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[Sairon]

milling machine, might work.

[DJMoonbass]

thats what i used to drill and tap all my other screws. but whats gunna be hard is rotating my hilt in the vice exactly 90 degrees and keeping the pins in perfect line

[Sairon]

Patience, and a steady hand.

[DJMoonbass]

i guess thats all you can do. and have a good eye. there really isnt a dial indicator to use for this. unfortunatley

[ARKM]

When aligning things like where to drill or mill on my sabers, I use a plastic sewing measuring tape. They are very flexible and wrap around objects with ease. Once I know the measurements, I use a black marker to make marks at the proper intervals. Trust me, it's accurate and personally I cannot do without it.

The hard part is when the diameter of the part I am working on is not easily divisable by the number I need it to be (3, 4, 12, etc) according to the measurements on the tape. Fortunately that does not happen too often and when it does I can put the part back on the lathe and trim enough off to make it easily divisable. However I am in the process of modifying a rotary table and lathe chuck to make a device that will eliminate the need for the sewing measuring tape altogether.

I have another tip that may help, once your initial marks are made...

When I need to draw straight lines on a pipe lengthwise, I use the area where the trim around a door meets the wall. I put the pipe there and use the door trim to guide the marker to draw a straight line down the pipe. The downside is that this can often leave black ink marks on the door trim.

Anywho, I hope that helps.

[DJMoonbass]

that should help. ill try that. Another thing i can do is put tape on my lightsaber hilt and on the Vice and then take a pencil and mark a line on both pieces of tape so i have a line to align it with. and then i can just use an edge finder to find the center of my part and then the tape like you suggested. the only problem is that the area i have to work with is only like 1/4" by a diameter of .65". not much. I might just have to eye ball it.

[DJMoonbass]

well al got all those holed drilled an tapped and i eyed it really good and used an edge finder so the pins are all in line. But the only bad thing..: i broke my 3/48 tap off in my last hole!!!! i couldnt believe it!! i have worked so hard on this lightsaber and spent 7 bucks on that tap. but i thinks i can get it out because theres still a little bit of the tap stivking out. so ill just use some very small needle nose pliers. Any tips anyone? i=

[Jedi-Loreen]

Are you using lubrication when you tap your holes? I've never tapped anything with threading that fine. I use WD-40 myself, because it's handy, but there are different schools of thought on what should be used.

I have broken several 6/32 taps in the past, and I'm afraid to use my 4/40.

All you can do is carefully back out your tap and redo the threads once you get a new one.

[Rhyen Skytracker]

The most important 2 things when tapping holes is make sure you use the correct size drill bit to drill the hole, if you use a bit that is too small you are almost guarenteed to break a tap. Secondly, make sure you use some type of oil. I generaly use the 3-in-1 oil. I use my 4-40 tap all the time and haven't broken one yet. (Now watch me break one tonight. LOL).

[vargose]

There is a thread on tapping here http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com...ead.php?t=5724

Now back to the topic of this thread. Check out a picture of this saber I made.
Light Saber 011.jpg