First build! Graflex 2.0 (ESB) w/CF9

[Gregatron]

Hmmm. There seems to be a bit of a rattle when the speaker is active. I’m not sure if there’s a problem with the speaker itself, or if it might be a result of the vibrations created by the speaker.

[Gregatron]

Swapped out the speaker for a spare. It’s fine, now. Started test-fitting in the Graflex body. The only problem is that the clamp switches are a tight fit. When the clamp card is inserted, the aux switch is triggered. Need to find a way to loosen things up a bit, so that the buttons are only triggered when the card is pressed. Hmmm.

[Tom Tilmon]

Swapped out the speaker for a spare. It’s fine, now. Started test-fitting in the Graflex body. The only problem is that the clamp switches are a tight fit. When the clamp card is inserted, the aux switch is triggered. Need to find a way to loosen things up a bit, so that the buttons are only triggered when the card is pressed. Hmmm.

Sometimes you need to file down or whittle down the switch seats on the 3d switch holder to get the right fitment and travel in the card. Every 3d switch holder I've installed is different. I've had to whittle some down, and shim some up. The key is the clamp card has a little travel, and when its being depressed the switch needs to be high enough to be depressed, but low enough to allow for some travel without being depressed. This is very common adjustment, and every holder is a teensy bit different, as is each clamp. Some clamps have more play than others for the clamp card to travel in.

Tom

[Gregatron]

Had a devil of a time getting the clamp switches properly adjusted. At one point, the bottom Graflex endcap somehow got stuck on the blade holder. I had to clamp it into my hobby vice to untwist it. After that, the bottom half had trouble threading onto the blade holder, so I swapped it out for the spare blade holder I bought as a backup, and applied lithium grease to help the threading process be smooth. Works fine, now.

Getting the switch holder adjusted was a pain, though. The aux wires came loose from the switch, at one point, and I ended up breaking and replacing the switch. Also had to carve away some of the bottom of the switch holder to get it to sit properly without sticking up too far.

As it now stands, the power and aux buttons both work with the stock Graflex 2.0 card in the clamp (which is a placeholder for my Wannawanga card until I’m sure everything is set).

I just need to repaint the front end of the blade holder, since some of the black anodizing scraped off during all of the adjustment work. After that, I can finally start getting into final assembly, and install the red button aux switch. After that, I’ll start adjusting my SD card parameters, and buy a few new soundfonts.

I’d say I’m in the home stretch! There have been some dicey moments, but it’s all gone pretty darn well.

[Tom Tilmon]

The threads must be well-maintained in the blade holder. What you experienced has happened before. I have been through it. You'll probably need to adjust your switches a bit when the wannawanga card comes in.

[Gregatron]

ARGH!!! I’d almost completed final assembly, but there was one small hiccup. Everything was going great. I soldered, tested and installed the upper red button’s aux switch, which works. However, when adjusting the KR Sabers resin red button cap to fit over the switch, I accidentally broke through/blew out the top of it with my Dremel’s ball-cutting tip.

So, I had to order new red button cap pieces from The Graflex Shop. Aside from that—and installing new soundfonts and preferences, the saber is done. So, it’s about 98% done, at this point. I just made one stupid, minor error, which will mean an annoying delay in finishing it. Could be worse!

[Gregatron]

Well, I received all of my new soundfonts, and started installing them. There’s some weird stuff going on with some of them. It seems like several .wav files are overlapping/playing in succession for the sound bank selection wavs and pstoff wavs. I probably just need to go through and pare down the files in each sound bank. Still getting the hang of this, and I need to check out some more tutorials.

[Silver Serpent]

If you're getting weird playback issues after installing new fonts, you might want to go back and perform a FULL format of your SD card. Reloading fonts afterwards should work fine.

[Tom Tilmon]

While you're learning the configurations and adding fonts, I'd only change one thing at a time on the SD. In other words, keep the stock settings on NBIV, then make one change (one configuration change, add one font to a bank, and then test. If all goes well, then make your next change, and test. That way you see what each setting does, and whether or not the font you loaded is any good. Some fonts are better than others. I like Dark Meat and Gray Meat a lot. Neither are really Graflex Fonts though. Which fonts did you get?

Tom

[Gregatron]

I was pretty tired when I began playing with the fonts, and it turns out I’d forgotten to format the SD card, the other night. Works now. Thanks for the advice, Silver Serpent!

I’ve spent all day diving into the deep end of adjusting and customizing the font package I bought (mostly Graflex fonts) to accurize and tweak them. I also started playing with the swing/clash/etc. parameters.

I created a “soundwork” folder on my PC where I do all the experimenting and tweaking, then copy it to the SD card when I’m ready to try it. And, of course, my original CF9 stock fonts/configurations and Saberfont purchases are in their own separate folders. That way, I can mix and match while still always having the originals to go back to in case of error (and for reference).

There were a few bumps in the road, but things are coming along well. About the only hiccup I have now is that the boot sound for each font plays after the font sound when a font is selected from the sound bank, which I don’t understand. It didn’t do that before, and I don’t know why it suddenly started to do so. Any suggestions?


I also like Graymeat a lot. That and Hoth were the only ones I ported over from the stock SD card. The new fonts I bought are Graflex IV, Graflex V, ESB Legends, Bespin II, Episode IV Training Bot, Graflex ROTS, Old Ben, Vader OT, The Schwartz, and BMF. The last two are just for giggles.

I’ve gone hog wild with mixing and matching sounds and hums to be more movie-accurate. Removing prequel-era hums and clashes from OT fonts, getting the proper poweron/poweroff sounds for each font, etc. A lot of fonts which are supposed to represent a particular character or movie tend to have elements from other movies and other characters’ sabers mixed in, which kinda irks me. I may have to grab a generic OT/PT font or two to have more sounds to play with, but I’m pretty happy with what I’ve accomplished.

I’ve also been transplanting boot/font sounds, too. Like replacing BMF’s boot/font sounds with something a little more all-ages friendly!