Quote Originally Posted by Hermitjensen View Post
ok so over a year later. I now have all the parts for this saber (well 99.5%..forgot a kill key, the blade, and usb-RICE cable lol) and wanted to start work on the outside of the hilt and the shroud pattern. which I figured awhile back would most likely require a drill press to make it even on both sides of the shroud work. So this whole summer my project has been to get my late-grandfathers old Shopsmith up and running again (was in our garage for 15yrs..) and finally got that working and tested out drilling a few holes in random bits of aluminum and that works. but now i'm alittle stuck on how to do my planned shroud pattern..
My plan was to just drill a bunch of holes going down where the channels will be and then sanding/filing away the 'teeth' that is left behind.
like this:
Saber together.jpg
(circles being each drilled hole)

I'm just wondering if you experts out there were tasked with doing a shroud like this how would you go about it?
Either that or a dremel cutting wheel. I cut out some TCSS shroud material extensively on my Mako MHS saber. Went through a lot of cutting wheels. I think drilling them out is a good idea, but you will have a lot of clean up work to do, and it will definitely look hand made. I like that look, but if you expect clean lines, I think you'll be sorely disappointed. As long as you're forgiving of yourself a bit, it'll be just fine.

Tom