Build log: Obi ANH full core reveal

[Denz]

Obi-wan ANH is easily my favorite SW movie saber design and just like every true saber fan I had to build one!

For this build I decided to go with MHS parts, but to avoid yet another MHS Obi I felt I needed to push the limits of what I had personally done in my previous builds.

One thing that always bothered my about the MHS Obis was the clamp section. The other is the "fat" neck, but I'll save that for later

I started with the "Graflexification" of the TCSS activation box. This was a bit of a challenge for me as I did not have a Graflex clamp to transfer measurements from. So it took a fair amount of careful planning and painstaking study of reference pictures to get a "sense" of the proportions and relative dimensions of the slots and grooves.

Below are the results of my crude attempts after drilling and HOURS of filing.


I think I might drill holes behind the square windows and add an accent LED give it some "life", but don?t want to commit to that just yet.


Drilled the hole for the recharge port that will serve as one of the transistor caps. The other transistor cap location is marked for the auxiliary button. The grooves where done by chucking the piece in my lathe and using the threading tool to score the lines by rotating the chuck by hand. Not entirely perfect but I think I can hide some of the mess up with weathering.


(Oh BTW: I had a TCSS 2" double female extension under the activation box "clamp" for all drilling and filing operations to ensure everything aligned as if it was a single piece.)


Now that I have a general plan for the electronics I turned my attention to the crystal chamber. I started with the crystal mount by taking some measurements and making a sketch or two. Then I took the general idea to the lathe and here is what I ended up with.


I determined where the support rod placement should be and drilled the holes to accommodate 4-40 threaded rods. After drilling I parted the piece to create a forward and rear section for the chamber assembly.


The key to ensuring a good precision alignment was drilling the holes for the forward and rear section as one piece.


Using a technique borrowed from Slothfurnace I used the forward mounting piece as a template to mount and turn the brass sheets to size on the lathe. Note how the support rod holes also serve to hold the brass sheets securely in place.


Testing assembly alignment and overall fit. I was impressed with the level of precision I was able to achieve. This thing is solid and feels like it was carved from one piece.


Although I am using a blue crystal I thought I'd see how it would look with a green LED.

[Denz]

For this build I decided to challenge myself and go for a full reveal with crystal chamber and power core. This is my first attempt at a crystal chamber, power core, powder coating, custom machining, hidden buttons, etc.

To finish up the clamp section I added a replica lever to the TCSS activation box to complete the look and feel of a Graflex clamp.


I needed to machine an entirely new front mount for the crystal chamber so that it would be free floating inside the grip and emitter. I wanted to be able to unscrew the front part of the hilt without interfering with any wring. The LED wires run from the back through the piping into the front mount, through the middle then out the side to the LED that is mounted on the end.




I wanted the buttons to be completely concealed inside the hilt so I needed to machine a central piece from white delrin to hold the micro tactile buttons, blade-mirroring crystal LED and resistor. This piece fits precisely into the rear of the crystal mount. This central section, crystal mount and delrin piece, is the key to the entire internal structure. Everything is held in place to the outer hilt by two screws which also act as part of the button plunger assembly.




The rear power core housing was machined from thin walled 6061 tubing. The final wall thickness is 3/64" after boring to fit the electronics and turning to fit inside the MHS 1.31 ID without binding or rubbing. The larger hole is for the recharge port. Also note that I left a section of white delrin between the crystal mount and the rear core. This was done to allow light from the blue accent led to be visible through the slot in the clamp section.


To add detail to the power core I created a template on paper that I used to cut out the design into the high-temp tape prior to powder coating with translucent blue to give it an R2 inspired look.


Added details using the lathe and mill. There are 39 operations on the power core alone which was VERY time consuming as I did all the indexing by hand. Each operation took anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes to setup, being sure to keep everything aligned and positioned correctly with all the previous features. About 10 hours of work here.




Here is the core fully wired and ready to be installed in the hilt. The rear power-core sleeve slides over the electronics very snugly, nothing moves or rattles. The entire space for electronics is 3".




Here are the finished result.






Questions and comments are always welcome.

Thanks for looking.

-Denzil

[Silver Serpent]

That's a beautiful saber. I'm still trying to figure out where the activation buttons are on the completed saber. Are they hidden under the clamp while the core is exposed?

[Denz]

That's a beautiful saber. I'm still trying to figure out where the activation buttons are on the completed saber. Are they hidden under the clamp while the core is exposed?

The buttons are inside the center of saber and are activate via plungers. The activation button plunger is under bubble strip and is pressed by pushing down on the bubble strip. There is a photo in the build log showing how the buttons are located.

I can post more detailed photo on this if you want.

-Denzil

[SithInstructor]

Ok, so I have been lurking and reading as much as possible trying to learn everything I can. This Saber is so well done though I had to post. Amazing. All I can say is more pics! Like one where it is assembled... great job

[Silver Serpent]

Ahh, I see it now. It took me a few more looks to get it figured out.

[Mandalorian]

Beautiful. That assembly is quite the work of art, and I learned a lot by the way you went about making and assembling it. Very inspiring. Keep up the awesome work.

[SithArts]

This is wicked! I would like to achieve that type of clean look in a build one day. Reminds me of some of ArkLights work when I was researching custom sabers. Very clean!

[Sevinzol]

beautifull crystal chamber.

[cannibal869]

Very nice job! The R2 inspired PC area lines/masking edges maybe could have been a touch "cleaner" but honestly, that's a very small overall critique for some very strong work!
I think we've all benefited and taken inspiration from Sloth's work.
Is there a pic with the whole thing assembled together (i.e. with the back end pommel etc...)?