GRAFLEX Red Button and Glass Eye Thread SIZE/PITCH ?

[Ridire Fíréan]

Hey Gang! Does anyone know what the GRAFLEX Red Button and Glass Eye thread size/pitch is?

I need to buy a tap to adapt a Red Button to a GRAFLEX style TCSS MHS Blade holder but I'm having difficulty finding the info on the threading.

Just to be lightsaber crystal clear, I'm trying to adapt a working GRAFLEX Red Button by drilling out the whole and tapping it so that I can screw the button into the blade holder and wire it to be a functioning aux button. I'm not looking for the 10-32 threading of a Red Button Thumbscrew as that's already drilled and tapped there from TCSS.

If anyone knows the answer, please let me know what it is.

[Tom Tilmon]

Most hardware stores have pitch/thread gauges in their bolt sections. Take a red button/glass eye to the hardware store and gauge it.

Tom

[Tom Tilmon]

I measured mine for a project; however, couldn't find the right tap, and without a tube having a flat surface for tapping, I was afraid you wouldn't have enough threads to hold it in. In other words, I don't think you can tap a standard MHS tube and have this work. Perhaps adding a box/switch plate and tapping through it would work. Would love to see your plans, because I have tons of these buttons and glass eyes laying around!

Tom

[ARKM]

The tap size for a real Graflex eye/real red button is 5/8-24 and Tom, you do not need a flat surface for tapping whatsoever. I have tapped many a cylindrical surface including an MHS blade holder with a 5/8"-24 tap. It's super easy.

[rlobrecht]

I tapped a MHS pommel with no issues (8-32).

[Ridire Fíréan]

Thanks @ARKM ! I really appreciate the info! Tomorrow's going to be an order tools day!

Hey @Tom Tilmon ! You can check out my plans here.... https://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=280938&p=4306114

I still haven't figured out how to post pictures here yet, I click the icon, select the file, and get a red exclamation point with no explination why every time I try to upload the files. Go figure.

I wish TCSS would get Bunny Ears back in stock soon though, the longer it takes me get the parts for the outside of this lightsaber, the more elaborate my designs for the inside become. Now I'm looking at Bluetooth Modules for Wireless R.I.C.E.. I have drawn a blueprint for nearly every piece of this thing (outside AND inside) so that when I get everything figured out space/location-wise I'll be able to take a swing at the Fusion 360 free trial and see if I can get a Crystal Chamber and Chassis rendered in 3D. I'd like to get it printed in plastic (to make certain it all fits together) and if I can afford it, I hope to have it made in bronze from Shapeways. The other day started me to thinking about how to run a wire down the inside of the blade holder so that if I could figure out the button threading (THANKS AGAIN ARKM!) I could actually have the Red Button be my AUX Button. This might all be for naught though if I can't figure out how to get the wire past/through the LED Module. This morning it was how to get glow in the dark powder and SMD LEDs inside a crystal. That one's gonna be EPIC if I can get it to look the way I want it to. Like I said, wait time has not been my friend. If I can pull all of this off, it will be one of the coolest 1st Lightsaber Builds I can emagine.

Hey @rlobrecht ! You put a Red Button in a pommel? You might be crazier than I am! ;) Why'd you pick 8-32 ?

[Tom Tilmon]

Thanks Arkm!/Tom. Lots of Toms. I have tapped standard stuff too on MHS pommels, I was talking about the larger diameter of the graflex buttons, not the retention ones, but the normal buttons. If Arkm says it can be done, than it can. Home Crepot didn't have taps that big, so I may have to get them online. I finally found a 4-40 tap at my local hardware store, and I put that to use. I tapped a lot of stuff tonight! I'm working on a MHS Nihilus-esque hilt for a Garrison mate. its coming out awesome!!!!!

Tom

[Tom Tilmon]

Thanks @ARKM ! I really appreciate the info! Tomorrow's going to be an order tools day!

Hey @Tom Tilmon ! You can check out my plans here.... https://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=280938&p=4306114

I still haven't figured out how to post pictures here yet, I click the icon, select the file, and get a red exclamation point with no explination why every time I try to upload the files. Go figure.

I wish TCSS would get Bunny Ears back in stock soon though, the longer it takes me get the parts for the outside of this lightsaber, the more elaborate my designs for the inside become. Now I'm looking at Bluetooth Modules for Wireless R.I.C.E.. I have drawn a blueprint for nearly every piece of this thing (outside AND inside) so that when I get everything figured out space/location-wise I'll be able to take a swing at the Fusion 360 free trial and see if I can get a Crystal Chamber and Chassis rendered in 3D. I'd like to get it printed in plastic (to make certain it all fits together) and if I can afford it, I hope to have it made in bronze from Shapeways. The other day started me to thinking about how to run a wire down the inside of the blade holder so that if I could figure out the button threading (THANKS AGAIN ARKM!) I could actually have the Red Button be my AUX Button. This might all be for naught though if I can't figure out how to get the wire past/through the LED Module. This morning it was how to get glow in the dark powder and SMD LEDs inside a crystal. That one's gonna be EPIC if I can get it to look the way I want it to. Like I said, wait time has not been my friend. If I can pull all of this off, it will be one of the coolest 1st Lightsaber Builds I can emagine.

Hey @rlobrecht ! You put a Red Button in a pommel? You might be crazier than I am! ;) Why'd you pick 8-32 ?

That is a crazy awesome saber...grafluki!!!! I love it! That is totally awesome.

Tom

[rlobrecht]

Hey @rlobrecht ! You put a Red Button in a pommel? You might be crazier than I am! ;) Why'd you pick 8-32 ?

No, not a red button, just a bunch of screws. I mentioned that it was 8-32 because its relatively big and coarse pitched (although nowhere near red button size).