My new US2.1 MHS saber - polished aluminum and brass

[JediMasterDak]

Shiny awesomeness!

[ARKM]

Love it. Nice and shiny.

[Lord Maul]

Great work! I'm impressed with the precision of the cuts on those brass strips. I wouldn't have had the patience for it.

[Zook]

Thanks for all the comments.

Great work! I'm impressed with the precision of the cuts on those brass strips. I wouldn't have had the patience for it.

Thanks, those were actually a thorn in my side on this project and set it back for about a week. I am all about machines and speed when it comes to cutting and such but I just couldn't get it right with any machine I tried. I have a cut off saw but it was just too big for this. Then I tried a dremel and I couldn't get it uniform. Finally after messing a couple up trying the different things I found a really small miter box at hobby lobby when I was getting another pack of the brass rods. It even had pins to hold the objects in. I used that and a hack saw and had them cut in no time, accurately this time. I was stressing on how I was going to get them right until I found that little miter box. I was even going to try to do it with a regular full size miter box. Here is a link to one like I got except I didn't have the saw with it (just did a google and found it...not promoting that store).

What did you use to polish that thing?... I..I can't see...

another of my hobbies is paint and body work and I have a nice 6" DA sander so I use it with varying papers (stuff I use to sand clear on a car) but you can get the same results hand sanding (its just more work). I start with 800 grit to smooth all the machine marks and slight grooves and to slightly round off corners, then I go over that with 1500 and then I use a trizact 3000 grit foam disk (wet) that pretty much makes the polishing super easy (it looks slightly polished after the 3000 grit). Then I use a 4" spiral sewn buffing wheel on my die grinder (air) with tripoli compound, then 4" loose section buffing wheel and white rouge. I had some larger (6" or 8" cant remember) wheels for my bench top grinder but they went missing a few years ago. I will probably buy some more because that's much easier than using a die grinder.

My final step is to use a really soft cloth (because at this stage a regular cloth can scratch the finish) and mothers polish for the final polishing. Just before taking these pics I rubbed it down with mothers again with rubber gloves on so I wouldn't have any finger prints on it.



I forgot to add that this is actually phase one of this saber. After I started on it I got some other ideas and bought some sink tube and sanded off the chrome and polished the brass on it. I bought another section from the store the other day (regular ribbed section...no v grooved) and when it comes in I am going to use it and the sink tube for an overlay (probably match the lines of the brass pieces on the grip with the sink tube some how). I haven't got the exact design figured out yet but want to work some accent LEDs in as well and I already have a anodized red button cut and drilled from a thumb screw.

I will use that configuration for show and the way I have it now for play. When I figure it out and eventually work on it I will post pics.

[Lonewind]

Love the shine! Great saber. What is your polishing technique?

[Jedi coral]

looks awsome. top notch work dude.

[taoist jedi]

You can tell you put a lot of work into it and it payed of big time, love the brass and the switch is perfect.

[chaos]

Thats a very cool, shiny saber. Great job.

I polished one of my sabers before but by hand and it took a few days to get it looking good.

Very impressed I am.

[Eco]

Again, this is really cool!
I can't tell, but are those brass grips raised from the hilt or recessed?

[Lord Dottore Matto]

Zook! Excellent work, you have a great eye and your problem solving skills remind me of...me