Honing a Hasbro 2007 Luke ROTJ emitter

I'm all but done converting a Hasbro 2007 Luke ROTJ, but I realized that the hole for the blade is much narrower than any other Force FX I've ever worked with. Being able to remove the emitter for honing on a lathe would make things easier (because sanding is a bootch), but I can't get it off the way I have been able to remove Master Replica Luke ROTJ emitters in the past. (I've converted several of those, but this is my first time converting the Hasbro, and I've gotten a few surprises!)

Is there some trick to getting the emitter off, or is it not removable. It looks like there's a seam between the emitter and the rest of the hilt, but I can budge it with strap wrenches. Would spraying some adhesive solvent and letting it sit a while make a difference? It's not my saber, so I don't want to damage it in any way, and I'm worried that adhesive solvent might ruin the faux copper paint.
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For what it's worth, I photographed the whole conversion process, since there is no tutorial and I thought I might make one to post here, assuming there's a demand for such a thing.

Answering my own question (again). I finally got it off, but not at the place I expected to. I used two strap wrenches to get it off, but I had an unpleasant surprise. It turns out the matte finish on the ribbed section is not a part of the metal itself, but is actually some kind of lacquer. In the process of removing the emitter, some of the matte finish came off, revealing glossy metal underneath. Now I have to find some way to restore the matte finish. *sigh*

Now I see why no one talks about converting Hasbro Luke ROTJs: It's surprisingly difficult to do without damaging the saber. (I also broke the card covering the control panel. Fortunately, I had an extra card from a Master Replica's Luke ROTJ lying around to replace it with.) I'm doing this conversion for someone else (which is why I'm concerned about cosmetic damage), but I don't think I'll accept any more requests to convert this particular saber in the future. It's more trouble than it's worth.
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I know it doesn't help now, but I have converted a couple of Hasbro sabers in the past few weeks, yes the emitter does come loose where you think it does. I actually ended up using two rubber gloves to help with grip and giving it a hard twist until it came loose. If the saber's emitter has never been taken off they use a 'loctite' kind of tape on the threads, thats why it's tough to get it loose. Also the copper section can come unscrewed from the emitter if it ever comes off first, Ive had to do that to get some fitting things right in conversions I've done.

Thanks for the info! Do you know if the ribbed section can also be unscrewed from the lower part of the hilt? They seem to be made of different metals.

In the Master Replica version the ribbed section can be unscrewed from the lower part.
I believe it can be done in the Hasbro version as well.

Thank you, Don Se Wion! That will make it easier to clean up the ribbed section on the lathe.