Luke ANH Conversion

**Darth Copley** · 12-19-2009, 12:37 AM

Jay-gon, thank you very, very much for the information. I read the thread and it had a pdf that also very helpful. So, when using the lux star heatsink, did you glue it into the blade holder area to secure it? Or did you figure out a different way? I can't visualize any of this with out the parts here, the product description of the heatsink says it's almost 1" in diamater, and I don't know the ID of the luke yet :P

I may be way off, but it seems like I could use the star heatsink as you did, mount it into blade holder, the original plastic piece acts as a blade stop? And I would just need to drill and tap a hole for the blade retention screw? What blades did you use for yours? The stock MR? Did you ever try a TCSS blade? Again, thank you so much for your help thus far. I can not wait untill I get to actually modify this hilt, I have a lot planned for it

**Jay-gon Jinn** · 12-19-2009, 12:44 PM

Yup, I glue the star heatsink into the off-white plastic piece that acts as the blade stop. High-temp hot melt glue works well for it. I use the same hot glue on the lens and holder fiost, to attach them to the heatsink, then glue that into the orginal blade stop. If the heatsink is too long to fit properly between the blade stop and the soundboard housing, and you have a hacksaw or a dremel , you can cut off as many of the "rings" or ribs on the heatsink as necessary to make it fit.

I frilled out the one screw hole above the glass eye towards the emitter to use an 8-32 screw instead of the original one. This is the screw here:

The blades that MR/Hasbro use are slightly smaller than the ones TCSS sells, so I've never used any of them since they don't fit the plastic blade socket. Re-using the original blade isn't too bad, if you add a few feet of polypropylene/clear gift wrap to it. Remove the foam diffuser, and add a simple round piece of paper to diffuse the tip, and you should have a nice, evenly lit blade with no "lightbulbing" of the tip.

**Darth Copley** · 12-19-2009, 10:45 PM

Thank you again Jay-gon! I think I'm getting really close to being able to make an order here at TCSS for all the parts for my conversion. There are a few things I am still wondring about though... OK, my main reason for the conversion is to have a duelable lightsaber. But, if I use the MR blade.. I'm thinking I will break it. At FX they have the chart for blades and durability and I beleave MR is rated like 5 or 6 with a battle blade at 9. I wish I had as much cash as I wanted because I would just order a few different blades to try some tests on this conversion. I really wish I knew how close the TCSS blade OD is compared to the luke ANH blade holder ID. Do you think it is possable to remove material from the inside of the blade holder and a little from the outside of the TCSS blade to get them to fit? Are they pretty close? I heard that an ultra blade is small enough to fit. I'd just rather buy all my parts here. Oh and I was wondering, if I remove material from the star heatsink and from the blade holder do you think I can get enough room for a corbin driver V2 in there? It seems like I could, but again, with out the parts and stuff I have no idea of actual sizes and what room is in my hilt. Maybe I should go ahead and take it apart to study it. Only prob with that is having a dead saber for a few weeks while I research, wait for shipping, and convert. Thanks a lot man.

Edit: Uhg, I can't beleave I didn't realize that that was you on the FX forum that had all the info. Embarased* OK, so you have in fact used the other blade then? Not MR/HFX

**Jay-gon Jinn** · 12-20-2009, 11:36 AM

The Corbin V2 will most likely fit right inside the soundboard cradle with the soundboard. I've never tried it personally, but I think it might fit, since the footprint of that board is pretty small. Just make sure it's a latching switch version of the V2, to match your MR switch. To use the two properly, you'll need a SPDT switch, and a second clash sensor for the Corbin. diagrams for a set up like this can be found here:
http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com...ead.php?t=4091
*These diagrams show the Corbin V1 driver, but the V2 is similar.

I have a piece of MR blade stock here, as well as a piece of TCSS thin-walled blade stock, and here's how they measure up to each other with my calipers:

TCSS O.D. = 1.01"
MR O.D. = .985"

For a difference of 0.025". That is a fairly small amount if you're machining it off on a lathe, but sanding it might take some time, and would probably be worth the effort since the MR's blades also have a thinner sidewall that the TCSS ones do.

**Darth Copley** · 12-20-2009, 01:24 PM

Awesome

I had no idea that there might be room inside the MR soundboard cradel for the corbin. By the pics, the corbin looks pretty small

Well... I used to have access to a lathe, but even if I could use THAT one, there would be no room to mount a blade. So I am brainstorming right now thinking of the best way I could do that. I could probably mount the plastic blade holder on one of my dremils and then take a sand paper coated rod to the ID of it. I'm guessing I would only be able to take out material on the top section of it right where it actually holds the blade, I'd leave the bottom part alone to have room for the LED heatsink set up. I don't have a lot of time right now before work. I think I might have to email Tim a question since he has access to both the thick alled and thin walled TCSS blades. Thanks fo rthe dimentions, my callipers aren't that great so all I knew was that the MR blade was slightly less than 1". I'm hoping that the thick wall blade has the same OD as the thin, and that the ID's are what is different. If anyone out there reads this and has both blades, if you could give specs that'd be great. I'm sure Tim is hella busy and I really don't want to bother him on this. Off to work I go. Jay-gon-Jinn = The man

**Jay-gon Jinn** · 12-21-2009, 03:49 PM

you could always email Tim to see if he can machine down a blade for you. you'd need to provide a dimension for the depth of the blade, though. Otherwise, Ultrasabers sells an FX blade that is made tpo fit the plastic blade sockets, too.

**Darth_Sasuke** · 05-14-2010, 07:18 PM

I was wanting to convert one of these and it just so happens that the fx-sabers forum is down. If anyone has that utrasabers guide that shows you how to take the saber apart or has a tutorial similar to it I would really appreciate it if you would send it my way.

**Matt Thorn** · 05-15-2010, 12:49 AM

Tim now stocks everything you need (minus the soundboard) to make a Luke ANH that is more screen accurate than either the old Master Replicas or new Hasbro Force FX version. It doesn't seem worth the trouble to me to try converting.