Lord Zen's Next Saber

[brett]

This is looking great! The Derelict is one of my three favorites, and it looks like yours is going to be a very faithful reproduction. Excellent work on the base/handle. Hope everything runs smoothly.

[Cern]

Hmmm...if it was me, i would paint/PC the ribbed section and leave the L cut...the more asymmetric the better i say

[Lord Zen]

Thanks both,

The ribbed section will definitely end up black, either anodized or powder coated.

The rear grip is finished now:



I've placed a MPS Pommel Style 10 on the end to give me a sense of total length.
After I've worked on the Obi TPM style pommel I'll make the decision on shortening the Graflex or not.
Once I've done that I'll drill the holes to mount the Activation box 2 in place.

[Lord Zen]

Small update,

The Graflex clamp lever is now attached to the activation box:



I drilled and tapped a M3 screw thread into the side with a larger 4.5mm hole at the top to accommodate the larger section of the lever head.
I also threaded the entire length of the shaft, so the lever just screws into place. When tightened, the friction of the clamp lever against the box holds everything in place.

I will need to shorten the threaded section of the lever so it doesn't get in the way when I put the aux switch in. I'm thinking of using one of the spherical momentary switches here. This will mean either drilling out the hole to fit, or attempting to thread cut the switch. But I don't rate the chances of that second option...

The AV switch, black cap-head screws and recharge port are in place to see what they look like. I will have to replace the recharge port as there is a slight difference between its metric thread and the box's imperial thread pitch.

[Lord Zen]

While playing around with the activation box and Graflex glass eye, I found out that the two fit together quite nice nicely:





It just screws right in.
Don't think I will use this for this saber, but I thought it was an interesting discovery

[Lord Zen]

I finally found some time to drill into the Graflex section.
There is a pair of M3.5 threaded holes at each end to attach the activation box. The external diameters of the Graflex and MHS are slightly different, but not enough to show. Clamping the box down tightly with the screws doesn't reveal any gaps. There are also holes for the recharge port, the AV switch and wires to the momentary switch:



Box attached on top with the AV switch and recharge port in place:



Next I will need to cut a slot into the ribbed section so it can slide past the controls that protrude into the internal of the tube. I will use one of the screws that holds the activation box down to lock it all into place.

I decided not to shorten the length of the Graflex section. With the Graflex adapter in-situ there is not enough length free to reduce. This means I will need to think about the slot to the side of the activation box. I might leave it as is, revealing the black ribbed section below; or fill with some mesh or metal.

[Ty_Bomber]

The glass eye looks really good in that box. I just noticed the small momentary switch in the box as well. Was that custom work from Tim or did you do the mod yourself? It's a very nice look.

[slothfurnace]

Looking nice so far, good luck!

[Renaissance Jedi]

Very nice. Derelict is by far one of the most frequently replicated sabers out there. Already looking at your's, it puts mine to shame.

[Lord Zen]

The glass eye looks really good in that box. I just noticed the small momentary switch in the box as well. Was that custom work from Tim or did you do the mod yourself?

Thanks Ty,
I drilled out the M5 screw thread of the Activation Box 2 to fit the slightly larger spherical momentary switch. It's about 0.2mm difference and as it is a friction fit I had to make sure not to over-size it. It fits quite snuggly. I also had to drill out the underside as the spherical switch is shorter and wouldn't have reached through.

Looking nice so far, good luck!

Thanks Sloth,
I appreciate that coming from the original creator

Very nice. Derelict is by far one of the most frequently replicated sabers out there.

Thanks Renaissance Jedi,
That's very nice to hear, especially from a fellow Derelict builder

The Derelict is my favourite design, even more so than the film sabers. And I think it's great that it has its own following. It blends many aspects of the film sabers into a single, well balanced, composition.

I've still got a long way to go - and have yet to face doing the scary cut into the Graflex to reveal the ribbed section. Think I might postpone doing that to towards the end of the build