Shroud material and the polishing of MHS parts

[strengthofrage]

So I have my MHS parts (awesome) and I am now searching for tubing to dremel some shroud pieces. I was looking for aluminum and brass tubing but apparently those aren't available at Home Depot. After searching for a while I settled for the ever faithful sink tube. I was really trying to stay away from this though after seeing how nice the MHS parts look but I dont think I have a choice. Does anyone know of a place to get brass and aluminum tubing? If not, does anyone know of an effective way to remove the chrome on the sink tube and get it down to the brass without leaving nasty gouges?

Second question is about polishing the MHS aluminum parts, any suggestions on what to use? I was thinking Mothers aluminum polish and my dremel, seems to work for the aluminum pieces for my car...

Thanks

[Jonitus]

You can go to onlinemetals.com for brass and aluminum tubing. Be warned, that the MHS was designed to fit inside 22 gauge sinktubes, and the stuff at online metals is thicker and won't fit without modification to to your MHS pieces in terms of diameter.

I remove the chrome and copper plating from sinktubes by good old fashioned 80 grit sandpaper and elbow grease. You can then sand with finer grits until the brass is nice and shiny.

As far as the MHS, I wet sand my pieces with 600, 800, 1000, 1500, 2000 grit papers and then many, many coats of Mothers with a soft rag.

[strengthofrage]

Thanks for the tip, I have a ton of sand paper laying around. Been waiting for a reason to use it.

What do you think about sand blasting? I have a sand booth at my shop...

Also, I remember seeing one of your sabers Jonitus and you used the foil rub stuff for it... does that work well?

[Jonitus]

I wouldn't sand blast the sink tube. It is thin and would heat up too much and distort. Not to mention, the finish would be really, really hard to smooth out after blasting.

The foil works really well, provided you have a smooth surface to apply it to and you take your time. I also recommend metal leafing. You can pick up gold, copper, silver leafing from a Hobby Lobby or something and the "sizing" (spray adhesive for it). It works slick. If you seal it with a clear epoxy, it is well protected and lasts a long time. My customers are pleased with it.

[strengthofrage]

The leafing sounds cool. Would that work well with the sink tube after a bit of sanding to scuff the chrome?

I am looking for 2 colors on the shroud, the base shroud will be black and there will be a smaller top shroud that lays over the black, that I wanted to make bronze. I guess the gold leaf might work for that.

Also, I dabble in custom action figures, to get a good shiney bronze/gold you can use 2 layers of spray, 1st layer silver and the second layer clear yellow. It makes a great shiney finish. I thought of spraying the chrome tube with the clear yellow. I may have to test a few and toss em before I do the final shroud.

[Jonitus]

That's a good idea to test it before doing your final version. Heck, I buy 1.5" sinktubes by the BOX at my local Lowe's. I'm enough of a perfectionist that I tend to toss 5 or 6 before coming to my final version I think is good enough for a saber.

Give the leafing a shot. I think it is an untapped resource for our hobby.

A really cool way to polish it is with a piece of nylon from pantyhose. It takes a very gentle touch, but it will smooth out the leafing and bring it to a luster. You have to be really careful because leafing is mere microns (millionths of a meter) in thickness.

[Darth Tollo]

On this note:
Is there a sink pipe that is not that ugly copper inside? I want to do a black saber with a chrome (or silver) shroud but when you cut sink tube, it reveals a nasty underside and edges.

[strengthofrage]

Thanks Jonitus. I'll give it a go. I'm sure I can swipe some panty hose from my girlfriend. She wont understand but I think as long as I dont wear them she will be ok with it.

[strengthofrage]

Also, for the rough edges on the sink tube Tollo... if you have a dremel you can use the sanding barrel bit, hold it at an angle and take out the underside of the edge. Just dont do too mutch too fast, heat leaves a mark.

[Darth Tollo]

I'll give that a shot. Thank you.

[vortextwist]

I made a piece to attach to my drill and an old mhs bladeholder and a 2 inch section and put a couple screws in the sinktube and mhs and sanded that way. worked pretty good. about 15-20 min had all the chrome off the sinktube. I used 600 grit wed/dry sandpaper.
http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/forum/album_pic.php?pic_id=32

[Obi-Dar Ke-Gnomie]

If you're looking for good shroud material, pay a visit to your local scrap yard. I went out last Saturday, and they had bins and bins of the stuff.

I poked around for about half an hour and came away with a nice series of copper and brass tubes that all nicely fit together.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2007-1/1236148/copper_3.jpg

I got enough material to do three sabers. There are endless design possibilities with stuff like this.

[Angelus Lupus]

I freaking LOVE the colour on that copper!

[Obi-Dar Ke-Gnomie]

I know. I can't wait to get working on it. Only two things stand it my way;

Money is tight right now, and Christmas is coming. The only way I can afford the parts I need is if I can sell some stuff on Ebay. I have a collection of about 200 novelty neck ties that I've been gathering for years. I decided to sell off all but a few of my favorites. If I can even clear a couple of bucks per tie, I should be able to afford to play again.

The second thing is space. I don't have a workshop, so all of my Dremel work has to be done outside. Winter is just around the corner. In fact, they have called for 15 cm (6") of snow tonight. So I need to find a warm, dry place to work.

So, in the mean time, I think I'll just upgrade my current saber. It will be cheaper, and I don't need the Dremel to do what I want.