Build: Starkiller Graflex 2.0 Conversion
Hey Folks,
I found myself in possession of a spare (and very blemished) Graflex 2.0 top, red button retention screw and bunny ears so I thought that I'd embark on crafting something very close to the 'canon' interpretation of the Starkiller saber. Thanks to the generosity of Jesse Kirkbride of Kyberphonic Fonts, I procured a spare 7/8 blade holder and lower section that was already drilled out for a full shine-through glass eye. The rest of the parts required include:
ONEREPLICAS low-profile control box with 2 switches and card
KRSabers Graflex 2.0 glass eye
MHS pommel 10
4 short Graflex pins
a handful of 4-40 slotted screws
1 spare Graflex clamp washer
six 6-32 hexdrive screws
2 12" 1/8 square brass tubing (solid keystock is preferable but strangely hard to find where I live.)
Aluminum Black (and zero qualms about beating the heck out of a saber hilt)
7G Sabers LS6 Chassis (it's amazing how well the crystal reveal from this chassis works as a Starkiller chamber)
1.5 cm quartz crystal
Arms of Illum Graflex 2.0 chassis
Goth3d rotary kill key
Solo's Hold Neopixel battery (I had an old 10A unit lying around from a previous install)
Proffieboard 2.2
eBay 28mm 4 ohm 3w bass speaker
2.1mm recharge port
TCSS Neopixel connector and 7/8 holder
TCSS DV6 style 7/8 blade plug.
First cut of the upper half
https://i.imgur.com/Rw9Xz33.jpg
Inner core cut
https://i.imgur.com/RliUvkP.jpg
Test fit of crystal chamber. I had this lying around from a failed install (the chassis broke when I was installing it and I thought, what if this fits? And it did, perfectly. I didn't cut the upper or the core to match this piece, it was just a happy coincidence. For the final install I ended up flipping the orientation so the crystal was on top of what I'm calling the 'power feed chamber.'
https://i.imgur.com/3d1Vbbc.jpg
First round of weathering with Aluminum Black. I'd never actually used the stuff before and was surprised at two things: how well it worked and how much it stank.
https://i.imgur.com/9v2Gg8G.jpg
Mounted control box. It comes with a variety of clamp cards, two momentary swiches, mounting screws and a tiny set screw for the card itself. This is a great product, the slots for the switches are nicely milled and the unit is very clicky and tactile. This is a great addition to any saber that needs a control box.
https://i.imgur.com/fiGy3Wz.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/gZOhpTM.jpg
Final Crystal Chamber. I have a bag of random brass, copper and aluminum tubing and found a good candidate for the chamber rods. Once I cut them to length and shaped the ends with the sanding drum, I used my drill as a poor-mans lathe to cut the grooves in each rod. Once the grooves were cut, the rods were expoxied to the inner core and more Aluminum Black was applied (especially to the grooves) to give it that nice carbon-scored look.
https://i.imgur.com/FxmAer7.jpg
Lower section progress. I removed the old adhesive from the Graflex grips and filled the grip alignment holes with JBWeld. Once the JBWeld cured, I used my Dremel with a sanding drum to create wear marks and exposed brass for the Aluminum Black to react to. The MHS pommel doesn't screw in, of course, so I ground down the threads and expoxied it to the Graflex 2.0 lower section, leaving a nice double reveal to accentuate the trim ring. A 'canon' Starkiller has a tapered section from the pommel to the lower half but I decided that the details on MHS Pommel 10 looked too good to cover up, so I went for a slightly modified look.
https://i.imgur.com/GhIciAx.jpg?1
Grips detail. I couldn't find any 1/8 brass key stock locally and didn't want to wait for some to arrive from the Internet, so I used hollow square 1/8 brass instead. The tubes were cut with the Dremel and the ends tapered and rounded so there are no rough edges to cut or catch the hand while holding the saber. I aligned the grips to the control box and used (you guessed it) epoxy to secure them to the lower section. Once the grips were secured, I used the drum to randomly rough up the grips and give the Aluminum Black different textures and finishes to react to.
https://i.imgur.com/LpXzn3r.jpg
Crystal chamber with lighting. Three pixels are behind the lower grill section and one is lighting the crystal from above. The crystal, grill and blade are all individually controlled and styled.
https://i.imgur.com/wDZlDCZ.jpg
The final product, disassembled. The blade plug is a DV6 style cut down to fit flush in the relatively shallow blade depth available to a Starkiller. Three 3535 pixels are inside for illumination.
https://i.imgur.com/Bh95PUW.jpg
Beauty shots
https://i.imgur.com/zz3Tese.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/NZmK8V0.jpg
Demo video
https://youtu.be/vmzIMdlx9BE
