slothfurnace's TOR Consular saber

[slothfurnace]

Image property of BioWare

My wife wants me to make her the double bladed lightsaber that the Jedi Consular uses in BioWare's HOPE trailer for The Old Republic. This saber has been a challenge to begin, as I am not sure how to make the intricate details of the handle section. However, the rest of the saber isn't easy either. For instance, the emitters...



To start with, I decided to take some time and attempt to fashion the emitter ends from a section of scrap stainless steel tubing. I chose stainless over aluminum, because of the way the saber is rendered in the trailer, seems more fitting a finish in the long run than aluminum.



I took the screen capture above and blew it up in photoshop, duplicating it across the appropriate size paper to wrap around the diameter of the tubing.



This wraps around perfectly, and seems to look about right. However, I noticed it would be kind of hard to drill through that, so I used that image as a basis for a template that I printed out and replaced the old one with.



This marks my drill points, and groove for the back of the emitter.



Problem #1 - Holes drilled by hand on curved surfaces tend to wander the drill bit... a bit. Therefore making the holes not quite lined up perfectly. This is a problem, as I will have to connect the holes with slots to form the slots evident in the saber emitter, and they have to be straight, uniform, consistent and even. But, even though I know I will probably have to re do this part, I decide to forge ahead and see what I will learn by finishing it.



I found that using my dremel and cutoff wheel is the easiest, fastest way to cut these slots. One cut at the top of the hole, one at the bottom. If I had a milling machine this would be worlds easier, and more consistent, but I don't have a mill, so I have to do the best I can with what I have.



As you can see, the dremel cutoff wheel approach technically works, but leaves uneven results. I will have to bring some stainless tubing out to the ranch and use the big mill back home for this piece, but for now, I have this to think on.



Three sets of three slots, and a groove at the back. Not terrible, but not up to my standards. I will re do this piece, and make two copies once I get time on the mill back at the ranch. I may go back out and enlarge the slots some to make them all more even, but I will most likely leave this piece alone and move on to a replacement.



Here I had used a mill to cut my slots more accurately, straighter. The edges are kind of rough, I'll sand those out on the lathe. Once those are clean, I'll cut it in two so I have two emitter cans.



One end cap installed, I will have to shorten the emitter can a bit to the right length, but it's getting close to good.



Here's a quick sketch I did showing how I think I am going to make the pieces to make this thing all come together.

[Lawrs1]

Looking good so far Sloth, look forward to seeing it come together

[slothfurnace]

Today, I got out into the garage while it was still early and cool, and decided to get the lathe heated up and turn out some metal for this saber.



I started today with the emitter neck. This is a solid piece of aluminum that goes up into the handle, and up into the emitter can. I also machined the other emitter tip. I have yet to trim the emitter cans down to proper length, so they're both still a little long.



Once I got both emitter necks done, I needed to contour the handles. I start with setting the lowest point of the contour, measuring with my calipers down to 1/8 of an inch. To do the tapers, I'll need to set my angle on my toolpost, and use the crank to bring the tool across at that angle.



However, my crank is a PAIN to use, and has bad results. So I found a hand crank off an old X/Y plate, and drilled two holes into it to fit my crank, now I have a much easier and smoother way to turn this.



The biggest contour done, I had to play with the angles in tiny increments to get the right 1/8 inch in 7 inches slope.



Turned the handle around and dressed out the end where the emitter neck plugs in. Mental note, next time, I should do both contours on the handle before unchucking it. Doing the short angle is pretty difficult when it's not the exact same alignment as the main slope.



Here is the smaller slope, again, it's not perfect due to the fact that I rechucked it. But with a bit of sandpaper it cleans up.



I laid these out on the garage floor to see what the length would be like, once I decide how the two sabers attach in the middle, I'll trim that extra material off the ends. I let myself have enough material just in case.



Not too shabby. I am still evaluating a few parts, might replace one of the necks, and I need to figure out how they attach together, but I got a LOT done today.

[RevengeoftheSeth]

I'm excited to see such a challenging build come to life. I look forward to the updates.

[Ronan]

*eats sloth's pizza* Nice dude

[eastern57]

I am not sure how to make the intricate details of the handle section...

Saltwater etching.

http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com...ead.php?t=4457

The pics are long gone, but the test on MHS, actually looked pretty close to the game picture. Might want to test it out first... in the garage.

[xl97]

could also send in the part(s) to Tim..for some good old fashion'd CNC milling/etching..


think things looks great so far..

Im more/most interested in the parts/work you'll be doing AFTER this point..

[Ronan]

Saltwater etching.

http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com...ead.php?t=4457

The pics are long gone, but the test on MHS, actually looked pretty close to the game picture. Might want to test it out first... in the garage.

It's going to take FOR EVER... have you seen how much depth some peices have?

He needs to have a sleeve made by CNC or get his tubes sent out.

I'm still voting for that harden sculting clay.

[cardcollector]

I am glad you are the one doing this saber, because this is one of my favorites, it will be awesome to watch a saber I could never build become a physical reality.

[Sunrider]

Gotta love your ambition. A most difficult saber to create. It looks great so far. Good luck with the engraving part. I think you may have to machine it. I'm sure you'll figure it out.