. The titanium stock that I ordered had some shipping issues and I did not receive it time for the the lightsaber to be completed on time, so I was forced to take other actions, ie building the emitter from Aluminum.

Why do I want to build the emitter out of titanium?!
"Why not?!" is the real question for me.

I have worked with titanium on the lathe in the past. I made my wife and I's wedding rings and other parts on the lathe, so i have experience turing grade 5 titanium on the lathe(it actually turns rather nicely). Its extremely corrosion resistant, half the weight of steel and very strong. Among metals, it has one of the heights strength to weight ratios. I like it natural color and it very easy to anodize. And lets be honest... it titanium, even the name sounds good. Yes its over the top, yes its expensive, yes its impractical... then again so is building a lightsaber. The entire notion of lightsaber is impractical... but totally awesome at the same time. I have a reputation of doing things a bit over the top...

So I will be building the emitter sometime this winter and posting the results, but for now here is the aluminum emitter build...

Starting with the same 2" 6061 bar stock as before...
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Setting up some profile depths and lengths.
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Another view...
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Roughing the emitter neck down to size.
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Finished with the roughing.
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Rhianolord

01-01-2016, 03:13 PM

Getting the final profile for the head of the emitter...
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After the adding the chamfer detail.
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Rhianolord

01-01-2016, 03:26 PM

After the lathe, I needed to do some milling...

Setting up on the mill to drill the flute/holes in the emitter... (yes, i have the "spindex" mounted vertical on a rotary/indexing table... not best setup but the only way I could achieve my desired goal.
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Closer view of set up.
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Preparing to drill the holes... 12 holes at 30 degree increments.
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After the holes are finished...
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Rhianolord

01-01-2016, 03:48 PM

A bit out of order, but here are 2 mockup photos of the emitter added to the other parts before I drilled the holes. Sorry for any confusion...
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Looking at the blade and emitter closely.
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You'll notice the black part ont he neck of the emitter. This is the only part of the lightsaber I did not build. It is a piece of a anodized aluminum from a gun scope. My original plan was to use some "existing" parts as I could. Previously mentioned, I designed this saber based on a "Corren Horn" inspired saber. I wanted to use and make parts that fit with my desired aesthetic. As to the emitter sleeve, I did have to bore inside diameter wider and chamfer some of the edges.
Overall, I was satisfied with how it turned out.

After the holes were finished, I need the hold the sleeve horizontally to drill and mills a series of holes and openings.

After I drilled the hole for blade thumb screw. This hole would be taped later.
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After drilling the 3 holes for the screws and now milling a clearance slot for the switch nut.
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After finishing on the Mill, I had reattach the emitter to lathe to finish the top profile.
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Rhianolord

01-01-2016, 04:27 PM

So now that all the parts are built, the moment has arrived to start the assembly and wiring....
This was a very exciting moment...

First test assembly of the switch sleeve and emitter...
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Close up of emitter and blade...
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Fully assembled but without electronics...
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Finally holding the full assembled lightsaber... it felt very comfortable in my hand.
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Rhianolord

01-01-2016, 04:43 PM

With pretty much all of the machining and building of the hilt completely finished, it was time to bring the lightsaber to life.

Starting the rewire parts of the wiring harness... Im adding an on off switch for the red LED and potentiometer for volume control.
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After wiring the potentiometer..
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Wiring the switch inline with the LED.
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Finished wiring harness... (I also added a quick disconnect to the on/off switch).
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Ill spare the finer details, but after the wiring everything up and assembling, some parts of the harness were shorting out and causing the switches and overall lightsaber to malfunction. After a very long session of research and diagnosis and tinkering, I was able to get the wiring to work but since this was the night before the deadline, I opted to bypass the pot and led switch and just make it functional (light/sound). I have yet to get dive back into the lightsaber, but I will get back to it this winter to finish add the final touches.