Battle Damage (aka Happy Accident...)

[Darth Nurse]

So, as the immortal Bob Ross said "There are no mistakes, just happy accidents."

Well, when I picked a spot for my blade retention screw, I paid no attention to the thickness of the material in that spot. The spot is too thin and does not hold a screw by enough threads for my piece of mind. So, instead of simply drilling another and having an eyesore screw hole there... I took the nuclear option...

Marked out my area.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v280/jinx667/IMG_3861_zpsdheb9hyu.jpg

After Dremel and file work.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v280/jinx667/IMG_3862_zps0tj4oelm.jpg

Good ole Aluminum Black...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v280/jinx667/IMG_3865_zpsluegfcp3.jpg

Now we are in business with my first blaster damage/window mod!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v280/jinx667/IMG_3869_zps7hasxrqb.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v280/jinx667/IMG_3866_zpsupjpcyi8.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v280/jinx667/IMG_3868_zpsmq1gpsy7.jpg

[Strydur]

Looks great

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

I agree with Strydur, that came out great!

[amwolf]

Wonderful detail work.

[Jenny]

Nice job thinking about where the ejecta would strike, as well!

[Darth Nurse]

Looks great

Thank you, Tim (and everyone else)!

I was almost going to just order a new emitter and do it the right way, then the idea popped in to give this a shot.

[NanoRex]

Blaster damage...I always wondered what gouges like this were supposed to be. That actually makes a lot of sense. I've always been confused when people added damage like this because metal would never look like that from normal damage. Works well for a blaster bolt though!

Just curious, how thick was the material section with the screw? I also have mine in a very thin section of my blade holder and I'm wondering if it might be problematic.

[jbkuma]

Nice recovery and great work!

[Darth Nurse]

Blaster damage...I always wondered what gouges like this were supposed to be. That actually makes a lot of sense. I've always been confused when people added damage like this because metal would never look like that from normal damage. Works well for a blaster bolt though!

Just curious, how thick was the material section with the screw? I also have mine in a very thin section of my blade holder and I'm wondering if it might be problematic.

Yeah, I'd imagine it have to be a stronger than normal blaster (like a Wookie bowcaster) and a spot like that it would have been stopped/deflected by the blade, so the saber itself would not be taken out of commission. I figure the jedi left the mark as a reminder.

The material was thin enough that 2/3 of a 1/8" set screw was still sticking out. It would fall out with less than a half turn.

[Darth Nurse]

Nice job thinking about where the ejecta would strike, as well!

Thank you. I figured with this hitting the emitter, then the blade underneath there would be blast outward as well.

[NanoRex]

Wow, that's definitely too thin. Glad you found a good solution :)

Mine fits about two threads of an 8-32 screw so I think I should be fine.

[hapki]

Great idea. It looks awesome. I've tried to translate my mistakes into battle damage before, but the more I work, the worse the mistake gets. I see that you weatered the battle damage. That makes all the difference in the world! I've definitely learned something from you.

[Darth Nurse]

MUCH better retention screw spot!

15330

[Darth Nurse]

Great idea. It looks awesome. I've tried to translate my mistakes into battle damage before, but the more I work, the worse the mistake gets. I see that you weatered the battle damage. That makes all the difference in the world! I've definitely learned something from you.

Thanks. It takes the weathering to really make the work fit in. In the first pic you'll see that I have two sets of marks. One roughly for the hole, and the other as a sculpting stop point. Then, as I carved, I just always kept on mind the center of the blast and direction. Even after all that, the non weathered pic still does not look great, the aluminum black really set it off. It's a combo of weathering and burn/scorch marking.

[Darth Nurse]

Wow, that's definitely too thin. Glad you found a good solution :)

Mine fits about two threads of an 8-32 screw so I think I should be fine.

Yeah, sounds like your setup is solid.