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Thread: Second Build: The Saber Strikes Back

  1. #1

    Default Second Build: The Saber Strikes Back

    Bit of a peak at my next lightsaber build:


  2. #2

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    Very cool! I like the wrap but how did you make it ,,profiled" so it's under the mhs-gear?
    Last edited by GregTheForce; 02-20-2017 at 08:49 AM. Reason: grammar
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  3. #3

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    I think you are referring to the wooden sleeve butted up against the mhs-gear? If so then it is a sleeve, I cut the male threaded portion of the gear off using a dremel and slid both the gear and the sleeve over a 1.25" OD steel tube. The other side of the gear has a male-female mhs coupler screwed in. I will be using that to "cap" the leather wrap. I have not applied the leather yet,it's just laying on the table but it's pretty thin and should fit under the female end of the couplers. I will make a wooden ring for the pommel to cover up the threaded portion of the couplers and pommel.

  4. #4

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    Quote Originally Posted by minorhero View Post
    I think you are referring to the wooden sleeve butted up against the mhs-gear? If so then it is a sleeve, I cut the male threaded portion of the gear off using a dremel and slid both the gear and the sleeve over a 1.25" OD steel tube. The other side of the gear has a male-female mhs coupler screwed in. I will be using that to "cap" the leather wrap. I have not applied the leather yet,it's just laying on the table but it's pretty thin and should fit under the female end of the couplers. I will make a wooden ring for the pommel to cover up the threaded portion of the couplers and pommel.
    Oh, thank you! Yes i meant that and sorry, i didnīt found the english words to explain it...
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  5. #5

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    Some small progress. I put on the leather wrap today and it went on much better then the previous saber. The extra stretch on the thinner leather definitely helped. Next up will be making a 2 part shroud for the emitter part of the saber to go over most of the wood.


  6. #6

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    Really cool! But isn't the leather too small for a grip?
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  7. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by GregTheForce View Post
    Really cool! But isn't the leather too small for a grip?
    If someone were particularly careful they could one hand the saber in just the leather section, especially so if they had small hands. This will be my wife's saber and she does have really small hands. That said, the leather is not intended to be the only grip site. Everything below the gear is good to grab on this saber. The metal couplers on either side of the leather are almost in line with the leather and are smooth so they are reasonably comfortable to grip. Plus the pommel is not uncomfortable to grip with its relatively large and simple geometric shapes So when using the saber 2 handed you can grip the pommel as well. In practice its actually a little more comfortable to hold then my first saber because everything below the gear is grip.

  8. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by minorhero View Post
    If someone were particularly careful they could one hand the saber in just the leather section, especially so if they had small hands. This will be my wife's saber and she does have really small hands. That said, the leather is not intended to be the only grip site. Everything below the gear is good to grab on this saber. The metal couplers on either side of the leather are almost in line with the leather and are smooth so they are reasonably comfortable to grip. Plus the pommel is not uncomfortable to grip with its relatively large and simple geometric shapes So when using the saber 2 handed you can grip the pommel as well. In practice its actually a little more comfortable to hold then my first saber because everything below the gear is grip.
    Good to know!
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  9. #9

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    Small progress.

    I made the wooden ring that will fit over and hide the threads for the pommel and first male-female coupler. The wood on this build is all hard-maple. This particular piece has been taped with appropriate threads to fit over the parts as well giving it a bit more sturdiness that my previous build sadly did not have. This is actually the second such ring I made as the first one I created had ridges on it that I thought looked neat. After the fact I remembered that my machined button is going on this section and had to redo it to make a smooth ring instead.


  10. #10

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    Update and progress!

    So I was ultimately unhappy with the leather wrap done on the hilt. While it came out better then the previous saber it was still just the same thing I did on saber 1. I really wanted to try something different so I removed the wrap (it slid off in one piece actually when I cooled my hilt outside) and then went with an epoxy glue on wrap method. I also used the same type of leather as in saber 1 (ie thick leather) which meant I needed to shave down the ends of the leather quite a bit. Overall I think the wrap went on pretty well and definitely provides a smoother appearance to the hilt.

    Here are all the pieces laid out. You will also be able to get a sneak peak at saber 3 in the background sporting temporarily the removed leather wrap:



    You will also be able to notice in the above picture the existence of a shroud. The front of this saber desperately needed a shroud and after a bit of tinkering I came up with this two piece method. Here is the shroud just laid in place (ie not secured) next to the activation box:



    And here is another picture showing the shroud, this time from the side.



    I do not plan to leave this alone either. As of right now the plan is to paint both halves of the shroud black, and also paint the MHS Gear black, and the emitter black. The body tube, and activation box will remain silver in color as will the pommel, and 2 mhs male-to female converters capping the leather.

    In a perfect world I would be accomplishing this task by some kind of spiffy dye. Unfortunately I did not find anything local to me that seemed to work for this purpose so I am going with ol' rattle can primer and auto paint matte black.

    Here is a shot of the saber end on so you can see that the upper and low shrouds are a bit different from each other:



    I also got in a little while ago my first ever 3d printed design. Its an alternative to the covertec button. This one is designed to work with the Motorola d-clip that police officers and EMS folks use to hold their radios on. Its "printed" in stainless steel but has a kinda bronzey look to it due to the manufacturing process. I may try to find a way to make it black if I can come up with a method that will be durable enough to survive contact with the belt clip. Here is what it looks like on the wooden pommel ring where it will eventually be fastened:



    Next up will be painting the parts that need painting and then gluing the parts onto the hilt before drilling the holes for the crystal chamber window and activation box holes.

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