Show off: Saberz Ewan’s Favorite

[thd9791]

So, i wanted to post an FYI thread. This is what you get when you order an EF project from Saberz

Saberz did a wonderful job. It was supposed to replicate that stunt saber featured in the Behind the Scenes featurette that Ewan seems to favorite. I ordered one with a blade. I was excited because I couldn’t afford the other projects and this was much more affordable.

Here are the parts. (The blades also come with anodized threaded cylinders which are adapters for other sabers, and the hilt comes with an Allen socket screw to hold the hilt together sans blade)

I actually swapped out the M5 set screws for ones a little longer. The tang (which I think is anodized aluminum?) has a reduced section that snugly press fits into the blade. With glue it won’t go anywhere. The set screws are kind of like pins that double check it won’t slide out. The holes in the tang go all the way through. The screws I swapped out extend from the outside of the carbon fiber to the other inside wall. The ones it came with only went through the tang diameter instead of pressing against anything. I don’t think that’s an issue, again they machined the tang to press fit inside the carbon fiber blades.

Which are heat shrunk. I thought the original blades were painted with a key-in color and heat shrink wrapped, but this colored carbon fiber is just plain cool: if it is accurate, WOW, if not, I quite like it anyway

The hilt comes in the machined pieces you would expect. They slide together perfectly, and everything is anodized or polished. The originals were either shiny aluminum or chromed plastic so the polishing is for replication and being someone who only can buff something to 1200 sandpaper and doesn’t know how to polish, im impressed haha

The lip of the blade material is one half of your sandwich. The other half? A machined aluminum pommel that includes the threaded insert as part of the lathed piece. Very structurally sound.

The tang isn’t steel so I would never think of a duel.

My customization plans:

1) Maybe fabricating my own steel replacement tang? I have never tapped holes in steel, only Al and Brass.. and I would be buying an M10 thing, i can’t imagine die cutting steel by hand

2) I’m used to the hefty 1980 and 1983 saber hilts. The thin walled aluminum body worries me a little, I drop things and worry about it denting. I want to buy some custom aluminum and slide it into the body, just for support. This is not necessary for display or a takeaway from the replica, the props in my house are handled a lot and I over-engineer coatings and attachments just to be safe. I’ve had a few kids damage props by accident, so I’m traumatized!

Other than maybe glueing the blade in place, there’s nothing I want to customize or alter which is new for me! Im a builder….

The center of balance is right on the emitter. With a little extra weight, it would bring it back to the choke. I’ve never held a real one, anyone know what it’s like?

Also, I’ve always hated the choke on the anakin…. But flipping the saber with the choke feels PERFECT! I can’t describe it… other than, whatever you wish a saber tube was like when flipping it… this is what your hand wants it to be.

 

[thd9791]

I also happen to have a cast of the rubber stunt pommel from Ep. 3, I’ve been told it was taken from the hero’s or that the pommels were all the same generally

 

[StevenBills]

That's cool. I opted for SPsabers' Obi Stunt, and paired it with Saberz' nova carbon blade, and it's very fun to whirl around!

SB

 

[Saberz]

Hey, thanks for the nice writeup and the kind words! I'm so glad you're happy with the saber. Just a couple pieces of info for you:

• Yeah we really thought about the balance point issue a lot. I even considered making a ballast to put in the back half of the hilt which would put the balance point exactly on the choke. But that would have added cost and upped the price. We also don't know where the balance point was on the original prop. There were so many variations of the Obi ROTS stunt hilts, with different pieces and materials, and it's impossible to know what the exact weight characteristics were on this build. So we left it as-is, and we wish you well with any modding!
• Regarding the pushrods (what you call the tang): the set screws included are the perfect length. They can hide within the pushrod and slide into the carbon blade, then when you screw them in, they push AGAINST the opposite carbon wall, causing a friction fit that makes it impossible to rotate or separate the blade from the pushrod. Of course if you want to use something different, go for it!
• These aluminum pushrods should be more than adequate for heavy dueling. We've done plenty here, and I have yet to break a pushrod (knock on wood). If you do happen to break one, please let us know and we will replace it for you. It would be good to know if something is weaker than we expected.

Thanks again!

 

[thd9791]

Holy cow, thank you! The set screw thing makes sense now, I was imagining it upside down, they will definitely cause a friction fit that way. They also do hide inside the tang so you can slide it in and out, which is pretty cool, I frequently have to compensate round surfaces for set screw length

And thank you for the encouragement, I won’t be so scared, especially if you tested it!

And modding for weight will be reversible instead of permanent, im too impressed by these parts, this is like eethans Relby kit, I don’t want to take away the beauty of the parts haha

 

[Saberz]

Thanks! Engineering little solutions like the set screw thing is one of the fun parts for me. Like creating the spring-loaded switches in Project M/O/Q. You have these tiny little spaces and have to achieve really precise mechanical tasks, it can be such a fun puzzle to solve.

 

[thd9791]

To finalize the start of this thread, the other things in the box!

I’ll report back if I find some aluminum to slide inside or something

 

[thd9791]

So, folks, if you don’t have the machinery just buy metal the right size in the first place.

Aluminum in weird sizes is hard to come by. Anyway.. I bought some close enough aluminum tube to add some weight to my hilt. If you fill the back with metal, it brings the balance point to the choke!

I had to hollow it out by hand… ID was 2 mm too small… it’s 11 PM and I started around 6

Anyway, I did it. Added some m4 grub screws to make this a proper bushing. I couldn’t find metal the right size, so I just wrapped gaff tape to fill the rest of the space, about 2-3 mm. Maybe I’ll put more aluminum someday..

Also added a m4 grub screw to the emitter because there was a little rattle

My initial bushing was 1.5mm too long! So I put it back under the hacksaw and took off 2mm so I can thread it tighter and let it compress a little

 

[Saberz]

That's rad!

 

[thd9791]

That's rad!

Thanks! Like all my things this is becoming a personalized item lol

I measured the main body and subtracted the pommel flange and the black neck piece flange to get the inside length, so it goes all the way through.

M4 grub screw in the emitter was really not necessary, but after all my fiddling I wanted to eliminate the minor amount of jiggle when it’s struck, might have been my fault lol

An M4 is jusssssttt The right size to not blow out the edge of the flange. I did honestly feel terrible taking a drill bit to the metal, it was polished like kitchenware

 

[Saberz]

Most stunt hilts had one or more set screws somewhere. Not always consistent, in number or in location. So you certainly didn’t do anything to make it less accurate. Quite the opposite. Random set screws are right on the money!