slothfurnace's ANH Graflex (Full crystal chassis)

[xl97]

sorry to beat a dead horse here..

but care to share how you turned down those brass nuts?

seems you have them on a threaded rod.. all tightened up and butted up to each other.. all the way up tot he chuck jaws.. (yes?)

on the other side though.. Im a bit stump'd.. I dont see a center in your tail stock or anything.. but more so a MT2/3 drill chuck in your TS?

what is it 'holding/clamping' on to though?

is that a sleeve over the treaded rod? so it spins freely inside?


Thanks

[Matt Thorn]

on the other side though.. Im a bit stump'd.. I dont see a center in your tail stock or anything.. but more so a MT2/3 drill chuck in your TS?

what is it 'holding/clamping' on to though?

is that a sleeve over the treaded rod? so it spins freely inside?

It's too bad slothfurnace didn't make a video of the whole build. I think there are plenty of sabersmiths out there, myself included, who would gladly pay for an annotated DVD. Of course, then we would see a minor boom in second- and third-rate knock-offs that would just make slothfurnace's work look all the better by contrast.

I'm still working with the default setup that came with my lathe, and badly need to get some add-ons.

[Obi-Ben]

Hey Sloth--with all those funky internal components, about how heavy is this hilt going to be? You've given me some neat ideas of how to counterbalance my blades.

[cardcollector]

I dunno about you guys, but this makes me want to go take a machining course!

There is so much detail put into this saber I can't even come up it words to praise it.


Wait. I got it.
superawefusilious increperfecdetailition...

[xl97]

Im just curious as to how he is securing the TS end in the 'drill chuck'

it has to 'spin' somehow...no?

anyways..

I just thought it was a nice trick/tip to pick up..

[Noyl Wendor]

The canister was made out of some aluminum tubing, and capped with a harddrive motor mount that I machined down to fit.

4 AAA rechargeable batteries and my soundboard barely fit. Such that I had to drill that little hole visible in one of the pics above for the vertical capacitor to poke through.

What diamiter was the aluminum tubing? I've been playing around with the idea of working on something like what you have going. I managed to find some 1 1/4 copper tubing that fits nice and snug in the bottom section of the graflex.
BTW slothfurnace....I blame you . I went back and broke down my Graflex to find a way to improve the chassis, took out the sound, cutting, sanding, drill/tapping, lots of stuff I can do better. Your fault . Well at least your fault for inspiring some new ideas.

[Shadar Al'Niende]

There is so much detail put into this saber I can't even come up it words to praise it.


Wait. I got it.
superawefusilious increperfecdetailition...

That's awesome


I tried to pronounce that... i failed....

[slothfurnace]

Im just curious as to how he is securing the TS end in the 'drill chuck'

it has to 'spin' somehow...no?

anyways..

I just thought it was a nice trick/tip to pick up..

Yes, I used the other chuck to hold a piece that i can spin the other end of the threaded rod against.

A minor update with a quick sketch!


This is how I hope it turns out, a quick sketch to see if I like it before I head towards the finish line...



Last night, I decided to work on my switch, the obvious place to put it is in the red button, but how? The switch the graflex shop sent that "supposedly" fits under the red button is way too thick to fit there... what to do?



Ah, I see the mailman has brought me my Pololu latching switch pcb. hello TINY!



After a bit of modification to the original button, it fits great, works great, and I am very pleased with the tactile feel of the snap of the switch under the red button.

I did have to VERY CAREFULLY remove the little dome tab under the red button for the Polulu to fit, but once I did, everything fits like it is supposed to.

[xl97]

awesome.. I thought thats how you did it...but never doing it myself.. I had to ask..

I still thinks its a great tip/trick (yoink)..

Thanks for the reply..

[slothfurnace]

Well folks, after about a week of trying to think of how to interface my switch and detachable blade to the rest of the chassis, I think I have it. Last night I stopped the mental gymnastics and actually started making the interface point a reality.



Here we have my blade adapter, modified with a big notch and filed down in the top channel to be as flat as I can make it. Also visible is my aluminum plug that inserts into the adapter, and outer collar that fits the harddrive platter retainer from the chassis, and also perfectly fits the inside diameter of the graflex housing.



The plug precisely fits snug into the blade adapter. This is where the end of the chassis will plug into the blade adapter and through this, on to the blade and plug.



Why the notch? Well, My Pololu switch, while awesome, does need connection back to the rear of the chassis, and having a quick disconnect wire that I plug in and stuff into the thing isn't the slothfurnace way.

So, we make custom parts, and create a multifunctional feature. This notch both serves to index the angle of my chassis to the saber itself, therefore keeping things in line, and to allow me to use a 3 contact plug (mounted in the chassis front piece) to connect the Pololu to the back of the saber.

The reason for the long wires, is so that I can push the Pololu out to the end of the channel and drop it down so it all fits when I insert it into the graflex top end. The height of the Pololu wouldn't let me mount it in the channel, I have to set it out and down, slide it all in, then once the Pololu reaches the switch hole, I raise it up, and slide the adapter on in under the switch. The wires are coiled that way so that they compress into the adapter channel when the switch board gets closer to the perf board. It BARELY fits. nice and snug.



This was a scrap piece of perf board and a small screw I had in the parts bin. The flatness of the perf board across the top of the adapter channel keeps the plug stationariy up and down, and the notch keeps it stable left and right. I'll notch out on my aluminum end piece to accept the plug, and when it all fits together, it should be nice and snug.

Next up, the actual blade and the non blade light up insert interface. I have the parts, but no pics yet. I need to test it first.